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A primary bedroom should have an equally “primary” closet, but there was nothing grand about the way it looked when we moved in.
There were 3 shelves, and one of them was warped. There was a pole running down both sides and the back, but the configuration left both corners with about one square foot of unusable hanging room. Not to mention, when sweeping it down (because Old Lady didn’t bother to clean before moving out), I found 6 bright pink press-on FINGERNAILS were resting on the top of the shelf that I couldn’t see. Sick.
It had to go. All of it. So, we removed the shelving, poles, and supports. We yanked the remaining supports down with a crowbar and patched the holes. After a light sanding, a fresh coat of Valspar’s “Dove’s Cry” paint went on the walls.
The closet unit we chose really came about the opposite way: it chose us. We were at Lowe’s picking up some paint supplies when the closet system I’d fallen in love with (but due to the price couldn’t afford) went on clearance. That day. Scott and I immediately devised our entire closet system in about 20 minutes without a measuring tape. Not the smartest move, but it worked out perfectly. Because it was clearance and I don’t consider myself to have the worst taste ever (so maybe others will like this deal too), I figured that we’d better buy everything we’d need that day for the entire system or it would be gone. No picking up a drawer here and a shelf there – we needed it all. $400 unexpected dollars later, we walked out of the store with our new closet. Trouble is, I’d only come for paint supplies, so my already half-full-from-moving Mercury Sable needed to fit 12 drawers, 3 floor-to-ceiling shelving units, 8 baskets, and oodles of brackets and shelf pieces. Scott to the rescue! His younger days spent playing Tetris finally paid in spades.
Scott in his spiky hair days!
My car was completely loaded down, and we made the short trip back home to begin putting the closet together. The instructions were much like the ones for Ikea furniture, complete with all the screws and pulls and whatnots that we’d need. One additional recommendation when putting these units together: if you have a lot of clothes like me, use wood glue on the various dowels and wood pieces to give the drawer a firmer hold. This process took several hours (spread out over a week), but we took it step by step and began piecing the closet together.
Now for the big reveal. Doesn’t she look great? The difference for me is night and day. Now Scott has plenty of room for his shirts and dress pants, and I am able to make more room in the drawers by hanging up many more clothes.
We also placed a rug (purchased at Ikea several years ago for the apartment) in the closet so I could have something else to step on than the brown carpet.
Because we needed to take all the stock they had on the day we were there, a few items were still missing, so we backordered them (and had my Mom make another trip to her local Lowe’s for extras). Shelves will be attached to the top of each unit to provide additional storage space for seasonal items and handbags, and the blank space (above left) in the bigger unit will have the last remaining drawer.
Whaddya think, guys? Was the price tag worth it?
