Closet Project

The guest rooms in our small ranch-style house are REALLY small, though each has a fair-sized closet. Unfortunately, the closet doors are mirrored sliders, not a look we care for, so when Laura visited at Christmas, I prevailed upon her to undertake a small closet “makeover” in our primary guest room (the smallest bedroom in the house). I had been thinking about this project since we moved in: removing the sliding doors and their hardware and replacing them with curtains. Of course the shelves in the closet also had to be rearranged if the curtains were to remain open.

A quick trip to Ikea on Christmas Eve (a terrific time to go—no shoppers!) got us everything we needed except for some baskets for the shelf: a long cotton tab curtain, curtain rod and some hooks. Taking off the doors made it possible to open the drawers of the chest already in the closet, and we gained a couple of feet of air space in the room itself. Half of the closet is still available for hanging clothes and bedlinens for the room. And the overall cost, including some baskets purchase later at Target, was less than $40. Next time Laura is here, we may tackle the second guest room. Her carpentry skills are much better than mine!

Here's what it looked like before the makeover: kind of scary, with those doors practically right next to your face!