It's In The Closet!

After priming everything the night before and allowing it to cure overnight, it was finally time for a fresh coat of paint!

There is very little a fresh coat of paint cannot fix. Seriously, it's addictive once you see how much of a difference just a fresh coat of color can make. It's one of the most inexpensive and rewarding little projects you can throw into your DIY project schedule.

The closet was no different!

After several coats of Benjamin Moore's Ultra Pure White and Valspar's 'Homestead Resort Sunwashed' for the walls, our dusty, musty, dingy, catch-all dump turned into a beautiful clean light and airy hall closet.

I'm also a real sucker for the contrast between shiny dark heart pine floors and bright white trim. It's straight out lick-able!

The shelves need some cute baskets, of course, but so far they have proven to be a very clever addition to the closet that was clearly needed. Much needed, of course, was also the decluttering, and the husband came and seeing the nice new inside of the closet, decided to straighten out how brewing equipment on the top shelf. LOVE!
Of course we finished this project at the end of jacket season here in North East Florida but come winter, we are actually going to have a closet for our guests to hang their coats without shame burning our cheeks. Ha!

Shelf Life

In order to facilitate more organized cramming, I decided the closet needed shelves. One third of the closet extends to the left side of its door forming a nook that would be just perfect for some quick shelves.

Luckily, we also have plenty of pieces of wood kicking around the house and finding two pieces to fit the space was a piece of cake.

I decided to take my new toy - a Kregg jig Jr. -for a spin and use pocket holes to secure the shelves to the walls. What can I say - I LOVE that thing!

Pocket holes are no longer a fantasy. You know, like unicorns and garden gnomes!

I used drywall anchors for my screws and then screwed the shelf boards into the nook on the left side of the closet.

Then it was time for primer on door, shelves and trim. I love how even the splotchy coat of primer gives you an idea of beautiful crisp, clean things to come!

Coming Out Of The Closet

One of the not original to the house features we deliberately kept was the big hulk of a closet in the bedroom turned downstair's entrance hall/vestibule. Storage space in an old house is limited - people back then just didn't keep that much stuff as we do today - and I was loathe to loose it.

Instead I painted the door and trim white, labeled it so nobody would accidentally try this door in their search for the bathroom and called it a day.

Well, we didn't really call it a day. We stuffed it every day. Our beautiful big hallway closet became a catch-all including the last unpacked box from our move two years ago. Now I'm coming clean and out of the closet (well, there's really no way you could go -into- the closet, it's just that stuffed!).

Sorry, Mom! Camping gear, coats, costumes, sports gear, mail, boxes, bags over bags (empty), helmets, shoes, the husband's brewing equipment - everything was just crammed into it.

So, the first order of business was pulling EVERY.THING. out of the closet and sorting it into the three famous categories "For Keeps", "Donate", and "Trash." For a while the entry hall looked mighty exploded but ... it always looks worse, before it gets better.