I
Need a Closet! |
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Back down in the lower level of
the house (the
former
man cave), there was a corner that had
nothing in it. (See photo below) Well it did have
some free standing shelves standing there with an
assortment of dog, gardening items, and the tools I
was using downstairs for my projects.
Since I was craving more storage after making my
hearth
shelves,
I started thinking about building a closet in this
corner. When I had wallpapered this
room to cover the dark wood paneling, I had already
planned the closet, so I did not put any floor
moulding against this corner of wall. |

Corner to build a
closet. Moulding left off bottom of walls when
wallpaper was hung. |
When looking for design ideas on
the internet for
building a closet, I did find quite
a few websites and YouTube videos. Pretty
straight forward, build a frame, attach frame to
studs in existing wall , attach walls, add door,
then finish up with paint and trim. The only
thing I did not like was anchoring it to the floor.
The floor under the vinyl tile is cement. I
decided not to anchor the closet to the floor at
this time. Again, I decided to take a wait and
see approach. If the closet slid around after
it was built or later, I could add the bolts through
the 2 x 4's into the floor. |

Back frame of the
closet sitting against the wall |
Again I worked out the design of
the closet in my graphics program. The corner
of the room measures about 9' x 4' feet. I did
not want the closet to go all the way to either door
frame. The dimensions I decided upon were 8' x
3' with the height being 86", just below the faux
wood beam. I intended to put a ceiling on top
of the closet so when you came down the stairs, the
closet would look finished. It would also provide
extra storage space for long flat items on top.
The photo above shows the wall section of the closet
resting against the wall. The 2x4's are spaced
2 feet apart. Of course none of the 2x4's hit
exactly where a stud was. So I attached 2 additional
pieces of 2x4's on the first and fourth section of
the wall frame and attached them to the existing wall
studs. |

Added frame for the
front of the closet. Attached to the back
frame by 2 x 4's on the bottom |
I then created the frame for the
front of the closet. I first attached it at the
bottom and then at the top with spare 2x4's and wood
that I had. I then anchored the frame to the
short wall on the left. |

Front and back frame
attached at the top. Front frame against wall,
attached to wall.
Framing of door area started. |
I purchased two 24" pre-hung
doors. The closet was small enough for one
door but I wanted two doors for easier access into
the closet. I did not want sliding doors.
I created the door frames for the doors and the frame
between the two doors. The only problem was the top
of the door frames. There was barely enough
room to add the 2x4's to the top of the door frames.
Those 2x4's in the photo below are just scraps
sitting on top of the door. I did actually place 2x4's above
the door frames after the photo.
I added the wall to the right side of the closet with 1/2"
plywood. I hate drywall. I planned to
put wallpaper on the wall, so it did not have to be
smooth. I put a coat of white paint on the new
wall to prepare it for the wallpaper. The
paint is the same color as the wallpaper. For
this wallpaper I discovered that having a surface
painted the same color underneath helps if the
wallpaper seams
shrink back a little or the wallpaper is nicked.
The damage is not that noticeable. |

Framing of door area
complete |
I then added plywood to the front of the closet and
after painting the top of the closet, put that in
place on the top.
I painted the ceiling of the closet before I put it
up. It would have been hard to paint on top if
I did not. You can see the top of the closet
when coming down the stairs. It looks nicer
painted and will be easier to dust with the paint on
it. |

Plywood added to
outer sides of closet |

Plywood painted the
same color white as the beadboard wallpaper |
I then painted the plywood in
preparation for the
wallpaper. |

Wallpaper added, then
all of the moulding around doors, floor, top, and
corners |
The above photo shows the
completed closet. With the wallpaper pasted on and
the moulding added to the doors
and closet walls. The entire closet was then
painted. The brass hinges that came on the doors
were switched out to the same oil rubbed bronze
hardware I have installed throughout the house.
The inside of the closet is not finished except for
paint so the
2x4's are exposed. I plan to build shelves
inside eventually. In the meantime, I have a
couple of stand alone shelves to store junk and
large hooks to hang things like my weed cutter, etc. |

Finished closet area |
Here is a photo of the closet
after adding some decoration and a console table.
The shelf and lamp attached to the wall may seem
odd, but it has a purpose. I needed a light at
the bottom of the stairs that could be turned on at
the top of the stairs. Since I do not have
the money to hire an electrician to put a light in,
I looked for other options.
|
I found the Utilitech wall mounted switch
and plug-in receiver, pictured at right.
The
light is plugged into the receiver at the
electrical plug in the closet. The
switch to turn it on is at the top of the
stairs. The lamp cord goes through a hole in
the wall which is covered by a white plastic
grommet.
The light operates by a radio frequency, so
if you have more than one of these switches,
you have to make sure they are a different
frequency.
I bought this switch at the hardware store
for about $20. Works great! I can now
go down the stairs safely.
|

Utilitech
Wall Mounted Switch and plug-in receiver |
|

Megabrite LED Wireless Under Cabinet Lights
with Motion Sensor |
For lighting inside of the closet, I could
have plugged in another light but I found
these wall mounted battery operated lights
with motion detectors at Costco for $20 and
mounted one on each door.
I angled the light toward the inside of the
closet. When the closet door is
opened, the light automatically comes on and
goes off about a minute later when no motion
is detected. |
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Did I want more storage?
You betcha!
See garage closets here....
See outdoor storage shed
here.... |