No matter how big or small your home is, storage is vital. It always seems we never have enough of it. Sometimes it is not how big a storage space is, but how well it is utilized.
My sister recently got remarried. Both she and her new husband had spent several years single, before finding each other. In other words, they had several years to get used to having full reign of their own closets. This opportunity to do a closet makeover was also a chance for them to do a wardrobe purge.
They were both holding onto items from as far back as high school and the closet was bursting at the seams. There were not any drawers, there were awkward corner shelves, and overall it did not fit their individual needs.
I wanted to not only give them a space that functioned better, but was a gorgeous space that reflected their style. One thing was for certain, if the goal was “luxury”, the boob light had to go!
After meeting with them and asking questions about their storage needs, counting hangers, measuring the space, and making goals for donating old clothing and shoes, I got to work on the demo.
I ripped out the carpet and carpet pad. After the staples ad tack board were taken out, I swept the floor so I wouldn’t be walking through and spreading the dust and dirt throughout the house.
Next my husband and I tackled ripping out the old, inexpensive particle board shelving.
After we removed it all, I patched the nail holes in the walls.
When the putty had dried and I sanded a bit, I painted the walls and trim with a fresh coat of white paint. Now it was time to install the new flooring! I chose an engineered hardwood in a medium tone.
When the floor was done, we assembled the closet inserts I ordered. They were a mix and match kind of a deal so I could choose what worked for each side. Since my sister and brother-in-law both had different needs, their sides of the closet looked slightly different.
It is a two-person job so make sure and have a helper handy. When they are in place, make sure and use the safety straps provided to attach the inserts to the wall.
Now came the fun part of adding the clothing (that had made the cut) back into the closet as well as the new baskets and bins.
Since my sister got rid of half of her clothes and shoes, she had the space for a vanity type area for her jewelry. While most of her jewelry is still not unpacked, she was excited to display some and have it organized.
Shoes that are used often can be put on the shelves for easy access while other special occasion shoes or out of season shoes can be stored in bins.
This gorgeous velvet ottoman is the perfect place to site while putting on shoes! It is also a great center focal point and makes this closet feel even more custom.
I think the addition of the drawers was the single most helpful thing we could have done. Tee shirts no long had to be put on hangers and shorts, socks, pajamas finally had a home that made sense.
My sister has a fun colorful personality and her clothes seem to match. She loves to organize them by color so we rolled with that.
On the “his” side of the closet, my brother-in-law’s main concern was displaying his hats. He was so happy to have them all out, easy to access, and still have room to add more.
He was not used to using bins and baskets to store things but even he had to admit the closet looked so much nicer with some things hidden
My brother-in-law is color blind so we approached his clothes differently than my color-coded sister’s side. We categorized them by shirt style.
Now that we have that all out of the way, can we have a moment of silence for that chandelier? I mean, seriously? It is a stunner. I don’t even care that it took a couple of hours to put on all the individual crystals because that kind of makes the space.
What good does having fun, colorful clothes if you can’t see yourself in them while picking out an outfit?
I built a mirror for the back of the door for that last look before heading out.
It was a pretty easy DIY project. I cut a piece of 1/8-inch plywood to be a couple of inches bigger than the mirror. I cut some decorative molding to create a frame. I used an adhesive to attach the mirror and molding.
I painted it silver to match the other metallic accents in the space.
Since they are both, shall we say, height challenged, they needed a step stool of some kind to reach the top shelves. The step ladder they had before was just not going to work. Not only was it very utilitarian, but it was bulky and in the way. I painted a stool for them that easily tucks into the corner.
At the end of the day, both my sister and her husband were happy with their new, luxurious closet that was tailor made to fit their needs.
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