Built-in's In the Closet

The Hall Closet Project

Building usefull space...

We have had this closet in our house that was completely USELESS!  It was built to be a coat closet; however, hangers didn't really FIT in the closet.  In order to close the door after hanging something up we had to turn the hanger side ways and hold it all in there with one arm then carefully close the door with the other.  More often then not, the door would pop back open again.  UTTERLY USELESS!  Grrr....  However, it did provide shelter for our vacuum cleaner and some coats that we never put on. 

Can you see how the hangers are slightly angled?  UGH!  Who builds things like that?  I know that our home is "older" and that things were built differently 20 years ago but to my knowledge, hangers HAVEN'T grown since then.  Have they???

Well, I got tired of it one day and in a HUGE fit of frustration...I ripped the thing apart!  It was therapeutic to say the least. 

As boring as that looks...it was so much nicer seeing it that way.  I could actually close the doors for a change.  It was so nice.

But I couldn't just leave it that way...then it really would have no use to me.

So I busted out some paint I had leftover from my bedroom and went to town...

Love me some Frog Tape...don't you?  That stuff really works too!  As you can see, I just slapped the paint on there all willy nilly like.  I mean, its just a closet after all :)

And here she is all painted up in her new color.  I think she looks lovely in the Benjamin Moore shade of Windchimes ...

While we waited for the paint to dry, we headed out to Home Depot to buy the wood for the shelves we will be installing.  Armed with the measurements, we found some pine boards that were perfect and asked the kind folks at Home Depot to cut our boards to size. 

Have you ever done that?  It was a first for us and let me tell you, it made our project go SOOOO much faster to have that done BEFORE we got home!  It definitely cut out some of the "error" factor that's for sure.

Now its time to add some shelves.  I thought about just putting some white shelves up and calling it a day but when I was perusing the isles at Home Depot I spotted a can of Weathered Oak stain by Minwax just sitting on a shelf all alone...It called to me.  So I brought it home...and stained my shelves...and we were in love.

Swoon!  I just love the way it looks against the paint. It's PERFECT!

Then it was time to fill 'em up with all my goodies that I have been dying to put in one place!

YEA!  I just love how bright and cheerful it all is now.  And the best part...I STILL have room to add more STUFF if I want too!  YEA ME!

This project was a cinch!  Mr. AKM and I were able to pull off this little closet switch-a-roo in less than one weekend thanks to the help of the awesome folks at Home Depot!  (no, this is not a paid advertisement...they were just super nice and helpful)!

So tell me, do you have a closet that is a major pain?  Have you rebuilt it to turn it into something that you can be proud of?  I'd love to hear all about it!