One Room Challenge™ – closet makeover (week 3)

Today marks Week 3 of the One Room Challenge™. It’s really week 4 for the participants but I was a little late to the party. So today I’m posting about the progress I’ve made on my daughter’s closet makeover. If you missed the last 2 weeks, click here to see week 1 and my vision board, and click here to see my progress on week 2.

As a reminder, here’s the before. This week I installed a new rod and shelf in the closet. In week 2, we went through all the clothes, bags, shoes and stuff that was in her closet and weeded out what she didn’t like or wear. This left so much more space for what was important and necessary. Then I was able to tackle the design. One thing we noticed was that she didn’t need one long rod for her clothes. A better solution was to install a shorter rod and bring in an armoire from her room for additional and better storage.

I hung the rod very reluctantly. I really didn’t want to put any holes in the newly wallpapered walls. Plus, I knew it needed to be supported by studs and I didn’t want to mess this up. So I called in my own stud, my husband 😉 to help install them. The materials I used were:

• Two brackets with rod hooks and supports for a top shelf.
• A 1″ x 4″ wood piece for shelf support (left side).
• A white metal rod, I cut it down with a hacksaw to the length I wanted.
• End caps for the rod (I only used 1 on the left side).
• End wall support for rod (also only used 1).

After we installed the rod, I moved our daughter’s armoire into the closet space. Her room was a little crowded with this piece and she really wants a small desk/work area in her room so we needed to rethink the space. I love how the piece looks in the closet and it adds so much extra storage for her clothes and accessories. The rod hangs over the armoire a bit but I could possibly use this part of the rod to hang some additional items like scarves or jewelry.

In addition to hanging the rod and shelf brackets, I also made a new shelf. I bought a piece of 10″ x 1″ common board and had it cut to fit the length of the closet (81″). I wanted it to match the finish on the top of the armoire as close as possible. This was a little tricky because the finish is something between natural and a white wash. I thought it might be a glaze but I wasn’t sure so I asked my local paint store what they recommended to get this effect. I asked about mixing a small amount of white acrylic paint with acrylic polyeutherane. They said no way! Guess what I did? I mixed a small amount of white acrylic paint with acrylic polyeutherane. And I love it! It probably wasn’t the most professional solution but I was comfortable with this medium so I really thought it would work. Plus, I tested it on some remnant wood first to be sure. After painting 2 coats on the board, I placed it on the brackets.

 

I added her clothes and now it’s really starting to take shape.

Here’s what’s left on my to-do list:

• Hang curtain
• Figure lighting, I realized while working on this space that it needs some more light
• Top shelf bins/baskets and shoe storage
• Laundry bin
• Arrange clothes and items going in the armoire
• Add some fun and meaningful artwork
• Create hooks for bags
• Maybe add an area rug
• Find a step stool to reach things up high
• Accessories!

Not bad, right? The only other thing I did this week was to go shopping. And more shopping. I got a lot of fun stuff and can’t wait to share them in the next few weeks. Here’s a little sneak peek of what I got.

Fur and rose gold. yum. I think rose gold is the perfect metallic for this space, a little bit of shine with a touch of pink. Plus our daughter’s middle name is Rose.

Have a great week. Be sure to check back next Wednesday for more progress!