Since we're still, ahem, in the process of de-wallpapering the room under renovation, I'm going to flash back to our last home improvement project: The Awful Closet.
I think most people have an Awful Closet in their house. You know... the one that everything gets thrown in and each time you shut the door you say a tiny prayer that an avalanche doesn't start. Well, ours was like that, except... worse. Not only was it filled with six years' worth of forgotten junk, but said junk was Really Dirty. The closet contains the attic hatch and when we blew in that cellulose insulation a couple of years ago, all kinds of recycled newspaper fuzz covered the junk. So what did we do? Nothing. Just threw in more crap.
I didn't take a Before picture until we'd already cleaned out the closet. You don't need to see that. If you really think you do, watch that A&E show Hoarders, because it's like that without the rotting food. Anyway, here's what we had to work with:
- Pepto Bismol pink walls. Crazy, narrow shelves made out of whatever scraps were available.
- A ceiling light pull cord that hit you in the face if you dared enter. An interesting, is-that-where-the-body-sat-decomposing stain on the wall.
- Crayon markings that made me wonder how often kids got locked in there. And, of course, The Hole.
We'd always kind of wondered about The Hole. Specifically, we wondered why no one ever really fixed it. Upon inspection, we discovered that it was made when they first ran electricity in the house. So almost 100 years ago. People have been putting half-assed patches on that hole for a century. Nice, People. Of course, you can see that we had a roll of duct tape in the closet specifically for the purpose of patching the hole, so we're not completely off the hook, either.
Moving on, let's take a look at some mid-renovation photos. Here we see some lovely old wallpaper that was hidden.
The pink/yellow/blueness supports my theory that this closet and the one behind it were once a single room: a child's bedroom. It would be illegal to make a room that small now, but in 1900 they didn't have all kinds of toys and baby monitors and wipe warmers to cram in the nursery.
Brent was Serious about this project and actually ripped down the plaster and lathe from the rear and exterior walls.
Lots of dust and yadda yadda later, we had a finished closet. The walls are respectably white (and, okay, yellow on the one wall where we ran out of white) and the shelves are nice and straight. Brent put the shelves all the way up to the ceiling, so we got LOADS more storage space.
He also took the clothes-rod that was lingering in there, sawed it off, and hung it up. For extra fanciness, he put in a pressed cedar wall behind the clothes. The shelves are also cedar. Brent replaced the bare, hanging bulb with a recessed cam light with a light switch!!! Oooohh, la la!
I also didn't take any After photos with our stuff jammed back in there. Let's just say that we put together a gigantic bag for the Salvation Army and an equal amount went in the trash. Ultimately, we were able to condense two closets and my sewing stuff into this one, new, pretty-smelling closet. And the stuff isn't even all crammed in there! It's nice and neat!
