I’m still working on the faux concrete “stones” for the baseboard of my porch, and it looks like I won’t reach my goal of completing my outdoor projects by my birthday this weekend. I’m a little disappointed, but I’m working as fast as I can and I’m not going to leave projects unfinished just because I set an arbitrary deadline. So I’m going to finish the porch (finish the concrete cast stone baseboards and paint the wood porch), install the new porch lights, and paint the area around the new bedroom door. Then I’ll clean up all of these areas as well as the area around the side studio door and be done with the outdoor projects for now. I hope to return to them in the fall.
Once I reach the stopping point outside, I finally work on the closet in our bedroom. If you’re new here, the room I’m talking about is a hallway bathroom that used to be our master guest bathroom but is now part of our master bedroom suite. And since it’s pretty weird having a guest bathroom in a master bedroom suite, and I really need more storage space for Matt’s gear, I’m going to turn this guest bathroom into a storage room.
For now, the bathroom is hidden behind closed doors in the foyer of our bedroom suite.
I’m so glad it can be hidden because the bathroom/future closet that used to look like this…
…currently looks like this…
I started with this and then came to the conclusion that I just wasn’t ready to jump into another big interior project right after completing my bedroom to walk-in closet conversion and remodeling our bedroom. So I closed the doors, temporarily walked away and focused on some unusual outdoor projects for the time being. But once I finish these last few outdoor projects, I’ll get back to work on this storage cabinet project. I now feel prepared and equipped for another interior remodeling project.
But before I get there, I have to make some decisions. I have already worked through the basic layout of the room. When I stand in the doorway, I want the cabinets on the right wall to be arranged like this (which you already saw in a previous post). The large, empty area is where I will store Matt’s power wheelchair and shower wheelchair when they are not in use…
And then the wall on the left is arranged to look something like this…
I’ve been trying to think carefully about how I want to build these cabinets. Since it’s just a storage space and I’m really the only person who will ever have access to that storage space, it really depends on what I want and how much effort I want to put into that space. I have two options for the cabinets.
First, I can do my best and build real closets like I did in my closet.
If you’ve been following along with this project, you know that each section in my closet is a separate closet and each has its own sides, back, bottom, and top. I then lined up the individual cabinets against the wall, screwed them together and anchored them to the wall, and then added all the trim. This is the more involved way to build a closet, but for me it results in a more personalized look.
However, a much easier and quicker way to create lots of usable storage space would be to use wall mounts (like these from Home Depot) and attach shelves directly to the wall.
If I go that direction, I would still have to build or purchase the drawer sections, but above those drawer sections I could then add continuous shelves that run the entire length of the wall.
The second option would of course be cheaper and faster, while the first option would look more individual and fit the walk-in closet. But here are a few more considerations:
- The first option (i.e. complete cabinets) would cost more and take more time, but it would allow me to have adjustable shelves in each section.
- In the first option, the cabinets would be the star of the show since very little wall space would be visible in the finished room.
- The second option (i.e. full length shelves on consoles) would be faster and cheaper, but I wouldn’t have the option of using adjustable shelves.
- The second option would make the walls stand out more in the room so that whatever I do on the walls would be the focus.
I really couldn’t decide which direction I wanted to go. What I know for sure is that I want to use this wallpaper in the room…
And I want the cabinets and/or shelves (and probably the ceiling) to be painted either pink or orange. I haven’t even looked at the colors yet, but I just took these two colors straight from the wallpaper.
I know I’m in my pink era right now , so pink seems like the obvious choice. But don’t forget that this closet is in our bedroom suite and our bedroom is the only pink-free room in the house. There’s a lot of orange in this room.
Anyway, as I’ve been working these past few days, these thoughts and plans have been running through my head. As you can see, I’m still working on the details. If I choose the full closet option, the color of the paint will play a much more important role in the room and the wallpaper will be an accent. When I use the open shelves on consoles, the paint color is less noticeable and the wallpaper stands out much more. Additionally, there are the other considerations I listed above for each option.
I’m still thinking about it and it’ll be a while before I have to make my final decision. Even when I’m done with the outdoor projects, I still have to finish demolishing the room before I can even start construction. I have some time, but I want to have a solid plan in place in the next few weeks.
