You may recall from previous posts that the old layout had two small front hall closets, one right by the front door and one by the back hall.
As you can see from the picture below, they really divided the space.
So we riped them both down completely. The closet by the front door had a substantial amount of wires running through it as well as an HVAC vent.
The entire main floor was rewired and all new HVAV was installed so luckily that really wasn't an issue for us.
We decided to rotate the direction that the closet opens and figured we would make the most of the space available.
So the new closet was framed in, drywalled, primed and painted.
While we were at it, I had the electrician run new wire to add an outlet to the interior of the closet to charge my new Dyson.
And so the closet remained as tool storage for months as we tackled other projects...
But as the fall weather approached I asked Ty to clear out the tools and install the closet rod so I could hang our jackets and assemble our shoe racks.
We used 5in x 3/4in wood to support the rod. We made sure to hit the studs to support the weight of all the jackets. We opted to use one solid rod which Ty cut to length with his torch. Personally I prefer the seamless rod to the adjustable rods so the hangers can move freely. Finally a piece of MDF cut to size and screwed to the top of the wood supports to provide a shelf for storage baskets.
I filled the holes, sanded and painted the wood to match the walls. At this point the closet (while doorless) was functional!
Even Chloe was pleased to have a place to hang her coats!
Shortly after Ty began working on the closet doors. The first step was to install the jams in the rough opening. He was sure to make everything level and acurate so the doors will hang properly.
Then he hung the doors. This was an incredibly tedious project apparently I had selected the most difficult doors possible (slab instead of pre hung). It took a lot of work to get them cut to the proper height, lined up perfectly, hinges chissled out, etc.
We used dummy handles and ball latches at the top of the doors to keep the doors shut.
The same casings and backband was used around the closet doors that we had used around the windows and new front door. We never used backhand at the old house (we actually didn't know it existed) but after being introduced to it, we love the look of it.
(We also used matching door pulls to the front door.)
Lastly, I had Ty hang a set of hooks inside the right door and a full length mirror inside the left door.
All that's left now is for me to get two coats of white paint on the doors and it's job complete!
BEFORE / AFTER