House Update: Closet and Library

Finished closet

The next project for the house was a closet remodel.  Our bedroom is next to the "library", and we've decided that it will never need to actually be used as a bedroom.  My wife came up with the idea of basically moving the closet from that bedroom, so that it is part of our bedroom instead.  We asked Jim from Vail Builders, the same guy who did our kitchen, what the cost of the closet project would be.  He quoted us at about $3300, a bit more than we were hoping for.  Thus, I used the experience gained when helping my brother Erik finish his basement, and took on the project myself.  Since materials totaled around $300, we saved about $3000 doing it ourselves.

Finished closet

I started this project slightly after being laid off in April, so I had lots of time on my hands to complete it.  It ended up being finished over a period of about 3 weeks.  It involved a few steps - creating the opening in the bedroom wall and installing the door, and creating a frame for the library wall, and finishing that wall.  After lots of cutting, spackling, and painting, the project was complete.  Certainly things are not as clean cut, straight, and pretty as if we had paid someone to do it, and imperfections abound, but we saved a lot of money on the project.  Side note: the closet door was a double in the library, and became a single in the bedroom, due to us not wanting to move around an electrical outlet.  It certainly could have been done, and probably very easily, but alas, it worked out.

Library - after

Library - before

The new closet became my closet, and all my clothes are now there, and my bureau was moved down to the spare bedroom.  The last part of the closet project was the setup of the inside - I bought and cut down several large shelves, and cut down the pole for hanging clothes.  It can certainly handle a lot more clothes than I own, but it works pretty well for me.  We then painted the bedroom grey, with a blue accent wall.  The library was then fitted with several large bookshelves.

It was a fun project, and gives us a little more room in the bedroom, plus more wall space in the library for bookshelves.