One Room Challenge – Weeks 3 & 4 – Adding A Closet

29 Apr One Room Challenge – Weeks 3 & 4 – Adding A Closet

Hello all!  I’m so sorry I missed posting last week about the ORC.  Things have been really crazy around here trying to get this project done, plus clients, plus home, plus family.  But I am feeling pretty good about getting it all done in the next two weeks, which is really only a feeling I have felt in the last 24 hours. : )

If you are just joining this process, read all about Week 1 here and Week 2 here.

When we decided to put bunks in our Boys’ Room, we knew it would be a pretty major change so we wanted to think of the best plan for them now and in the future.  One problem we foresaw in the space was the closet.  You can see what it looked like in the below photos. (it is in its original 1919 state)

The current setup has worked decently well up until now, but I can see how this space would be fairly tight for two older boys.  Plus we felt the closet was not configured in the best manner, and we needed to rethink what would work best.

I was on a plane when the idea struck me.  While pondering elements of our home we did not love, and what could be done to fix them, I thought about the boys closet, and I also thought about our laundry room closet.  You can read all about the creation and makeover of our laundry space in this post.

It is a cozy space, which is a nice way of saying…it’s small.  I do feel we have made the best use of the layout we could, and I LOVE having the laundry upstairs.  But the closet does not have a window so natural light is nil, which always makes a small space even smaller, and I fold clothes for a family of six in a three foot by three foot square.  I realize many people do this, and it does not bother me terribly, but I would like to have a little more room.

THIS IS WHEN THE CLOUDS PARTED AND I REALIZED I COULD TAKE UP THE BOYS CLOSET WHICH IS TO THE LEFT OF THE LAUNDRY CLOSET AND CREATE A BIGGER LAUNDRY CLOSET.

Dare I say, it may be enough space to say it is a laundry ROOM??!!

Do you feel the excitement?  : )

Now this is where you say to yourself, “But Self, how can I create a closet for the boys?”

And that is when you thank the builders of your nearly 100-year-old home for a little quirk in architecture that will make sense of your current problem.

In our home, there are four bedrooms.  Three of those bedrooms have this funny little entryway.  Here are a couple of examples:

Little entry in our Master Bedroom…

Little entry in our Guest Bedroom/My Office…

photo by my dear friend Jen, of iheartorganizing

Oddly enough, the only room that does NOT have this funny little entry is our Boys Room.  Therefore, since their room was rather large to begin with (in old house world), I felt comfortable taking up floor space in their room to create a closet.  Then the architecture of their room would match up with the other bedrooms in the house.  It was a win-win really.

The closet encapsulates the funny little jut-out we had to build into the Boys Bedroom because of the Master Bathroom reno, and at about eight feet long by three feet deep, it creates an awesome size closet for two.

I have a thing for interesting doors, and I wanted something really unique for the closet doors.

It is pretty hard to beat these though…  (read all about them in this post)

Image by Brian McWeeney Photography

Following up those incredible blue doors was going to be hard, but I struck gold when I spied these giant, eight-foot, solid wood, old doors for $150 apiece at my favorite local salvage store.

I really wanted to create a pair of large pocket doors, and these were the right depth.  When I saw them side by side, I had the vision.  YES!!

Now that the closet situation was figured out, it was time to get on with trim and bed building.  (more on that next week)

In case you are wondering, yes, I have some ides for how the laundry should look.  It will be a long space so deciding the best layout for it will require some thought.  But frankly, we have so many other things going on that I have not had much time to think about it or plan for it.

I am feeling encouraged about the Boys Room, and I am very optimistic we will have it done in time.  I will tell ya, I am ready to move them and their closet out of our living area and my office.  ; )

Special thanks to Linda from Calling It Home for hosting the One Room Challenge, and to House Beautiful for being a Media Partner.  Be sure to check out the other folks participating this year!