One Closet Finished, One To Go

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I finally started tackling the single remaining project I was dreading the most — finishing the interiors of the closets. I got one of them finished, and still have one to go. And while the project itself wasn’t that exciting, there’s something about finally being able to move my stuff into the room that takes it from being just a fun room to decorate to being an actual bedroom.

If you’re new around here, let me explain. This bedroom is actually the guest bedroom. But for now, Matt and I will move in there and use it as our main bedroom until we are able to do the addition on the back of our house that will include a master suite, laundry/utility room, and family room.

After closing off the original closet in this room and adding that space to the adjoining room (which will be our home gym eventually), I needed to carve out some space from the bedroom for new closets. I built two closets flanking the window. To save space, I used sliding doors instead of hinged doors.

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So the exteriors of the closets have been finished for a while, but the insides still needed attention. Here’s how this left closet looked on Monday…

still to do - closets

And here it is all finished…

finished closet - 2

I kept it very simple — white paint (Behr Polar Bear to match the trim in the room), and then one shelf on top, and one hanging bar. I originally had a shelf up there, and then removed it because I made the mistake of making the shelf the entire depth of the closet (30 inches). That made the space between the shelf and the header in front of the closet (that covers up the track hardware) very short, so it made the shelf virtually useless. I cut the shelf down to 20 inches deep and reinstalled it, so now I there’s plenty of room to fit things up there.

And the reason this closet only has one hanging bar is because I needed a place to put my shoes. I’ve been a bit concerned about where I was going to store my shoes, so I spent an hour at Home Depot yesterday considering various options. I came very close to making built-in shoe shelves, but I realized that once we move out of this room and into our master suite, having permanent built-in shoe shelves in this closet would be less than useless.

So once again, I opted for a super simple solution and went with these stackable shoe organizers. I bought two boxes, and each one comes with two shelves. They were $19 each (on clearance), so this option cost a fraction of what built-in adjustable shelves were going to cost.

finished closet - 3

I just love how white and bright and clean that looks! It’s so much better than drab unpainted MDF.

I was so excited to have a usable closet in this room that I worked until 11:30 last night unboxing my shoes and getting them in the closet. 😀 I still don’t have clothes in there yet, but I can do without clothes. I’m a shoe girl. 😀

finished closet - 4

It’s a good thing I’m short and my clothes are short. I think there’s plenty of room there for one row of my hanging clothes on a 40-inch bar. I’ll install two hanging bars in the other closet for another 80 inches of hanging space, and we also have a nine-drawer dresser. It’ll be a tight fit for a while, but we can make it work.

I utilized almost every bit of the floor space in the closet, and because of the way the closet is built, I can put things right up to the front of the closet floor, and they still won’t get in the way of the door closing. You can see the track that the door slides in here…

finished closet - 5

So every bit of that closet floor space can be used, and the door will still close perfectly…

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finished closet - 7

So that’s one closet finished, and one to go.

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37 Comments

  1. I love your closets and been following for a few months now. I am remodeling my condo and love the small bedroom makeover with the closets on both sides of the bed. Do you happen to have a tutorial on making these?

    1. I didn’t do a detailed tutorial on these because I had built similar closets in the past. Here’s the link to the closets I built in the condo, and I used the same process to build these as well.

      The difference is that on the condo closets, I used hinged doors, and on these guest bedroom closets I used sliding doors. I did a post that picked up at that spot in the project and walked through installing the track hardware and making the doors. You can find that here:

      https://www.addicted2decorating.com/diy-cabinet-style-bedside-closets-part-1.html

      https://www.addicted2decorating.com/guest-bedroom-closets-basic-build-finished.html

  2. It looks great! Did you know that you can fit more shoes or make them fit easier if one shoe points out and one shoe points in? I always put my right shoe pointing out/pointing towards me but put it on the left side on the shelf, then put the left shoe pointing in/away from me to the right of the right shoe. That way the curves in the shoes hug each other. Since I am right-footed, I always take off my right shoe first, so that is why the right shoe goes on the shelf first. It is much easier to see than to describe with words!!

  3. Why the sliding door? With the size of that closet, hinged doors wouldn’t have interfered with anything. Now when you open the closet, you block the desk.

    1. This side wouldn’t have been an issue, but on the other side, there’s not enough room for hinged doors and a bedside table. I’m not concerned about the door blocking the desk because it would be impossible for me to be using the desk while at the same time needing to open the closet door to get something out. I’d be doing on or the other, but not both simultaneously. And I don’t plan to keep the closet doors open for any reason, so the desk will always be usable whenever I need it.

  4. I see a blue pillow sitting on your little desk stool😛 How cool!
    Looking great and I’m a shoe girl too but…..I love clothes as well 🤣😂

  5. Your painting is impressive. All the care you take in sanding, filling in, sanding again, priming and then finish coat really makes a difference.

  6. Closet looks great, Kristi! I knew that you would get this all done before the end of next week but so glad to see you knocked out the mundane task first. It’s amazing what a coat of white paint will do. The zebra ankles boots certainly made me take notice too. (And make me want to go on a shoe prowl. 🙂 I love your sense of style in decorating (and shoes too!) and look forward to seeing the room with your finishing touches!

  7. Well hello shoes! I had you pegged for a white Keds only gal. Was I ever wrong. Your footwear taste is as good as your decor sense, exceptional!

  8. Hi Kristi,
    The build is magnificent. Everything about this room is fabulous. I rarely comment, but I’ve “known” you for almost a decade at this point, and I have to tell you how utterly DELIGHTFUL it is to see your shoes! It’s like seeing a new side of an old friend. Except now that I type that, I realize that OF COURSE you have a colorful, interesting shoe collection. How could I have expected anything else? (Not that I had ever taken the time to formulate an actual expectation about your footwear. 🙂 )

  9. I’m very curious. Why do you have a pair of sandals where it appears that one is red and the other is black?? Are you missing a matching pair somewhere around your house? 😀

    1. The interior closet height is about 85 inches. The top shelf is 40 inches wide and 20 inches deep. The whole closet is 30″ deep and 40″ wide.

  10. Silly me. I don’t understand how your closet doors slide past each other with handles that protrude. What am I missing, besides the carpenter gene? Looks great!

  11. What a great idea! You did such a nice job! And I LOVE that you love animal print… one of my absolute favorites! Please tell me you also have a few pieces of clothing in animal print!

  12. “i can do without clothes, i’m a shoe girl.” Lucky Matt 🙂
    LOL!! i’m sure Home Depo would love to see you rock up in shoes alone 😉
    You are hilarious honey – and doing such a great job of it all – and now your fans can see you’re even nailing your shoe collection 😉
    much love to you!