Project: Walk-In Closet

Hello everyone....welcome to a fresh instalment of K&K's on-going Reno adventures.

Like most married couples, we exchange wedding anniversary gifts. From the very beginning we decided to follow the traditional anniversary gifts. This year it is our 5th Anniversary (yes, five years already!). Well, year 5 is wood.

Wood?  Um. Really? Who came up with wood? Seriously, wood?
Ok then. Wood it is.

What wood gift can I get her??? Immediately my mind went to:

"What rolls down stairs
alone or in pairs,
and over your neighbour's dog?
What's great for a snack,
and fits on your back?
It's log, log, log.

It's log. It's log.
It's big. It's heavy. It's wood.
It's log. It's log. It's better then bad, it's good."

I know your singing the song!

Once I got the smile off my face and came to my senses, I gave it some serious thought. 

I decided to surprise her and redo her walk-in closet. She likes having a walk-in closet, and has never said a bad thing about it, content just knowing it was more than most have; but if you asked me, it was pretty bad. It was the Uma Thurman of closets. I mean, completely unimpressive to look at.
I always thought of a walk-in as a non-essential...but if you are going to have one, might as well have one that looks good and is super practical and you're not totally embarrassed to show it off. Besides, in my opinion, she deserves to have the nicest one possible. So I decided to see if I can give it to her. 

Let's get started with some pictures of the before. 

Not sure you can tell, but the room is almost a full U shape with with just shelving wrapping around, and a hanging bar underneath the shelving (it has a entrance door on one side of the U, and in the open space of the U is the door to the ensuite bathroom).  Its pretty plane and not much to it. 

What I really didn't like was the industrial/basement-garage feel of the shelving and pole.
The shelving is nothing more then painted particle baord, and the brackets for the pole are thick steel.

Didn't even bother to sand or router the edges. 

That is one ugly bracket. 

Once all the clothes are removed you can see how weird the installation was. Using long pieces of 2x4 for support.

With clothes removed. 

And if anyone remembers my biggest distaste in reno demolitions...NAILS!  What was this obsession with nails years ago???? Does not make for an easy tear down.

That's when I figured out the previous owners did something absolutely ridiculous. They painted these supporting pieces of wood on ALL sides, then nailed them to the wall. So what did the paint do? Yes kids, it stuck to the wall, and when I pulled the nailed-in board out it took the drywall with it. ARGGGG!

On to a major patch, sand and paint job.

Starting to patch

Finished and painted. Didn't have to be too careful as 90% of the wall will be covered by the clothes. 

Ok, so now that the walls are prep'd, it was time to start the makeover enhancement procedure.

I was going to actually build everything from scratch, but when I looked at the options as opposed to buying something prefabricated the cost did not outweigh the time and effort it would have taken to produce something nice, So I started to look for something that fit all the requirements.

First off, yes, it is a walk-in, but it is not over-sized by any means (only 8x8), so large cabinetry is out of the question. Kelly likes to hang her clothes, she is not big on shelving or drawers. But she had used up almost all the existing hanging space and had resorted to using collapsible-condenser-hangers (where you hang multiple hangers on one hook to save space). So the goal was to give her as much hanging options as possible with room to expand. Further, I wanted it to not look cheap and would stand up over time. That meant I needed to stay away from anything veneer. I could have gone wire frame units but it wasn't the look I was going for. As well, I liked the idea of the shelving as it is easily viewable and accessible.
I had one last thing to consider. Sometime in the future we know we are going to replace the carpet (which I wasn't willing to do as part of this project). So whatever I did, it had to keep in mind that eventually the carpet would need to be replaced.

Yikes...I had my work cut out for me.

(fast forward 3 weeks)

Ya! I found what I was looking for. It was time to install.

The unit I chose came with a template to assist in marking the wall for screw holes. Um...let's just say it was not sized correctly. So after the first attempt I had to fill in the holes, sand, and repaint. Then Just figure it out myself.

useless template

support brackets

wall unit floats off the ground (so yes, I can remove the carpet!)

Next came the side shelving. In order to hang the Main unit I needed to mount it to the studs. But that meant the side shelf pieces didn't fit. One side was too long, the other side was too short. So I needed to cut some off one side, and add it onto the other. 

Shelving added

Can you tell where I added the extra piece on the end? 

Then I added the poles. Had to make the poles fit so I hacksawed them to size, and then tapped screwed them tight into the end-cap holders.

One pole on one side for long dresses. Double pole on other side for twice as much hanging space. 

One side done. Two more to go. 
In the middle of the U room, I just hung up a shelf. 
On the other side I hung a shelf with a pole, and then below it another pole. 
These shelves were a pain to hang level all by myself. But in the end I taped the level to the shelf so I had a constant indicator. 

middle shelf only

side shelf with pole attachment

Here you can also see the jewellery board I built for Kel a few years ago; she would kill me if I took that away. 

