My Homemade Closet

Well now that most of the major work is done it is now time to put things away.  This house is so small it has to operate like a well oiled machine.  I keep taking things from one place and somehow I have managed to take away most of my good storage space.  During this renovation I could not get to my closet so I  had clothes all over the place and no idea how to get them all put up without going in a thousand garbage bags.  (I wasn’t joking when I said I been living like a hoarder).  I looked around to see where I could possibly store some things without resorting to going to the basement.

I know, I know….I have a trail of unfinished projects and I had the nerve to start another…well in my defense I had no choice.  That’s my story and I am sticking to it.

I closed off the doorway to the laundry room but I left the door  in the office just in case one day I might change my mind and want to use it again.  My line of thinking is that I won’t have to rip the whole wall down just to find the hole.  I started looking at this space to see what I could do with it but since the shelves were there not much.  I had a few things on the shelves, nothing that I could not find another home for…like the Goodwill LOL.  (I am such a hoarder).

This door has been bothering me since I left it.  I know I had my reasons but then it really started becoming an eyesore.  I just did not feel like dealing with taking it out and chancing messing up the back wall.

To make a long story short I decided to put my closet here, leaving the door but ripped out the shelves.

 

 

One problem I have when renovating this house is losing the historical integrity of the house.  There is a lot of home made craftsmanship in here that has lasted a pretty long time and these are the kind of things you don’t see in modern renovations.  When a person does things on their own, sometimes it is easier to copy their technique but cheaper to replicate so you hardly ever hear about them.  My shelves are a good example…where ever there are shelves that the previous owner (Mr Walker or Mr Gates) built I found it interesting that they never used a solid piece of wood but rather 1×4’s and put them together: under the sink,  in every closet and every shelf.  I had not noticed where it posed a problem either and as you see there is not a warped shelf despite the fact that I had some pretty heavy things on them.  I have been copying his technique where I  added shelves.  Its cheaper and it is easier to cut the wood.  As you see in the photo he used 1×4’s and then faced the shelves with a 1×2.  Under each shelf are cleats which was a 1×2 the shelf sits on it and then he nailed the shelves into the cleats and nailed the face onto the shelf. So simple and professional looking.  Obviously they were made in a way that would last as they have been here for over 50 years and still in great shape!!

Once I ripped out the shelves I see where the carpet installers had to go around the bottom of the shelves and now that the shelves are gone there is a hole.  Well I just have to deal with that with a strategically placed piece of carpet since I did not keep any remnants.

Next I had to paint the walls.  I did not use primer like I should have….knowing the wood was old and would soak the paint up.  No I just painted 3 coats on the wall and it looks like crap still. Its a closet so I am not going to stress over it.  I am running out of time here. Before I put everything up you know I had to leave a note in the wall.  If I just purchased this house I would look in there to see if any money was hidden so here is the note I left.  In case you can’t read it:

I hope you didn’t take the closet apart thinking you were going to find some money hidden in the walls. 

Well if you did take this for your trouble.  I taped a dollar.  And now I realize I forgot to date it.  DAMN!!

This turned into a production because I realized I also wrote it too high on the wall and when you close the door you could see it through the window.  Knowing those grandsons of mine they would look in the window see the dollar and rip my closet apart trying to get to it.  So I then used some wallpaper to cover the windows from the back side.  I walked away to take a break and when I came back the wallpaper had fallen so I had to tack it back up.  Anyway, moving forward…I reused the cleats he used for his shelves and nailed them to the walls and placed 2 2×5’s up.  I really could have used another piece.  I might consider it.

I found these poles in Lowes and even though I considered using the metal EMT pipes, these were cheaper. Slightly. My camera went dead while shopping so I can’t show you a photo of the display or the price but it was in the back with the trim and it was about $5.  I got two rods.   I also picked up some closet flanges.  They rang up $5.90 cents but they had to correct that so if you buy them check behind them on the price.  He said the sign was in the wrong place but clearly it is for the product in the box.

 

I measured 2″ down and 11″ from the back wall to where the top middle screw would go

On the other side since there is no top hole so  I measured 4 1/2″ from the top and 11″ from the back wall and I marked a line, sat the flange on it and attached it there.

I put the pole in.  Now for the bottom pole I had no idea where it was supposed to go so I just took my longest top hung it on the pole and measure 2″ below it.  I made that hole 38″ from the bottom of the shelf and still 11″ from the back wall.

It didn’t take long to fill that baby up

So now I have a wall to wall closet…with no doors.  My options that I am rolling around in my head are curtains wall to wall or a making a sliding door like you see in Japanese houses.  It will be a while before I get to that…I still have tons of stuff to put away in this joint.  Yeahhhhhhh that makes this another unfinished project hhhhhhhhhhhh it never ends…