Big closet reveal

Maybe you remember me drooling over closets back here. Ever since we moved into our house last June, we haven't used our master closet - we've used the office/extra room as a giant walk in closet. Our closet doesn't look so bad when it's empty. But it was clearly designed by a man, not thinking about what goes into it. It's very long, almost ten feet. But it's very narrow - 42 inches at one end and 55 at the other. It had this weird little... shoe cubby built in at the back, which was nothing more than an excellent breeding ground for spiders. And with hanging racks built on both sides, once you hang clothes on either side there was no room left to walk. It's safe to say that the closet was my least favorite part of the house.

And now, I love it. I sigh a huge sigh of relief and happiness every time I walk in. In one day (I worked, Hans didn't), we tore out all the shelving and hanging (big demo project with Paul's help), made a trip to Ikea to pick up some lovely, lovely solutions from their Pax wardrobe line and added two coats of white paint (to get rid of the musty smell and make the walls just feel *clean* again). Then we built the wardrobe - and man! That thing is a monster. At 40 inches wide, it barely fits in that back space. Like a glove, man, like a glove. It took us several hours, several mess ups and maybe a few curse words before we finally got it in there. Then we picked up some Rubbermaid shelves and hanging rod at Home Depot and installed that on the left side. We originally planned for additional shelves on the right side, but we've found that we already have enough space for all our clothes (and some to spare) and we really like being able to actually walk in the closet, turn around, see everything, change, do a little dance, whatever. There's something to be said for purposeful blank space.

I think I'd like to add a chandelier, and maybe a mirror. Then it'll really be my favorite room in the house.