The One Room Challenge™ – closet makeover (week 2)

It’s Wednesday and that means I’m posting about the progress I’ve made on the One Room Challenge™ – my daughter’s closet makeover. If you missed my post last Wedsnesday, click here to check it out and learn all about the One Room Challenge™.

Here’s the before.

And here’s what I did this week:

1. Cleaned and purged all unnecessary items.
I worked with my daughter to go through all her clothes and items in her closet and weed out the stuff she doesn’t like or wear. I also went through all the storage boxes I had in there. It was so nice to get rid of all the clutter and excess and I think it’s important to do this especially when we take on any renovation project. It helps to create a clean and meaningful space. We donated most of the items or brought them to a local consignment shop. There were a few items she didn’t wear or use anymore but she didn’t want to get rid of them so we packed them in a special box just for her. She loved this!

2. Removed the doors and all the shelving and hanging hardware.
This step was fairly easy but a little nerve racking. I always question if I’m doing the right thing taking down perfectly good structures. But the doors were limiting and our daughter hated them. The wire shelving and hanging unit was cumbersome, and hangers got stuck and broke often. It was also too big. Sometimes thinking differently about how to arrange your space versus doing what is typical, can yield some great results.

3. Prepped the walls.
I filled all the nail holes from the hardware but I still need to figure how to handle the holes from the doors. But prepping the walls was tough. This closet, like most, isn’t painted and has textured, plaster walls. So in order for me to paint and wallpaper the walls, I had to sand them down a bit to get a smoother surface. I used an electric sander, with 180 grit paper. But sanding plaster is messy! I had to cover everything with tarps and ventilate the room but that didn’t prevent the dust from getting everywhere. Clean up was time consuming but the good thing is that our daughter’s room is now spotless!

4. Added floral wallpaper and painted green stripes on the side walls (same as her bedroom walls).
This was a complete departure from my original plan. Originally, I wanted to include wallpaper but since this project is time sensitive, I didn’t think I had the time to order it. So plan B was to paint a simple geometric pattern such as diamonds or large circles in a small area of the closet. Then I saw this wallpaper at a local home design store and I thought it was perfect. It’s actually Peel & Stick NuWallpaper from Wall Pops! It was so easy to put up and adjust. And it was on sale – bonus! I painted the side walls the same green stripes as her bedroom to help the space look more like an extension of her room. I love these wide horizontal stripes I painted on her bedroom walls several years ago so extending them into the closet area was a cool effect. When painting these stripes, I measured the height of the stripes and drew the lines with light pencil marks. I don’t have good luck with painter’s tape so my tip for painting a straight line is not to look exactly where you’re painting, but to look just slightly ahead of it. For some reason, this helps keep your hand steady and creates a straighter line.

That’s about it. It doesn’t seem like much but I think it’s a good start and I just love how the wallpaper and paint looks. Plus I feel pretty organized moving forward.

Next week, I plan on hanging the new rod, shelving and adding a piece of furniture to this space! And maybe start a few DIY storage projects. Be sure to check back next Wednesday!