I Like My Money Right Where I Can See It... Hanging in My Closet- Part 2

So this is where we left off yesterday- all the holes were filled, walls were painted, floors were sanded and the first coat of paint was done.  I was in the home stretch!  I added one more coat of brown to the floors.

Then I started covering with poly.  This was what it looked like right after application, before drying.  It dried mostly clear, however, I have a few patches where I must have made it too thick, and there are a few streaks.

So while the floors dried, I ran back to Ikea, to get more shelves for the bookcases, I started assembling them.  I had found a pinterest Ikea hack- this was where I got my idea for the closet.  This would prevent me from having to spend the money on a pricey closet system, and would result in a very customized closet.  First up was the tall and wide Billy bookcase, and a bunch of extra shelves to fit all  most of my shoes.  This was with the shelves included- I added five additional shelves- this made it pricier, but maximized my storage.  This shelf was attached to the wall, then I then screwed in one of the closet rods into the bookshelf and the other end into a piece of wood remaining from the original closet system (since there was no stud there).  This bar will be for my dresses and other full length items.

Then I put together the narrow Billy shelf.  This shelf fits my baskets perfectly!  I have had them for years and use them to store socks, belts, and tights/leggings.  The baskets help hide my clutter and give the closet a cleaner look.  I made sure to secure this one to the wall too so that it was able to support the weight of the rods.  Then I used the super long closet rods- this time I doubled up to make two long hanging racks.  I was also able to screw these into the bookshelf and then into the stud on the other wall.  I was concerned about sagging since these rods were 100" long and had a lot of heavy clothing hung, however, the rods seem very strong and durable.

Then I put together the last little bookshelf.  This was the perfect size for this little nook, and is functioning for gym shoes, boots, purses, etc.... and of course my penguin slippers.

I then bought an adult hamper- with three bags!  I'm in love with it- it's making hauling laundry up and down the stairs so much simpler!

And now, for the final results....

I'm thinking it totally needs a fun, girly light!

Now for the total cost, worth every penny.... I know that this is what I'm always most curious about:

Billy tall/wide bookcase- $69.00
Billy tall/thin bookcase- $49.00
Billy short bookcase- $49.00
5 long extra Billy shelves- $10.00 each= $50.00
5 small extra Billy shelves- $5.00 each= $10.00
2 72" to 100" adjustable closet rods with hardware- $13.96 each= $27.92
1 30" to 48" adjustable closet rod with hardware- $7.98
1 quart of poly- $11.31
1 quart of Behr paint- tinted with "Coffee Brown"- $17.98
1 custom closet system = $292.19 

I Like My Money Right Where I Can See It... Hanging in My Closet- Part 1

I liked this closet when I bought the house- I really did.  Having no walk in closets for the past few years made me so excited to go back to a walk-in.  I had walk ins in my apartment living, but not my condo- I had a his and her closet.  I used one for my shoes, and the other for my clothes.  Then I used the closet in the other room for bulkier clothes and formal dresses.  When my buyer insisted that I leave the shelving from my shoe closet, I was devastated.  I had wanted to take that with me.  I remember sitting in an airport in Texas, after my flight had been delayed yet again, on the phone with my agent, crying about my shoe closet.  Everyone around me must have thought I was a crazy person!

Luckily I had saved an over the door shoe rack that I used when I first bought the condo.  This stored at least some of my shoes.  But I had shoes thrown all throughout the closet too.  I love the little detail of the sloped roof, but this did make it more difficult to design.  Lucky for me, I'm so short, it's much more useable space for me than someone tall.

The bar on the right was only functional for half of the bar, because they hung another bar right next to it.  The layout was a little odd before.

One of my friends was over one Saturday night, and kept saying how great the size of the closet was.  The next day, I just got obsessed with the fact that I had to redo it immediately.  So I started researching (aka Pinteresting) to figure out what I wanted to do.  As I started looking, I decided I wanted to use the Ikea Billy bookcases as shelving.  I measured, remeasured, drew diagrams with different options.  Then I kept looking at the floor.  I didn't want to lay the bookshelves on top of the carpet, because then I was afraid we'd have to cut the carpet out when I redid the floors, and that it would look really unprofessional.  I remembered that I had pinned this blog about painted sub floors:

http://www.ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2011/01/24/diy-stencil-painted-subflooring/

I loved the stenciling, I loved the gray.  But then I realized if I wanted to paint the closet walls gray, that would be too much gray.  I also knew that I wouldn't keep the subfloors as the floor forever, so stenciling would be a lot of additional work.  So, I decided on a dark brown.  I had planned on using Rustoleum's Kona Brown, but Home Depot was out of that color.  So the great paint master mixer
recommended just selecting a dark brown color and we'd mix a quart of Behr for it.  So that's what we went ahead and did.  I had a buddy shopping with me that night- our class mascot Skippyjon Jones was visiting my house for the Thanksgiving break, so he came along.

When I got home, I removed all the stuff from the closet.  This was the part I wasn't prepared for.  It took up two whole rooms.

