As part of our master bedroom renovation, we gutted the walk-in closet and wanted to start fresh with everything. The closet had a small built-in system that was wobbly and falling apart, along with a bulky washer and dryer in the back corner that took up a lot of space. It just wasn’t functional for us and needless to say this space was screaming for a re-do, and that’s just what we were going to do!
The Before
We had originally (and ambitiously) thought we could build a closet system ourselves after watching several YouTube videos, but with no experience and everything else we had on our plates we quickly realized we didn’t have the time to attempt it and needed to hire it out. Also, because our closet was long and narrow (15’x5′), we wanted to work with someone that was experienced with designing tight spaces so we could maximize every inch of space and make it fully functional for us. Sometimes it’s best to leave it to the professionals!
Before getting into the design of the closet, the first step was demo which happened at the same time as the bedroom. We pulled EVERYTHING out – the nasty carpet, trim, the old closet system and moved the washer and dryer into the proper laundry room.
I filled all the holes and gaps in the sub floor using floor patch to prep them for the LVP flooring I was installing. I also patched all the holes in the walls, removed some of the thick texture with a sander and prepped them for some fresh paint.
Once everything was demoed and prepped, I painted the closet with a fresh coat of paint on all the walls and ceiling. I used Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore in a satin finish. It’s a bright, clean white with the slightest warm undertones in natural light. This has been my go-to paint color choice for the ceilings, trim and linen closets in our home!
As you can probably see there is a fan in the ceiling, which was a little strange having in a closet. We assume this space was a bathroom at one point in time, since there was also what looked like holes for plumbing in the floor. My plan was to replace the fan with some kind of accent light fixture that would be centered over the window and give it an intentional place in the closet. We also replaced the one light in the closet with 3 efficient LED can lights. This added so much additional light to the space!
We decided to keep the washer & dryer hookups in place in case someone ever decided to convert it back in the future, but for now it will just be covered up by the new built-ins. We had the window replaced from the old leaky wooden framed window to a new efficient vinyl window from Home Depot. The window was previously covered up with the closet system, but I wanted it to serve a purpose in our new design and bring in all that natural light!
The next step was installing the new flooring, which I started in the bedroom and worked my way into the closet. This was a pretty straight forward process in the bedroom, however the access to our crawl space is located in the closet so this presented a bit of a challenge when installing the flooring. This required cutting and adhering the flooring planks to a piece of MDF with a D-ring which served as the hatch door to the crawl space, while also matching it to the rest of the floor so it looked seamless. It’s not perfect, but it gets the job done!
Now that the walls were painted, the lighting and flooring were installed and the window was replaced, it was time for the new closet plans to begin! We received a couple different quotes before deciding to go with Closet Factory, who did an excellent job custom designing our space to exactly what we wanted and needed for a his and hers closet. It was a fun process seeing the space come to life with the 3D digital renderings and playing around with all the different colors and types of finishes they offered. Once we finalized and approved the plans we were put on the schedule and after a couple weeks we began the process. Install took 2 days to complete – they were very professional and easy to work with, and the end product came out amazing!
The After
Can you even believe this is the same space?! I love how every inch of the closet was utilized with custom hanging sections, ample shelving, drawers and cabinets all the way to the ceiling providing us with so much storage. What was once a narrow and long, funky and dysfunctional space is now a beautiful, spacious, intentional and functionally designed closet for both my husband and I. We are so pleased with how it turned out! If you are struggling to come up with a solution for a long and narrow closet, or just need some ideas for your space, I hope you find this helpful or inspirational in some way.
Thanks for your support and following along throughout this project! It has been so fun seeing this space transform. Check out my other posts to see the rest of the master bedroom renovation!
Xoxo,
