Closet Redo: Coming Together

Good news! I finished the paper shelf! It only took, like, forever and three weeks.  Seriously, though. I didn't realize just how involved this design would be.  Each of the vertical dividers and individual planks and they had to line up with each other to look squared.  Then, since the shelf was constructed from plywood, I needed to do something to finish out the front.  That meant cutting a bazillion tiny pieces of wood to frame it out, glue & nail them in place.  Then I had to fill all of those tiny nail holes and sand the whole thing down flush.  I think it turned out well.

This is the back of the shelf.  It's getting mounted to the wall so there needs to be strong anchor points.  Both of those pieces are screwed to the cabinet box on the side. 

After a week of priming, sanding, painting, painting some more, and sanding some more, I got the shelf mounted! I'm quite happy with it. 

Isn't it awesome? I need to do some touch up painting on the shelf and wall. You know, cover up the pencil markings for the studs.  And that giant gouge on the side.  There's a tiny amount of space between the shelf and wall on either side so the shelf had to be shimmied in there, without the shelves.  Because that unit is heavy!!  The hubs had to do the install on this one because I simply don't have the strength.  The shelves are removable so I can take a couple out later if I decide I need taller shelves.  I mounted it just high enough to slide the Silhouette underneath and out of the way.  Tucked away in its little cubby. 



I also got the pegboard installed.  Funny story on that one.  The hubs installed the cabinet without the individual shelves.  Before I put those in, we installed the pegboard.  There's not enough room between them to slide the shelves in the grooves.  Fail.  So we had to take the pegboard down, slide the shelves in, and re-hang the pegboard.  I didn't hang the pegboard the first time, but I did the second!  All by myself.  I even lined the screws up with the existing holes.  I was quite proud of myself for that one.

Action shots of me installing the bracing for the shelves on the other side!  Yes, I am sitting on the desk.  In case you were wondering, the closet is one Summer-sitting-cross-legged deep. It's my new official form of measurement.  I just noticed my shirt coordinates with the closet.  I'm going to say I totally planned that for the picture.

I reused the shelves that were in the closet from the previous owners.  They're not great, but I didn't have to buy materials.  That's always a win. 

I put a couple of books in there to see how they'd fit.  It was at this point that I realized everything related to my sewing is some form of pink... Where is that eye roll emoji when you need it?  I had intended on installing three shelves on the right side of the closet that day.  However, when the Hubs was predrilling my holes on the bracing with his new toy, this happened:

Insert grumble here. There was a flaw in the wood and it completely split. It was primed and painted and everything. I'm still a little annoyed thinking about it.  It was late in the day at that point and I had some chores I needed to finish up so I walked away from the project. 

Turns out that walking away was a good decision.  With everything installed I realized how little workspace I have on the desk.  I had planned on keeping my serger and sewing machine on the desk between the shelving systems on either side.  With the books sitting on the desk, below the first shelf, it felt so closed in.  I also realized how little storage space 3 shelves was going to provide. I've decided to store my serger and embroidery extension below the first shelf.  Unfortunately that means raising that lower shelve by an inch because my serger it too tall.  Which means pulling the anchors out, patching holes and touching up the paint.  Fun times.  It'll be worth it.  I'm also adding a fourth, and possibly fifth shelf on the right side.  I haven't measured to see if I can fit a fifth.  Lastly, I'm adding a wide piece of facing to the front of the shelves. As I mentioned earlier, they're not a fantastic fit.  The facing will help hide some of those imperfections.

Stay tuned during the week.  Since I skipped posting last week I have a bonus for you.  Learning how to shop the hardware store for craft supplies!  Specifically Harbor Freight.  If you have any hardware store hacks, get them ready because I'd love to hear them!

XOXO