Reorganizing the Bedroom Closet

We are making some changes to my craft corner and are moving the dresser that was in the same room downstairs to the boat room. This meant I had to rethink the other storage areas as I still needed the things from the dresser to be somewhat close by.

I already hacked the narrow closet in the bedroom once before so I could store large sheets of papers in there but it still wasn't used to it's full potential.


So I decided to add a couple of more shelves in there. I used scrap pieces of board that we've had in the garage and simply measured the spaces and cut accordingly.


This is the basic idea for the new shelves. Three strips of wood on which the board rests. I had these quarter round ones which work well.


The strips of wood were then nailed in place at the height I wanted. The height in this case was determined by the foot bach that sits on the bottom of the closet and needs to come out once in a while.


As you can see this board is not a very pretty one but that doesn't matter because I'm wallpapering it.


The top part of the closet had never been painted but since I was fitting a shelf in there too I though it was about time. I realized painting it before adding the shelf after the strips of wood were installed was easier that with the shelf inside. The shelf was painted separately and I also added white adhesive shelf liner to it and to the bottom.


Here's that previously ugly board all dolled up in a sample piece of wall paper I had. I love how the colors just happened to match the ones in the other wallpaper.


An there it is, the closet with its two new shelves. Cost: $0 because I didn't buy any of it, it was all scraps and leftovers from previous projects.


And now it was just a matter of trying to fit everything in there... I got my basket and box stash out from the basement and tried a few different versions of storage.


I ended up putting the bed linen in the top part of the closet and the bath mats stayed to one side in the lower part of the closet. Next to the bath mats I placed two baskets, one behind the other and in there are miscellaneous items like belts, scarves, hair dryer etc.


Ot the bottom shelf there are baskets with my underwear and socks. Winter socks are in the tin box and I'll be switching things around when it gets colder.


Tada! A days work but the kind I love, where you use what you have and get great results. I love it.

More on the craft corner redo later on!

Comments

[Holly]

Beautiful Benita! We too live in an older house where I need to be creative in finding places to put things. As usual, you have inspired me to take a second look at one of our closets and do some more decluttering. We have a long weekend over here and I would rather do that than hang out celebrating away from home for several hours. I have started making some simple changes to other closets such as matching wooden hangers, what a difference!

[eni]

hej
nice work! I wonder where (in/around stockholm) you get adhesive shelf liner? I have some ugly kitchen shelves that I would like to cover.
and what is "shelf liner" in swedish? would be thankful for your help!
hälsningar
eni

[Michelle]

You did a great job as always. Your blog has inspired me to re-vamp much of the storage in our house - thank you. It makes life run a lot smoother around here.

[Carlos]

Shelf liner in Swedish would be "hyllpapper" but the adhesive kind would be called "självhäftande plast". You can find it at Panduro Hobby but also in hardware stores like Järnia.

[eni]

tusen tack! I guess it is much more expensive at panduro compared to hardware stores. I will keep my eyes open, when I wander through bauhaus next time...
eni

[Joana]

Three pieces of wood where the shelf rests is exactly the kind of shelving I did in all of my closets after I started reading your blog (although I didn't line or painted it but it still looks pretty good). It adds a lot of function and I can just lift the shelves when I want to clean everything. Or if I want someday to swith things around (3 kids might swith room later on and they have different needs: like girls may need taller/higher slots to hang long dresses) I just have to lift the slelves and store them or used them somewhere else.

[I.]

Geez, how simple and great!

I have a huge 5 door closet and I'm so not organized that it needs to be decluttered. This is the inspiration I need - Thanks B.

[Sara]

Miracle Girl!!!!!

[Leena]

I love that the wallpaper you put there has same colours as the foot bath thingy.
Whole closet looks magnificent!

[Jacilyn]

Oh I just love it when you redo closets like that. This turned out great!

[Vicki K]

What a pleasing sight every morning that must be! I love the coordinating but different wallpapers.

[quinn]

Looks great, like all your projects :)

Do you use that reciprocating saw (I would call it a sabre saw) to cut heavy plywood? Do you snap a lot of blades? Can you guess why I ask?

I don't like my circular saw - it's so heavy and loud. But I haven't found a good alternative. Maybe today is the day!

[aqeela]

Hi Benita,

A great post once again! I just wanted to ask a few questions :-)

1/ Do you do all the sawing, drilling, screwing etc yourself, or get one of the boys to do it?

2/ Martin and Wille both wear shirts and chino type trousers / shorts alot, do they buy, for example, 3 of the same shirt at a time, or is it just that all of their different clothes are really similar in style? The reason i ask is because i wondered if you buy your classic never go out of fashion clothes in bulk simply because they just never go out of fashion?!

Thanks Benita,

Aqeela xx

[Noga]

Hi Benita
Greetings from Israel!
Your post is an inspiration here too!
Thank you for the encouragement to do those things by myself!

[AnnaA]

Härligt inspirerande! :)

[Carlos]

If the yellow thingy is the reciprocating saw, yes, that what I prefer to use :). I call it a jig saw (from watching too many British DIY shows perhaps?). I don't like the circular saw either but we do use it for big projects.

I've never snapped a blade on the jig saw actually. Maybe you're pushing too hard?

[Carlos]

1) I do it all myself and when it comes to drilling into walls, electrics and plumbing it's mostly all me. Martin doesn't like any of that and he's actually a little freaked out over electrics...haha...

2) All three of us are sort of uniform dressers. Martin is probably the one with the most diverse closet with his tartan sports jackets etc. Wille always wears blue jeans spring, fall and winter and in summer it's those chino shorts you've seen, in khaki or navy. For tops he used to only wear polo shirts or maybe a t-shirt now and then but after wearing his first shirt (other than on photo shoots) at the prom he realized how nice and cool they are to wear in summer. Martin wears jeans or chinos with polos or shirts and sports jackets.
I tend to buy things in bulk. If there's something I like or know Wille likes I buy three of the same (at least). It looks like we never change clothes but I promise we do :)!

[Twill Jill]

I love this project! I have a laundry chute that spills down into an odd spot and I was hoping to build a tall, enclosed cabinet for the dirty laundry to spill into. I wanted to use my scraps to do it. But I had no idea how to do it without any plans. Thanks for the explaination behind your project!!