Ahem. This project concerns the closet in the master bedroom. After five years of cramming all of our clothes into a single tiny apartment closet, I am thrilled beyond mention to have a walk-in closet, despite the bare sheet rock and the graffiti in the corner announcing that a previous occupant, Justin, is a "Krip Killer". Really, the only problem with the closet is that it's so unfinished it's basically a glorified crawlspace, but around here, "unfinished" just makes me salivate.
Source: Pinterest. Eventually, it's going to look like this, only BETTER.
In the meantime, it's still a massive work in progress, and until tonight, basically unusable. There are no "before" pictures of our closet, because you couldn't see. There are two fixtures in the closet, a regular bare wall-mount bulb that burned out the day after we moved in, and a 24-inch fluorescent tube bracket with no tube. I'd installed some brackets and rods a couple of weeks ago, but I quickly discovered that if I can't see what I'm grabbing, it all just ends up in a pile on the floor. (Yes, Mom, let's be honest - the pile was going to happen anyway, but the dark only aided its development.)
So tonight, after a little experimentation with the circuit breaker box and my trusty voltage tester*, I braved the risk of shock and death to enlighten our closet.
*Seriously, everyone should have a voltage tester. It's the best. Cutting a hole in the wall? Make sure there's nothing live behind it. Moving an outlet? Make sure it's not active. Moved into a house where absolutely nothing is labeled in the breaker box? Shut things off one by one and find out!
IT WORKS AND THE HOUSE ISN'T BURNING DOWN. Those are definitely my two criteria for a successful project. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. We had a horrible instructor for my electrical class, and even though I studied as best I could, I left that class feeling like I knew less about electricity than I did going in. But we neeeeeeded a light, so I read about a million articles online, and obsessively followed the directions inthe box. And it worked! And nothing's on fire! AND WE CAN SEE IN THE CLOSET!
Seriously, it's amazing. I'm not so keen on the light itself, but it was $7 at Home Depot, and Goodwill occasionally has cute schoolhouse shades for ~$3 (rather than the $45 ones at Rejuvenation or Schoolhouse Electric). I drool over the fancy ones, but really, the Free Box Goodwill is more my budget.
Source: Pinterest. If I keep my eyes open, I'll find one of these eventually.
I've seen them before.
In addition to not starting electrical fires, I've also been busy sawing holes in walls. When we first started on this remodeling adventure, Jesse was very concerned - bordering on alarmed - at my tendency to wing a project. (In my defense, the plans are all IN MY HEAD. I've got it all figured out. I just need to do it.) After the garage doors, the screen doors and the table, he's starting to relax, and when I say, "I'm going to buy $200 worth of cheap pine dressers from IKEA and tear down one of the bedroom walls," he just nods and offers to drive. (Seriously, I have the best husband in the universe. I am an incredibly lucky lady.)
Our bedroom has very large crawlspaces. After years of trying to utilize every last cubic inch of apartment space, my brain is still very much attuned to creative organization. Plus, I love the look of built-ins, which are very much in keeping with the age of this house.
Source: Pinterest. SO MUCH STORAGE. SO MUCH CLASS.
For ours, the cheapest and most efficient way to do built-ins was to buy a bunch of unfinished pine dressers from IKEA, and modify them so they fit between the studs. (I am 90% sure the studs are not load-bearing, so I probably could have cut them and not had an issue, but because the fasteners are buried beneath sheet rock and insulation, I opted not to investigate. Plus, that 10% uncertainty is kind of a big deal when it comes to our roof.)
Enter the RAST, beloved of bloggers for its solid construction and teeny, tiny pricetag:
Source: IKEA. Do a search for these things. The internet loves 'em, and for good reason.
At $35 a piece, the RAST was much cheaper than the next comparable dresser anywhere else, and much cheaper than the wood I would have needed to buy to make a dresser myself. (Not to mention my carpentry skills, while steadily growing less horrifying, are nowhere near the competency required for this.) I bought six of them, and so far have only used four. My original goal was to construct them and just slide them in between the studs, but the dressers ended up being about three inches too wide, so I used my miter saw - I mean, Dad's miter saw that I'm just borrowing - to trim down the necessary parts. As anyone who's ever assembled IKEA furniture knows, there are lots of tiny holes for screws and other joining hardware, so I had to make an emergency trip to Home Depot for a jig to keep my drill straight. The jig definitely earned its keep on this project. I'd have ruined everything without it.
Halfway done. The vacuum is for domestic tranquility, via sawdust mediation.
I'd originally wanted to stack two dressers, but the pitch of the roof precluded that, so instead, I added an inset shelf area on the top of each dresser. I had leftover boards from taking down the wall, so I used those to line the insets.
Like our tiny electric stove? It was another gift of free furniture.
It's so cheesy with its fake flames, but I totally, totally love it. It'll be so cozy in the winter!
Sadly, I've come to the conclusion that despite my love of stained natural trim, I think it's easiest to do white trim in this particular house, especially in our cabin-esque bedroom. I've been vacillating between painting the planks a nice, clean white or leaving them as they are, and mostly out of my sheer laziness, I think they'll stay the way they are, which means white trim and white built-ins. And while trim is definitely next on the to-do list, we're going to Montana for my cousin's wedding this weekend, so everything will stay naked and un-trimmed for at least another week.
In the meantime, I'd also like to state for the record that Pecan is a disturbingly strange cat. I hauled the miter saw upstairs to expedite RAST trimming, and instead of running from all the noise like a rational creature, this cat was SLEEPING IN THE HALLWAY the whole time. I'd say she was deaf, but she definitely hates the vacuum cleaner, and is convinced that any kitchen sound means an imminent meal. Sass, on the other hand, has spent most of the week napping in the basement. It's been pushing 90 degrees here in Portland, so frankly, I don't blame her a bit.
Mooooom, what are you doing in there?
Why'd you lock me owwwwt? I'm only trying to help.
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