Small Closet Organization: A Budget Friendly Redo, Part II.

 

It's done!  Whew!  The small closet organization, a budget friendly redo part II is done!  

Well crap.  I had this fab post all typed up, done, then with one random mis-swipe, accidentally deleted the whole darn thing, lost forever.  Ugh.....omg, my head.....Maybe this version will be better!

Mmk, so last we left off with this closet project, things broke, I was aggrieved, yanked everything out, and blew up my office with the piles of stuff.  Always amazing when a closet gets emptied how much stuff is stuffed in, huh?!

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Into the closet went that lamp holder base with an outlet* so I could stick up LED strip lights* and whoo doggie, I'm telling you, it really does make a difference and it's totally worth the minimal effort.

 

Not a great photo but I ran the extra long strip along the interior trim out of sight.

So what to do with this itty awkward closet to spiff it up?  I mean, it is me:  every space deserves to be special, even closets.  Especially closets. 

Standing and staring, as I’m wont, into this itty blank void, I happened to glance to my right and spotted a similar wall design as what I did in our master bathroom. 

Huh. 

Bingo, let’s do that!  Done.

Instead of actual wood that’d shave precious square inches away though, I went with wood slat-look peel and stick wallpaper.  

Paper* ordered, I impatiently paced awaiting its arrival. 

Meantime, using my newest favorite tool, my carbide scraper,* I shaved down my sloppy wall patch job rather than incessantly sanding.  A few scrapes, bam, nice and smooth.  Love this tool.  Love it.

All right, paper in hand, let’s get rolling on the small closet organization redo.  Ah, rolling, pun.

Now, peel and stick wallpaper* is merely just a giant sticker.  While it’s less gooey than pasted paper, it does come with its own mmmm, characteristics. 

I am not discouraging peel and stick wallpaper usage at all; it’s a very handy material especially when you want to remove it. 

The backing paper can tear erratically and inconveniently, it's pretty translucent, bubbles and wrinkles are a given, it can stick to itself and not unstick, and it’s much thinner so it tears and dings incredibly easily.  Just to forewarn, had you not given it a whirl. 

Uninterrupted straight shot wall planes are much simpler, heh, than a tiny tight closet with plenty o’ corners. Go slow, stick and unstick carefully as necessary, smooth smooth smooth, breathe.  Patience, my friend.

Hot tip:  hold the ends of two rolls together before tossing anything on the wall to find which edges pattern-align.  Trust me. 

Much like tiling, first row is critical, setting the tone for the whole shebang.  Measure the width of your roll then draw a straight, plumb, true vertical line as an alignment guide. 

Dancing on a step ladder and contorting myself like a weirdo, first panel went up. Whew.  Then eventually the rest, extra whew. 

Yes, I made a mess on the floor.

Use some brand new very sharp blades in an Xacto* to trim everything nice and clean. 

Tada!  Ok!  Small closet organization budget friendly redo on a roll.  Ah, roll pun again, doh. 

Right so as this is a budget friendly project, I opted to reuse the slightly janky existing shelves.  Also because hot damn, materials are expensive these days, wow. 

Hence hot tip:  save money by reusing what you have, adapting things you have into other uses, or dip into the scrap wood department. 

I did swing by the ol’ second home Menards and grabbed a few of what they dub “value shelving” at three bucks each which are eleven and a quarter deep, four foot long laminate particle board shelves with ratty exposed edges.

Ugh Becky, what the ____ with the ratty exposed edges?  Fear not, I have a I’m-so-super-proud-of-myself solution, stay tuned.

Right, ok, so the lower shelf went back in where it had been.  The next shelf up a smidge lower than before and there I plopped my ink sipper Brother printer.* 

Temporary printer placement just to get it off the floor.

The jankiest original top shelf went in next to juuust above where the scanner lid opens fully to then onto...

…ok, I know I said last time I was going to use cardboard to mock up the upper half organization design but uh, I didn't.  I'm so sorry.  Still a very valid idea.  Sorry.

Instead I ran with the drawing I created and built (aka tweaked) as I went. 

First I trimmed one of the value shelves a hair.  

How does one trim a laminate shelf without shredding the laminate?  Hot tip:  painters tape.*  Stretch a length all the way around where you’re cutting, cut, and the tape should help.  A nice Diablo saw blade* helps too.

Ok, the first piece was my vertical.  Next I trimmed off three smaller shelves and grabbing some scrap cedar for supports, ran those vertically up the wall evenly spaced, tacking each shelf to the cedar with one screw.  Math.  Yes, math.

I screwed into the studs where* I could and used metal screw-in wall anchors* where I couldn’t.  Not my favorite look, these little cedar brackets but, eh, so it is. 

 

Next I screwed the wee shelves into the vertical piece, my spiffy flip drive* coming in super handy, then screwed the vertical piece into the horizontal shelf from below. This ended up being much sturdier than I anticipated.  Niiice.  I did stand and nod at myself for several minutes for it too.

One shelf went into the right hand…ah crap, all the angle cut shelves were in, how was I going to find the angle?  Thanking my past self for thinking of my future self, with a corner angle finder* I picked up a while back.  Sweet.  

I remembered I had a few little plastic screw end caps* leftover from the front door adventure so in those went.  Sprayed a dash of Glossy Wood Tone on some for the cedar but really I should've done some tan acrylic paint instead.

Ok!  So close, this budget friendly small closet organization redo is near done!

Now, I didn't forget....it's time for some ratty edge sorcery.

I made my own edge banding.  Out of plywood.

What now, Becky?  Yeah, ya know, materials are wow expensive these days, right, a roll of white laminate edge banding* was fifteen bucks, so I thought hey, make my own.  Sure, everyone's always trying to hide plywood edges but I happen to love them.

All I did was grab a longer piece of plywood, set up my Bora NGX saw guide* to trim an eighth inch sliver off, and with my Rockwell compact circular saw,* did the deed.

With some hot glue, yes hot glue,* the thin strips went on and, wait what?, I was done?

Holy heck, it's a closet!  This small organization redo and revamp, not only was it budget friendly but it works!  I have so much more room in here now.  The excitement is real, people.

This was a feat for me from a mental standpoint, having lost my Dad and Finn just mere months apart.  Motivation is hard to come by so I'm extra proud of myself for this.  Especially actually finishing as I'm awful skilled at leaving things not quite done.

Sorry for the fisheye-ish photo, it was tough to get the whole thing in one shot.

So tada, small closet organization, a budget friendly redo part II!  Done!  Doin' me a big butt wiggle dance over here ya know.

*The lamp holder bases, USB LED strip lights,  peel and stick wallpapers, carbide scraper, craft knives, Brother printers, metal screw-in wall anchors, flip drives, corner angle finders, hot glue stuff, and compact circular saws are Amazon affiliate links.  The painters tape, stud finders, and screw caps are Lowes affiliate links.  The Diablo saw blades, edge bandings, and Bora NDX saw guide are are Home Depot affiliate links.  Whew!!  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.