I have always dreamed of having a stunning closet.
The Before
- Not a great use of space
- No organization
- No style
- Feels cramped
The before of this closet was fine. It had a ton of space for hanging clothes, but that’s about it. And then once the clothes were hung on the rods, you couldn’t see what was on the shelves behind the clothes. So it had great organization in theory, but it just wasn’t working for me.
The main reason for this master closet renovation was that I needed a space to put my shoes, hats, and have everything where I could see it. I hate having to lift up clothes in order to see my shoes or push and pull clothes around on the racks because there’s no organization to it and I can’t find what I’m looking for.
I also knew I wanted to use some color in here. I mean, why not? A bold wallpaper was how I wanted to have one main focal point wall and give this closet a little more pizazz.
Prepping the walls
The beauty of taking everything out of the closet and starting from scratch means that we have a blank canvas to work with. However, I still needed to fix a few spots on the walls in order to get it ready for the new design.
First up, taping everything off. Unless you want to spend a ton of time cleaning up paint lines, use some painter’s tape and get the space ready. It’s an extra step, but a necessary one. I like to use the wider painter’s tape so that I have a wider coverage area.
Next, use joint compound to fill in the old screw holes. Just put on a dab of spackle and use a scraper to wipe of any excess.
I also planned on putting wallpaper on one wall and making a focal point of the space. Since the walls all have texture on them already, that means I had to use the joint compound to turn a textured wall into a smooth wall.
Making a textured wall smooth isn’t as hard as it sounds. First, you’ll grab a spackle knife (around 10-12” long) and run it over the wall, knocking off any higher textured spots. Next, you’ll put a generous amount of spackle on the wall. Use the wide scraper to pull off any excess from the wall. The putty-like substance should fill in the parts of the wall texture that that aren’t raised – leaving behind a flat, smooth wall. It’s not going to be perfect; just get rid of that idea. But it should be mostly smooth. Since there are few spots that I needed to smooth out, I used a sander to get it to where I wanted it to be.
Quick tip: I use the skinny scraper to get into the corners and around small spaces easier. It’s also easier to use the smaller spackle knife to fill in the holes.
Paint
I love painting. It’s so therapeutic for me. Since I already taped off the ceiling, walls, and around the electrical panel, it only took about an hour to do the first coat. I let it dry completely and then came back and did another coat. I always paint two coats when I paint walls, but since this house hasn’t been painted since 1984, it soaked the paint up.
Quick tip for painting: I always brush the corners and edges first and then roll the majority of the walls after. It makes for a more seamless transition between those hard to reach places and the even paint thickness of a rolled wall – plus, I hate having brushstrokes in my dried paint, so this method helps that.
Install wallpaper
Confession: I had never installed wallpaper before this project. Because of that, I was a little intimidated by the idea of it and chose to get the self-adhesive wallpaper. That way, I didn’t have to worry about getting the wallpaper adhesive the same thickness all over the back and having a big mess on my hands. Plus, it’s vinyl, so it’s easier and more durable to work with.
When wallpapering a wall, start in the area that is most seen in the room. For me, that’s right next to the electrical box. Then, work your way out from there. Be careful not to leave any smaller strips near doorways or wall edges (it’s more likely to peel off that way).
When lining up the wallpaper, draw a line all the way down the wall where you plan on starting. Use a level to make sure it’s completely perpendicular to the ground. Next, measure the wall from floor to ceiling and add 8 centimeters to the total. This is how long you should trim your paper to be for the first strip. If the wallpaper has a pattern like mine does, you can look for the pattern repeat distance on the packaging label. For mine, it was 64 inches. This is the length of the wallpaper from where the pattern starts and ends. After the first strip of wallpaper was been applied to the wall, I added the next strip. On this one, I had to line up the pattern first and then trim the length of the wallpaper
Quick tip: Use a wallpaper brush to smooth the wall paper out and help remove air bubbles. You can also use a small roller on the seams in order to create a seamless look where the paper edges meet.
Put up shelving & hanging rods
For this step, I had to get a little help. Woodworking is not my forte, so I enlisted the help of my dad and a family friend, Tim. I drew up the design for what I wanted the shelving to look like and the next day they had the whole thing built and in place.
It was my job then to caulk and paint it all. Once it was done, it looked like a completely different place. I couldn’t believe how great it was looking already!
Here’s a tip for how to high to place your shelves. Measure your shoes! I knew I would be able to get about 3 to 4 pairs of shoes per shelf, so I measured my boots and made sure the shelves were that tall – so they could fit anywhere. But, you could also have varying shelf heights depending on how many shoes you wanted to cram in there. I just wanted it to all look even and cohesive – so I made it all the same.
The one thing I was most looking forward to in this closet was getting new hangers for my clothes. I’ve always used just whatever I had on hand, and this seemed like the perfect time to invest in pretty hangers for my pretty new closet. I found these felt hangers and fell in love. They’re navy blue with rose gold hardware and they match everything in the closet so perfectly! I also opted to get some pant clips that work with the hangers as well.
Decorate
Now for the fun part! I had envisioned that beautiful wall paper as a focal point in the room for so long and I knew just the piece of furniture I wanted to put in it. My grandmother had a yellow Lane cedar chest that she kept blankets and special items in and now it was time for it to get to shine. I didn’t want to change the color – that primary color of yellow was going to work perfectly for the primary blue color in the wallpaper.
Next, I purchased a rug. I wanted something that had a hint of blue in it – but didn’t have a pattern that competed with the wallpaper. This rug came from Overstock and was perfect for the space and at 5×5, it perfectly fit into the space.
I have always loved the idea of using hats as wall art, so that’s what I did here. I used coat hooks and randomly secured them to the wall. Now I can see where all of my hats are in one place and they’re easy to grab and go.
What to cover up the electrical panel with? After all, we do need to be able to access it, so I opted for hanging a large – and I mean large – picture frame over it. The print is a 24×36 poster size photo from the Gilmore Girl’s Life and Death Brigade umbrella stunt and after I framed it in a black frame, it’s just perfect.
I wanted to add a little greenery to the space, but since there’s no sunlight in the closet, I opted for a faux plant. I love the height of this snake plant and I put it on a little stool that I can also use as a way to get to higher items in the shelf.
I fell in love with this pouf when I was at Dwell Well’s Tivey house. It’s got a Moroccan feel to it and I thought it would be perfect for me to sit on while putting on my shoes. I bought it without stuffing, so I just need to get some before placing the pouf by the chest.
Last but not least, I needed a new jewelry stand. The one I had previously was a large armoire and was honestly just overkill for what I need. It takes up a lot of space and I don’t have a ton of jewelry, so something small on top of the chest is just perfect for me. This jewelry stand holds necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings all out where you can see them – and then it has 3 drawers you can put extras in as well.
The After
- Great use of space
- Colorful and inviting
- Everything for getting dressed is in one place
- Great organization
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