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This post has been a long time coming. Not because the project has been finished long but because we have talked about doing this when we first moved into this house almost two years ago. Wow, I can't believe we have lived here for that long already!! When you're a military wife you appreciate staying in one place for at least a few years.
So anyways, when we first moved in we talked about turning the closet under the stairs into a little storage area for my home decor. If you haven't noticed I have a lot of it. Well as most things go that project got pushed down the list in place of bigger prettier projects. And the closet? I was using it for decor but it was a mess. Stuff piled up and it wasn't really all that usable. Fast forward to this past week. My husband ended up with a week off work that we didn't expect and I was also off work. We chatted about what we could do in the house that would be quick and not too expensive. In talking about that we also talked about how we really needed to get more organized around the house. Who doesn't right?! That is when we finally decided to tackle the closet. It's a big closet that goes back under the stairs so we would have a bit of room to work with. Here is what it looked like after we cleaned it out. (I didn't take one before hand because, well I forgot, but let me tell you it was a mess).
We planned to do simple shelves. Cost effective and it doesn't have to look perfect considering its storage in a closet. I decided to do a shallow shelf for pictures, shelves along the back for pillows, and several long shelves with different heights on the large wall to accommodate anything I need. We went to the hardware store and picked up some super simple white brackets and plain pine boards. The deeper shelves are 12 inches and the shallow one we did a 6 inch board. We pre-measured the space and figured out how long and how many boards we would need. We ended up with a 12ft, 10ft, and 6ft long board. I believe the shallow board was 4ft.
When planning we wanted the bottom shelf to match up all the way around in a U shape. It was more practical and looked nice as well. Jeff marked the studs, made sure the shelf was level and the screwed in the brackets. Here is what it looks like with the first row done.
We added two more shelves to the tall wall after this. Once all the shelves were in he went back through and screwed in the shelves to the brackets. That was it! I could paint the shelves to match the walls if I wanted but to be honest it seems like a lot of extra work for a storage closet. I also could have bought the white shelves but they were a little more expensive and again I didn't see the need for the storage closet.
Here is what it looks like done and with decor in its place! Sorry for the poor photos, it isn't easy to photograph.
Now it's like I have my own little store! It makes it so much easier to switch the every day stuff I use around in the house. Pillows are so hard to pack away so this is a much easier space saving way. Same with pictures and wall art. I also added a ladder my dad built to store blankets. I'm sure I will tweak things and reorganize things as I go but so far I am loving how this little closet looks. I hope it helps me keep things nice and neat!! If you have an extra closet and you have lots of decor like me I would highly recommend something like this. What do you think of my closet overhaul? DOn't forget to follow along with me on Instagram!
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