Then I went to town with the crowbar and hammer on the closet.  There were so many random pieces and and nails/screws.  First the rods came down.  Then the shelves.  Then the baseboards- I did these carefully so that I could reuse them if wanted.  I found lots of drywall anchors that hadn't opened, so I pulled them all out so that I could fill those holes.  Once everything was out, I couldn't wait to get the carpet out- I hadn't even noticed how nasty is was until everything was out!

Also, do you like how this hole was patched?  I think it may have been medical/athletic tape!  Haha.

Then the magic started to happen... I was so excited to see what the subfloor looked like under the carpet.  I started pulling up from the corner.  I recommend wearing a good pair of tennis shoes if you ever decide to do this yourself- lots of tacks and staples that you don't want to step on,  I tend to wear flip flops regardless of what project I'm working on.

And then, all the carpet was up!  Took forever to remove all the little tacks and staples, but as soon as I saw sub floor, I was so excited.  I could see that this was going to be so much better.  I would've even preferred the subfloors as is over those carpets.  I had to leave the house soon after because I was sneezing so much.  I had bought a mask and goggles to collect leaves, so I decided to put those on as I started sanding the subfloor.  Look at that mask- so gross when I was done!  You can even see how much dust it produces in the bedroom and bath.  I must have had to keep the windows open for a week!

I painted the walls before the final sanding, in case I dripped any on the floor.  After two passes with the sander, I vacuumed up the dust and painted the first brown coat.  I kind of liked the imperfections of the one coat.  At this point, it was nearly 3am and decided to head to bed,  This was how it was looking.

You can read all about day two of this project in Part 2.  I know that you'll be waiting in suspense!

It's Electric, Boogie Woogie, Woogie

Have I mentioned how amazing my bedroom looks?!

Especially now that my bedroom set from Vintage Rust has been delivered.  I really got this set for a steal.  Erica and Molly did an awesome job painting and distressing this set.  They worked with me to help select the color, finish, and hardware.  I can hardly believe that it looked like this before:

However, there was one problem.  While I was painting, I managed to do this to an outlet coming off the ladder...

At first I panicked as sparks came flying out, and then all the lights went out.  Tried flipping the switch again, but it kept shutting it off.  After some guidance to NOT try to activate that circuit again.  So I scheduled an electrician to come out, but was really irritated I was going to have to pay this guy for something that seemed very simple, and that he would finish in two minutes.  So, I checked out my trusty friends Pinterest and Youtube, and came across this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBCA4-XwXFg

He made it look so easy.  So comforted by his confidence, I decided that I could totally do it on my own.  I decided to give it a try the night before the electrician, so that I had him in case this didn't work out.  I went to Home Depot and spent about 20 minutes in the aisle debating between 15 and 20amps, Pro vs. Preferred, and so many other choices!  I finally purchased a 15 and a 20 and decided that I'd figure it out when I got home.  The circuit was already off, so I got started right away.  The wires did NOT pop out as easily as the video made it appear.  After fumbling with it for a while, I got the old outlet disconnected, and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that there was a number written on it to tell me what amps- 15.  So I knew which to use.  Connecting the new one was pretty simple- everything just popped right in!  I spent a little bit of time making sure the wires were as shoved in as possible, but then the whole thing just screwed right in.  Got so excited, I ran downstairs to turn the circuit back on- and then ran back upstairs as quickly as possible to make sure that there was no fire starting to burn in my room!

Problem was, now this outlet looked so fresh and clean:

But even with fresh new covers, most of the outlets are an almond color, covered in paint, or just really dirty...

I decided to just leave the outlets as they were since they were now all operating properly.  So I was off to the next room.  This room is one that I'm planning on renting out.  It's a good size room, and fairly cute, but it needed to just be cleaned up a bit.  Everything is just dirty and grimy.  It just made the room feel darker.

One real quick fix was the ceiling fan.  The previous owners had a cute little ceiling fan, but the blades were a faux wood grain.  I knew from a previous fan that I installed, that many of these fans are reversible.  I unscrewed the blades and found this to be true.  So I flipped all the blades to the white side just to make it look a little fresher.  That was already a huge difference!

I had a gallon of paint still left over from my master, so I decided that I would just be using this on those walls.  It would help create some uniformity upstairs in the bedrooms, and it would save me from having to buy any more paint.  The paint color in there wasn't awful, it was kind of a greenish aqua, but it needed to be freshened up.  The original color really complimented the hunter green blinds!

As I was painting, all I could focus on was how bad the outlets were (well, and the carpet, but that will come later).  So I decided I was going to replace all the outlets now that I knew how.    For about $1 a piece, I was going to go for it.  I had already bought new plates, so I went back and bought the outlets.  It's amazing how much crisper it made this 30 year old room.

I replaced the doorknobs on the closet (which were also painted for some reason).  Making the doors look much cleaner.

And cleaned up the mess.

I eventually took down the green blinds and dirty sheers.  Opted for some white black out curtains (after buying a set that was too much of a cream color) and hung a new rod.  Once the carpet gets ripped up, they should just barely brush the ground.

Amazing how cheaply this room was freshened up!  The curtains cost $20, I used a rod from my old condo, used paint from my master, change of outlets and covers, and just flipped the fan blades.  Total cost- under $50.