Guest Bedroom Closet, designing something Different
When I renovated this home there were a few things I did that I still really appreciate. Every shower has a light above it, every closet has a light in it, I put in a lot of extra outlets (and I put them all in the corners of roms because I hate that outlets are often in the center of walls and under windows – places where furniture (and thus lamps) are rarely ever placed) and all of my closets are really big. This room got the biggest closet by far and though I don’t quite remember exactly why it worked out that way this closet ended up nearly three feet deep.
The average width of a clothes hanger is 16 inches so most closets are rarely more than two feet deep simply because they don’t need to be.
This is not a huge room but it is plenty big enough for a chair, a queen size bed and a couple of side tables. But the best place for the dresser is actually going to be in the closet which got me thinking. (I found this old beauty in a shed right after I purchased the home. Isn’t it gorgeous?!)
Instead of putting a rod up the traditional way (across the back of the whole closet) why not utilize its depth and put hanging up on either side? So, I’m going to put two rods on the left and one rod on the right hanging beneath the one shelf I left here.
That’s still 9 feet of hanging storage!
First thing is first though I have some major fixing to do here. This closet was my “tool room” for years and got seriously beat up. (See my new tool room here that is an actual room!) Fortunately I had enoughleftover paint so, after removing all of the shelves and sheetrock anchors and doing a couple of days of patching, this fix really didn’t take me a lot of time and almost no money.
I painted out the plastic bin down in the left hand side of the closet too. A few years ago I cut out the back of it and secured it around my internet modem to keep it safe. (I’m still pretty proud of that little project actually.) The floor desperately needed another coat of paint too wich is called Tomcat by Valspar and is the same color as the trim and ceilings. (The wall color is Sail the Seas, also by Valspar.)
From there I was looking up at the old barn light in here and it just wasn’t working anymore. No one wants to be staring at a bare bulb like that no matter how much a lot of light might be appreciated. I installed instead just a basic socket I already had on hand and screwed in an soft LED bulb.
I ordered these closet rod hangers for the left side because I want shelves here too. And at just three feet wide I put them in the corners (where I knew studs would be) so they take up very little space. On the right side I picked up these hangers that I attached to the bottom of the shelf for the last rod.
I put in the dresser and it absolutely needed a big mirror above it so I headed to my local thrift store and found this one. (I also had a bit more shopping there for this room too and I’m pretty excited to show you the lamps I found!) The mirror’s frame was actually very close to the spray paint I used on it which was Ace’s silver enamel.
So, this is where my plan derailed in a good way.
The mirror I purchased didn’t have any kind of hanger on the back of it and I was really not comfortable with how it was built to try to add a hanger without literally reframing the whole thing, and I didn’t want to do that. But I also I didn’t want it mirror falling off the wall in the middle of the night either.
My Mom had the idea of a pretty shelf to set it on!
I already had a couple of these shelf brackets on hand because when I redesigned my living room last year I no longer had the wall space for the quilt wall hanging that I’d been using them for, so this really worked out! I like those brackets so much in fact that I’ve used them in my kitchen, my master bedroom and my master bathroom!
I cut a 1×6 just over the width of the dresser (about 3 feet) and sanded it and then installed it to set the mirror on. I really struggled with how to finish it but ultimately I painted the shelf, and the shelf brackets, out in the wall color.
It totally feels like a mantel. I can’t wait to decorate it!
Good idea Mom!
I know someone is going to ask about closet doors but the size of this closet and how its now designed really feels like a lot less of a closet and more of an extension of this room. I do have curtains I was using here so I could just add them back… But I’m not going to. I did some rug rearranging and its totally wonky but I like it!
The overlapping rug into the closet I think visually makes the space bigger and helps it feel less like a closet and more like a dressing area.
I CAN BE REALLY OBLIVIOUS SOME TIMES…
Soooo, I don’t know if you guys noticed or not but it took me literally looking at (and editing) the AFTER pictures of this project to notice something that is glaringly obvious.
I installed the bottom rod on the left WAY too high lol I don’t know what I thought anyone was going to hang from the top rod that wouldn’t entirely cover the bottom rod but… Yeah it needed to move down over a foot.
Also looking at my after pictures I just could no longer tolerate that horrible beyond bright LED bulb. In fact, that was my last straw with the bright white “fluorescents” in my home.
Over head lights are fine but, in my opinion, lamps should be warm. I replaced all of my lamp bulbs (and in here) with these. They’re still LEDs and are still plenty bright but no longer “dentist office” sterile.
I’m feeling pretty thrilled with how this is turning out!
Also, those boards I put up to make shelves above the left side hanging were the same boards I’d already stained and had been using in here when this was my tool closet. Gotta love recycling.
