{One Room Challenge} Week 4: Closet to Built-In

Welcome to week 4 of the 6 week One Room Challenge hosted by Calling it Home! If you are starting here, be sure to check out week 1, 2 and 3‘s updates : ) Also be sure to check out the 20 amazing designers and blogger submissions this week!

I CANNOT believe there are only two weeks left until the reveal… I’m starting to hear the clock tick! This week we got more progress done on the walls and vanity, as well as a project that was on my “if I get to it” list, the large closet. I love that there is storage in the room, but am not a fan of the bi-fold doors. After taking the door off to work on a few other projects, it clicked that I may not need a door at all on it. There is a huge linen closet just outside the bathroom in the hallway, and with only two of us, how much hidden towel storage do we really need? So, long story long, the door did not return : )

The closet was the original flat off-white paint, so the first project to complete was a bright new coat of white paint all over the walls and shelves.

After that, we added interest to the back of the closet by adding wood planks in a dark gray color. I used a darker version of #3 (a definite favorite along with #9 based on the votes!) from last week’s paint color poll, Behr’s Magnet in the new Marquee paint, and absolutely love it! The wall got painted first so no white paint could peek through the pretty new planks, and then the planks were cut, hung and painted. I have a tutorial coming about these planks coming soon- we have already used them in two other rooms in our home as well, but in a wood tone and in white! I’m a bit obsessed.

Next up was the trim. I decided to rip off the existing trim because it hung about an inch over the opening to case in the door, making it looked really unfinished. This left me with yet another blank slate that I could play with in this room. After researching some Pinterest-rific built-ins and bookcases, a simple frame with an arched top was the lucky winner.

To do this, 1×4’s were cut and nailed up on the sides first. This is also the first trim project we’ve done where the walls were almost straight… insert a happy dance here!

Next, I took a 1×10 and gathered up some paper, scissors and my jigsaw. It was my very first saw- a garage sale find for $5 and is by far my favorite little tool! To make the arch, I cut the 1×10 to size, and grabbed a piece of paper the size of my board and folded it in half. After marking off where I wanted the arch to start, end, and the middle, I drew an arch until I liked the shape, cut along the line, unfolded the paper and traced it on my board. A very easy and inexpensive way to create a template!

One jigsaw cut, some sanding and a little white paint later, the arch was ready to be hung.

And that’s where the room stands right now! Leaving off the door and creating more of a built-in look has definitely made the room feel larger and adds another layer of interest so I’m so glad we got to it! I have a lot of finishing and patching work ahead of me… We did end up choosing a paint color for the rest of the walls and getting most of the baseboards up, but I’ll save that for next week along with another absolutely-positively-fantastic surprise that M did for my birthday last week! I can’t wait to share : ) Okay back to work… I’ll see you next Thursday, same time, same place : )

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