Closet Reveal

We recently remodeled our closet. We did most of the work over a few weekends, including New Year's Eve. We took down the dreaded white wire shelving (I hate that stuff) and built custom shelving. This is the final, fabulous result.

Our closet started out like this. I forgot to take a picture before I took everything out, but you can imagine. It had plain white walls, white wire shelves with one rod. There was one shelf with blankets and boxes falling on top of each other. We had shoe organizers on the floor but they were never put away or organized well.

Our closet is actually pretty good sized, but with only one shelf all the way around, it was not a good use of space. Plus, have I mentioned how much I hate those wire racks. They are ugly and the shelves don't hold things properly because stuff falls through. Stupid wire shelves...

Anyway, after we pulled out the wire shelves we patched the walls since whoever installed the horrid wire shelves did a crappy job. Then I got to work painting. We picked out a bright apple green color. As I was putting on the first coat, I was REALLY nervous because it's was looking very 80's neon green. The second coat helped a lot, as did giving my eyes a break from the space.

JM custom built all the shelving. He worked numbers and layouts for days. He would figure and figure, then ask me if 12 shoe spots was enough. I would ask if we could fit anymore. He would go back, figure some more and come back and ask if 24 shoes spots was enough. I would ask for more and he would go figure some more. He ended up building these floor to ceiling shelves to accommodate shoes. We put two hanging rods on each side of the closet.

This is after both shoe columns were installed.

Next, we put up the shelves above hanging rods. They are much deeper than the old shelves, and hold so much more.

The middle section between the shoe columns has several shelves and cubbies to hold a variety of things. We painted all the shelves before assembling, which JM cursed afterwards. When it was all installed, that meant a little more sanding and touch ups on the paint. This was also a pain.

It looked a lot better after the touch ups. I was feeling better about the color, but it still felt pretty bright. I kept reminding myself that after all our clothes and other stuff was in, not much of the color would actually show through.

We painted the top shelves. Things are coming together nicely!

Finally! The time came to put all our stuff back into the closet. It was about time. We lived with our entire closet contents in our bedroom for two weeks. It was wearing on both of us. I actually had a real place to put my bags while not in use.

We found these great milk crates that fit perfectly in the cubbies we built. If you look close, they actually have a cute, but subtle, floral print. Love it!

We also put in these woven baskets on the narrow shelves to store our other stuff. All those things that need homes, but aren't pretty to look at. Things like bras and hosiery and belts.

The final result! This is my side of the closet. Two glorious hanging rods, hung at different levels so I can hang my shirts and dresses without them dragging on the floor. See all those shoes lined up so prettily? I love that. Luckily, since my shoes are smaller than JM's, I can fit three shoes per slot, which means I get to keep my large shoe collection. Hurray!

In case you were wondering, I really do color coordinated my clothes. It makes it easier to find what I want. The are organized by color, then sleeve length. You may also notice that most my clothes are solid colored. I'm pattern-phobic. I try, but I'm not great at patterns.

JM's side of the closet also has two rods, but at equal lengths. He gets the shoe cubbies at the top of both columns because he is much taller than me. I get the bottoms. Since he is such a nice guy, he gives me more than half of the shoe space.

Isn't it pretty!? We left a large opening at the bottom of the middle cubbie space for laundry baskets. Why is it in the pictures you see of beautiful closets, they never have laundry baskets? Is it because they are carefully concealed or do they just leave it out because it doesn't photograph well?

The other big change we did was take off the door. I was a little nervous about always having our closet exposed to our bedroom, but I love it. It makes the closet feel so much more open. Loving it! Let's do one last look at the before and after shots. Left, before, Right, after.