A Place to Hang Our Hats... and Everything Else.

One thing I knew when we first looked at this house was that creativity was going to be key for storage.  Even though we had a full basement and attic, we had very little usable closet space.  

We knew eventually we would have to do something with the closet in the master bedroom.  We figured that our walk-in closet would hold us for a couple years until we could afford to knock out the existing closet and built ourselves something that Trish Surh would be proud of. 

When we decided to use the walk-in as a nursery, it was obvious something needed to be done with our closet, and fast.  Since we didn't have the budget to do the full-on closet demo that we dreamed of  (along with the rest of our big ass To Do list), we decided to find a NEW temporary solution.

After moving the longer dresser out of our room and into the baby's room, we have a little nook for us to use

(Please pardon the first five or so pictures-- they were taken with JEGs camera phone at night).

We jutted out to Lowes and snagged two bars to hang our clothes from:  one higher for JEGs (since he is so much taller) and a midget one for me.  To maximize the space, we also grabbed a white-washed board from IKEA's As-Is section to use as a shelf.

We wanted to conceal our clothes from the rest of the room, so we decided to hang some light and airy curtains, ala YoungHouseLove.

Our first idea was to use tension rods to hold up the curtains, but we ran into two problems:  1. we couldn't find a tension rod long enough, and 2. the placement of the rod would have made the hangers poke into the curtain.  And I just couldn't have that.  Then JEGs came up with the brilliant idea of using a curtain rod we already had.  I confess I was hesitant about the idea, but after some visualization, he convinced me.

On the left side of the closet he secured the bracket just outside of the nook

Since the right side of the nook came out farther, he attached the bracket some same distance from the back wall and swiveled the hook 90 degrees.  We had to remove the finial, but I don't think anyone will notice.

When the brackets were secure, we tested out the rod and curtains

We transferred all our clothes in and I hemmed the curtains  and TA DA!

All of JEGs' clothes have room to hang, and he has plenty of space for his watches, cologne and shoes on the shelf

My wardrobe is happily hanging about hip level and I can comfortably see everything.

I wanted to do a better storage for shoes, but this is good enough for now.  One day, when we completely renovate the closet and do fancy shelving, we will find a better way to store my shoe collection.

We are really really happy with the way it turned out, especially for such a "this will do for now" kind of project.

For all you number crunchers out there, here is the budget breakdown:
(numbers are approx. because I lost the receipt.  Dammit).

Clothing rods: $8 each-- however one was returned and scuffed up so we were able to get it for half off.
Brackets for rods:  $7 for a two back (x2 rods is $14)
Shelf:  $6 from IKEA's As-Is section
Brackets for shelf: $3 each (x 2 is $6)
Box of screws:  $10
Curtain rod:  Free (already owned)
Curtains:  $15 (IKEA's Vivan)

Total Cost:  $63.

Not too shabby considering the fact it A. got all of our clothes in one room and B. cleared up some space in the storage guest room.   The box of screws was a big expenditure- especially since we only used about 5 or 6 of them, but they are made to go through brick, and when we do fully renovate the closet, we are going to need them.  So it's like an investment.

One more thing checked off our TODO list.  Boo.  yah.

Always & Forever,
  ME