Men's Closet Makeover

I was lying in the bathtub about 2 weeks ago and the view is straight into Joe's closet.  It wasn't a very good view to say the least. There was the beige carpet, the wire shelves, disheveled clothes, extra flooring from our old house shoved in the back forcing other things to get pushed forward. There was also the view of the horrible florescent light fixture.   Now it looks like this!  Behold! The coolest DIY project ever. Those ceiling tiles.  All of the sources are linked at the end of the blog post.

Here is the BEFORE when we first moved in.

And here is sort of what the state of the closet was in the present. Joe was using a blue bin to store summer clothes and using a red suit case with broken zippers.  I removed everything from the closet and forced him to sort the items he no longer wore.  He only got rid of a few items, including a beautiful pair of blue suede shoes he never wore because they were too big.  I got to work ripping out the carpet, painting the walls and making wooden shelf facades in order to keep the wire shelves. 

I used up the old flooring which saved some money and paint we had used in our pantry.  Joe helped me remove the florescent light and we added this beautiful brass school house fixture.

The ceiling tiles were definitely an experiment. I have never put up these before and learned a few things along the way. I started at the center to align the light fixture in the middle of the tile.  But looking back I kinda wish I started at the farthest wall so I didn't have to make so many extra cuts. I painted the tiles once installed and attached them using Command Velcro strips and some liquid nails.  I also caulked the seams.  

Joe now has a great place to store out of season clothes, in these cute gray fabric bins with rope handles.

His door was also painted prior to me starting this project and I added the milk glass door knob. 

Joe already had these vintage wooden pant hangers in this blonde wood color so naturally I purchased shirt hangers in the same color and decided to leave the shelves in their natural state. I just added a coat of Polyurethane. 

I am so in love with this old school fixture.  

No this is not a refrigerator. It just pretends to be. I scored it brand new for $50 at the Habitat for Humanity Restore.  It provides great storage for accessories and travel supplies. 

A proper tie holder was a must needed accessory organizer. I love that Joe can now hang them and they will stay ironed.

 

Sweaters should always be folded so instead of buying soft hanging baskets that would eat up valuable hanging space I decided Joe needed a bookcase to store them.  This was fun to build and turned out so  well. 

The door knob is so beautiful. It's made of solid brass in an oil rubbed bronze finish with a milk glass knob.

This little detail was something I came up with.  I thought it was to provide more stability when I connected the face trim pieces to the shelves. They are actually brass hinges.  We used nails to connect the pieces so these hinges are purely decorative. 

I found a cute "J" hook at Anthropologie and it's a great place to hang his robe. 

And now for some gratuitous ceiling shots. 

This project entailed everything I'm good at -organizing, color coding, painting and filled my week keeping me busy during the pandemic.  I will now be twiddling my thumbs until I come up with a new project.  Hope you like it. 

Sources

Wall Paint - Benjamin Moore Boothbay Gray

Coat Hangers -  Top Line

Gray Fabric Bins - Storageworks

Tie Hanger - Ohuhu

Belt Hanger - Ohuhu

Ceiling Tiles - A La Maison

Door Knob - Nostalgic Warehouse

Similar Wood Flooring - Dutch Barn Oak

Wood for Shelves- Home Depot

Light Fixture - Lamps Plus

xo
Cathleen

 

Closet turned Wrapping Paper/Crafting Space

My little crafting corner is complete! This room was once just a game room and the closet just a place to store costumes, CD's, and other random stuff.  After I lost my craft room to my son's new space, I turned this little corner into the crafting/gift wrapping area. I think it's just perfect! I can also sew here too.  Here is sort of the BEFORE, but really it was more "during" when I had to put craft supplies in here during the transition. But you get the idea that it was really just a closet that had I painted earlier and had a plastic clothing rod. 

The first thing I did was unbolt this shelf and remove it.  It left pretty big gaping holes in the wall so I used my Patch N' Paint and filled in the holes. Luckily I also had some touch up paint to cover the holes. After that it was ready.

AFTER!

We sawed off the legs of the brown table top that was in the garage and it fit perfectly in here at exactly 24" deep. We did have to remove the inside door trim to make it fit though. We placed it at Counter Height just above the storage cabinets below. This height of the table makes wrapping gifts way easier on your back.

It's also hardly noticeable but I lined both sides of the closet with wallpaper that I already had left over from the laundry room makeover. Then I added four 2' Rubbermaid shelves with black brackets to either side just above the table top. And additional larger 4' shelf above the wrapping paper holder. Up there I fit a large wrapping paper storage bag that holds Christmas wrapping paper (link below.)

On either side of the table, holding up the table, are these black Halifax cabinets. They were pretty easy to put together and hold tons of gift bags and party supplies.

For some hidden storage underneath the counter I installed some simple bike hooks to hold additional wrapping paper.

I found super cute baskets with wooden hooks to hold additional fabric and crafting materials.

The gray felt bin is my favorite. The simple leather ties are so adorable.

The light fixture is a simple linen shade attached to a light kit you can get online. It plugs in and has an on/off switch. The extra lighting in here was a must.

Because I removed the doors for ease in using this space, I installed a single curtain rod above the door and these pretty drapes. The rod installation didn't go as smoothly as I hoped because I hit something hard behind the wall with my drill about half way into the wall. Only one of my pilot holes was deep enough for the 6 screws that came with the rod. In order to compensate I clipped the dry wall studs with a wire cutter about half way down and used shorter screws. Sometimes you have to improvise and this adds time to any DIY project. 

It was a happy accident too that the drapes play really nicely with the chairs I reupholstered with Scott Living Fabric collection a while back. I must have already known that in my head! 

 

My grandfather built this beautiful hutch and my Grandmother painted it. It works really nicely to hold even more craft supplies and sewing supplies. I think the muted green works nicely with the wall color as well.

I'm so happy to have my upstairs functioning once again and have a place for the kids to spread out and use this space for their "homeschooling" art projects.  Maybe I should sew a mask or 5 when I have a free minute. :)

Stay well friends,

xoxo
Cathleen

Sources:
Rubbermaid Shelves
Shelf Brackets
Larger Shelf Brackets
Curtain Rod
Curtains
Polka Dot Bins
Gift Wrap Bag
Felt Bin
Chair fabric
Bike Rack Hooks
Black Storage Cabinets

Game Room

One week ago we decided to give the Game Room a quick update. We needed to move the computer out of there and into an open spot where we could supervise the kids on it. Now the computer is in our loft and we needed to make a spot for Joe to work from home.  The game room is now more of a Teen Hang out room and also includes a Daybed with Trundle for Sleepovers. Here are some Before and After photos of the space. 

BEFORE

 DURING

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

In a weeks time I painted the walls Boothbay Gray by Benjamin Moore in an Eggshell finish. Joe added crown molding to the room and we painted the existing bookcase and this one below that was hot pink the same colors as the walls. 

We added new curtains by DKNY wtih cute fluffy gray dots.

The Daybed with trundle is from Joss and Main and the bedding is Kate Spade.  The lamp teal lamp is from Home Goods.

I sewed some cute coral and mint vintage looking floral curtains to hide the games in this bookcase.

The game table was sanded down and painted with Magnolia Home Chalk Paint in "It is well." 

As the kids grow and obtain more games, there is plenty of shelf space for them to organize their things.

Someone is already right to work relaxing and enjoying the bed.

Glad to have this space finished for the meantime and ready for play time this summer.

Happy Summer!

xoxo
Cathleen