Fall 2022 One Room Challenge, week 1

I have a closet that is unspeakably messy and disorganized. A catch-all for DIY detritus that I can't stand any longer. Every DIY project I do is hindered by this little closet, where I struggle to find items I need, so it's about time I focused my chaos and DIY tornado energy on this tiny closet under the stairs, my Harry Potter closet if you will. What better time to start a new project than at the start of the One Room Challenge?

The One Room Challenge® is a biannual event every spring and fall. Everyone with a blog or Instagram account is welcome to join the fun as a Guest Participant by registering for the event with the room or space you plan to transform. Every Wednesday during the event, which lasts eight weeks, participants link their weekly project updates on this site, and spectators and participants can easily follow along by browsing the linkup page.

What's the plan? First, I have to remove all of the junk. For a tiny closet, I managed to throw a ton of crap in there. See for yourself in the photos above. I relocated the crap to a shelving system in the garage but it's only a temporary fix. I need my tools and paint inside and easily accessible. I am in need of shelving and smart storage, something that gets the junk off the floor and uses the vertical space so I can walk into the closet and find what I need relatively easily. The difficult part is finding, or building, shelving that fits within the tiny space. The shelves along the wall have to be 6 inches deep so they don't stick out past the doorway, whereas most premade shelves are double that. I purchased the wood and will now figure out a way to brace the shelves to support whatever weight I place on them. I am thinking 1x2s for the supports and 3-foot sections of 1x6 premium pine for the shelves. Those 3-foot sections were cheaper than purchasing lower quality 1x6x6' boards, so I am making due! In the back of the closet below the slanted ceiling, I can create deeper shelves. I plan to build 2 12-inch deep shelves that span the back of the closet and meet the shelves on the right side. The deeper shelves can hold storage boxes, paint cans, or other larger pieces. I have asked my father-in-law to help me run the electricity from the light switch and create a new outlet so I can have a battery charging station on the back shelves.

As for the design, well, this is the only place in the house B would let me do pink (he's super accommodating with most things but doesn't care for pink outright), so I will be taking advantage and painting it Sherwin Williams abalone shell. I want to use some of the leftover 3D wallpaper I have laying around. I am thinking I will use the beadboard wallpaper, but brick could be fun, too! I also had a wild idea to potentially do a very bold wallpaper instead of the classic beadboard, so that may change later if the right wallpaper comes to me. The shelves will be pink and white. I am still on the fence about how many shelves, and if I want to do some sort of hanging option for my sanders and nail gun on the opposite wall to the shelves. I guess it will all depend on how cramped things start feeling after I get the L shelves in.

Since this is week 1, I have a good amount of time to finalize the design, but I did dive head first into the demo on Monday (my day off this week). I ripped out the carpet, removed the tack strips, and laid LVP to match the rest of the house. I made things harder on myself by deciding to rip up the boards in the hallway so I could connect my bedroom all the way into the closet. Necessary? Not exactly, but it does look way better than having two transitions in that close of a space. I was also reminded that I hate the LVP product I am using. I bought a ton of it last fall when we bought this house and then realized that maybe I picked a bad option because it is way harder to work with than I expected and I have a horrible time getting the seams to line up. It's supposed to be waterproof, but the gaps in the seams between some planks mean it's most definitely not.

That's pretty good progress for the first week! Next week I hope to have the electrical done. I actually planned out my weeks with the parts of this project I want to complete and even gave myself ideas for reels and content for social media, which is way outside my normal "action before thought" MO.

If you want to follow along in real-time, follow me on Instagram @addydoesit!