Bedroom Closet!

We are excited to share our bright new bedroom closets with you!  Before, they were dark, dingy and not very functional.  The closet rod was thick and wooden and you couldn't slide a hanger along it.  The shelves were made of dusty untreated particle board.  We're excited for our bright new colors, new closet rod, new shoe rack (!) and the ability to expand storage space later as we choose!

Here's the closet view BEFORE:

And AFTER!

The inside BEFORE:

And AFTER!

And guess what else?  In the last picture, right under the shoe rack, those are the wood floors that run under all this carpet.  They are painted there but they seem to be in pretty good shape!  What a happy find!

Our closet redo was really pretty simple but it made a huge difference.  First we took everything out and cleaned the whole thing.  We primed and painted all of the paneling but left the upper section of wall and the ceiling as it was (even though the two sides are different colors).  We used a good quality primer because the fake paneling was a glossy texture that paint wouldn't stick to well.  We painted and reused the custom-cut shelves but replaced the brackets and the closet rod.  We installed track for hanging shelves that we can add later but started ourselves off with a shoe rack.  That's all there was to it!


In case you missed this post, the colors we used are Martha Stewart Home's Whetstone Gray and Behr's Summer Breeze (color matched in Martha Stewart Home paint).

Here's the full cost breakdown:

1 gallon Zinsser 1-2-3 Primer:  $19
1 gallon Martha Stewart Home paint in Whetstone Gray:  $29

7 Shelf/Rod Brackets:  $23
2 Expandable closet rods:  $20
Shelves:  Free (reused)
Color Sample of Martha Stewart Home paint in Behr's Summer Breeze:  Free (donated by a friend who couldn't use it)

4 Closet Maid 5' Shelf Tracks:  $41 - after coupon*
Set of 2 Closet Maid Expandable Shoe Racks:  $22

Misc Hardware:  $15

Grand Total:  $169

*Did you know that Home Depot and Lowe's take each other's coupons?  We bought the shelf tracks at Home Depot on a transaction with a $25 off $250 Lowe's coupon that we received when we moved.  $41 is the return value for the tracks after the coupon.  $10 a piece isn't exactly bottom dollar for closet tracks but unfortunately the wide variety of accessories that Closet Maid makes aren't compatible with the budget shelf tracks that HD sells.  That figures.  But compared to some of those pricy closet systems out there, we think we did pretty well for a closet that we love.