She also needed a solution for belts. There is a whole wall unused behind the door. So I got some hooks so she can hang her belts there. And then added a couple of extra hooks around the room. Can never have too much hanging space. 

Belt hooks behind door

extra hooks

Here are some pics of the final install with the clothes brought back into the room.

Pic of the belts

Plenty space up top for all her handbags. 

You can also see here the little velvet push pin board I made for her earrings. 

Hard to take wide photos in a small room like that...but I think you get the idea.

Also thought I would try my hand at adding a video.

Lastly, I thought I would show how much space she actually saved. 

No longer need to use all these multi-hangers

Leftover hangers for future growth

Happy 5th Anniversary babe! Love you. Hope you enjoy your new closet. 

And hope you all enjoyed taking a peak into my wife's closet. 

Till next time, thanks for checking this out. 

K&K

(By the way, in case you are wondering...Kev's clothes go in the spare room closet.) 

Project: Pool Shed Makeover

Ok. So it has been a while since we've done some Home Reno. And judging by the countless requests I get for more blogged projects, there is a serious hunger to know what's next. I cannot turn my back on my legions of fans. I feel a certain onus...no, no...a responsibility to fulfil the wishes of so many. So here is Summer 2014's entry.

The word Reno is usually reserved for a 'change-in-state', but that is not what we did here. This entry is more about home repair. The idea being to return something to its previous state of quality.

After this tough winter the backyard Pool Shed did not fair so well. The exterior wood started to rot around the base, and a creature attempted to burrow their way into the structure.  So it was in desperate need of a makeover.

All the corners were crumbling. 

I'm thinking either mouse or woodpecker. Hard to say which. 

Wood was rotten about 2 feet up every side. 

First things first. Remove the decrepit wood.
But I thought if I was careful enough that I would be able to remove all the pieces in-tact and use them as templates for the new pieces. But it is obviously an older shed as it was put together with 2 1/2" nails. (Who builds anything with nails anymore?) It was a long process of prying each and every nail out. How many you ask? 96 in total. Oh and did I mention it was 31 degrees with the humidity? No? Well it was! Not fun.

Prying nails out.

At least the frame and roof were still in good shape.

Here you can really see the damage caused.

You would think that was dirt...but it is really rotted wood. It just disintegrated. 

Next it was onto cutting new pieces.

Don't forget to plumb your cuts! Whoever created chalk plumb is a genius! How you do this any other way is beyond me. I should also mention the person that created the electric circular-saw is not half-bad either. The person that created particleboard...you are forgettable. 

Once cut, screw into place. Not nail...screw! Always screw. 

Cut and hang the front sections. 

That was a whole days work. It is really tight in there to work. Especially at the back where there is only 16 inches between the shed and the air-conditioner.

Oh...this is where I get to tell you about one of the best Christmas gifts I have received. My Aunt Avis bought me a miniature hammer, and if you don't have one...get one! This thing is amazing. You can get into all the tight areas of almost any situation with it. In fact, when I need a hammer or claw for almost any reason this is now my go-to hammer of choice. You have complete control of every swing. Unless I am doing some serious framing work (and seriously who really uses nails any more?) this is the greatest little beast of a tool you can own. Aunt Avis really nailed that gift! (Get it...its a hammer and she nailed it! Ha! But I need to reiterate...please stop the senseless use of nails in the 21st century. For the children!).  

Mini-hammer!!! Do my arms really look that hairy in real life?

Ok, back to cutting and screwing in wood. 96 nails may have come out...but 125 screws went in. It is firmed up right-n-tight. Oh...and did I mention it was 31 degrees with the humidity? Yes. Well did I mention there was no breeze at all and it was super muggy? Well it was! 

Once the wood is hung, time to stain the wood. Since there was no need to replace the door, I matched the colour of the shed to the door. Its called Rose Beige (solid colour). It should be called, 'not-even-close-to-beige-and-a-little-too-pink-if-you- ask-me'.

Next I cut and installed a nice cedar trim and stained it. In order to protect the wood as much as possible I also caulked everywhere two pieces of wood joined, all corners, all seams and all cracks, including the space between the bottom of the trim and the concrete. I'm trying to eliminate, as much as possible, moisture from getting up and into the wood. Time will tell if this works. 

Caulk goes on white and dries clear. Took this pic so you can see where I caulked. 

What it looks like with the caulked all dry. 

Looking 10 years younger!  

Well that is it. Pool Shed is back to its original glory (at least until I can find a single-slopping roof prefabricated unit). 

Summer outdoor project done. Time for a swim! CANNON BALL!

K&K