Closet Remodel

This makeover may be my favorite so far.  I cannot believe how much a little bit of space planning can take you from freaking out that you have to donate half your wardrobe to the a second hand shop, to basking in the site of all of your clothing fitting in one closet for the first time in your life.  Plus your fiance's clothes.  Of which I did not make him take any to the second hand shop either.  Though to be honest, his probably would have been sacrificed before mine...  ;)

The other request for Papa John was to put a door on closet.  For some reason the company that built these homes thought it was a great idea to put an open archway leading into closet rather than a door.  Perhaps some people like everyone viewing their clothing when they come to visit, but I thought it was quite silly.  I wouldn't have been that bothered by it though until I learned from Chris that Dwight (cat fluff) had been in there chomping on some of his shirts recently.  He has a few holes in his favorite Oregon tee, along with a few others.  I knew that Farrah (cat fluff 2) would also find this as a new playground and proceed to make her bed on top of all my sweaters like my parent's cat, Calvin, does to my mother.  I decided I really wanted a door.

Here are some shots of what the closet looked like before the makeover began. 

Archway from master bedroom

Awkward corner

All single shelf & rod

As you can see it's a fairly large closet, but it really doesn't hold much due it being a single rod all around and no shelving.  After a trip to home depot to see what we could do to improve the storage, we decided that Papa John would be attempting his first ever complete closet tear down and redo.  I'm proud to say that I have an original.  We decided to add a few double rods and a corner shelving unit to maximize the space.

If any of you didn't know, Chris is a Google 3D SketchUp Model wizard.  He's won awards and had articles written about him.  Seriously.  Check out his stuff here: http://www.chrisbence.com/googleearth/

So naturally, he made a comment to Papa John and I about making a model of it.  We just kind of looked at each other and shrugged, thinking we'd be done building by the time that thing was done.  Within about 20 minutes Chris called us in to show us this:

Detailed with measurements

With our clothes...love my dresses!

Is that not awesome?  He printed out a few views so Papa John had all the correct measurements close at hand.  I'm thinking these skills will definitely be handy to call upon many times in the future. 

Here are a few pics midway through the remodel.

Door frame in!

Looking into the master room

I was getting so pumped seeing all the progress.  My poor clothes had been trapped in boxes for the last two weeks.  They were so close to being set free.

Two days after the last few pictures were taken, this is the wonderful site that I saw:

SO PRETTY!

Look at all those shelves!

Chris's side ;)

Later that evening we went to Home Depot and bought a few more rods and a new door handle.  I spent the entire night unpacking and putting away clothing.  Don't judge my OCD hanger colors and color/sleeve length coordinating.  Here are some pics with the new closet being put to use:

Wonderful new door and fresh white trim

Chris's side

Laura's side

Laura's side continued.

I actually could not believe that everything fit in there with barely anything put on the upper shelves!  So amazing.  I love my new closet.  

And I'm sorry to say that Papa John is not for hire.  I think he's retiring house work after the last 6 months that brother Bryan and I have put him through.  I'll have to think of a REALLY good birthday gift to get him this year!

What about you guys?  What has been your largest house project accomplished thus far?