Irradicating the World of Faux Paneling One Closet at a Time

I am a turtle.  I do everything at turtle pace.  Usually when I do a project it takes...well...a while.  I have kids, I have a husband, I have a life, I have friends, I have a business (squealing), I have a giganto yard that needs mowed, I have stuff that needs done.  You get the idea.  Projects move slowly.  But then...once in a while the stars align, you go on a fun trip with Kim (to IKEA and get some cool stuff), see lots of inspiration, the hubster goes on travel....your window of opportunity is open....JUMP!   You may remember the beginning......mmm-hmm...it was bad. 

I started the closet redo by emptying it.   Not as fun as a barrel of monkeys but hey, not too bad.  And yes, that Nike box IS holding up the clothes bar.  Don't judge.  That was an improvement, as it had fallen out of the wall and the clothes were slaloming downward toward the back of the closet.

Removed all the bars and wire shelf doohickies.  Sometimes the old timers actually got it right....let's not reinvent the wheel here folks.  In old houses closets tend to be small....there is only so much that SHOULD go in the closet.

Irradicating the world of faux paneling one room at a time.  Seriously....it had to take SO much more effort to put all that icky paneling OVER the walls than to just strip the wallpaper and paint.  (The guy before us must have spent a FORTUNE in paneling)  I have added even more square footage to my house.....the paneling had expanded and was bowed out at least 2 inches.   This is a small closet...I need every millimeter! 

Goodbye paneling and all your bits.  Jen's home improvement hint #1:  Clean up as you go.  It just makes things nice. 

It's not child labor if it's your kid.  That's the law.  He enjoyed it...look at that smile.  I have caught onto something here....two adults would not have fit in the closet together anyway....kids.  The key is to enlist kids into your home improvement army.  You're welcome. 

Used my magic potion on the walls.  Worked like a charm. 

Stripping wallpaper is a messy business.   But it's so nice to paint over that gorgeous old smooth plaster...nothing like it. 

Ta da! 

Ta da ta da! 

I put back the hook strips...or whatever they're called.  There are a bajillion of these precious strips with the clever wire hooks on them laying in our basement and garage attic....long ago abandoned for the latest new fangled organizer doohickies.  I decided to do two strips on each side so I could have two hanging bars.  One for me, one for the hubster. 

Oh and my dad rocks.   Have I mentioned that previously?   We have these automatic light thingies in our closets thanks to him.  For years I had the kids convinced I was magic...

a mear wave of the hand turns on the light. ;-)

Filled up.  Look at that!  I can actually SEE my clothes.  They're not all strangled under clumps of my husband's polos and weird triathlete singlet thingies.

And as if I was transported to a time when I was ACTUALLY crafty....I whipped up this little baby this afternoon during naptime.  I was pretty proud of myself.   

Thank you old house basement that apparently at one time had screen windows. Um...ick.  Every creepy crawly thing would find it's way right in...not my scene.  You should just be my jewelry organizer...that sounds like WAY more fun, no? 

Yay!

As I finished up this post I remembered something......I think my VERY FIRST DIY project was the closet in my bedroom at home, as a kid.   My folks must have wondered about me when a 10 year old was asking to remodel her closet.  I spackled, painted, the whole show.  Then my dad installed organizer thingies....it was awesome and I was so proud of myself.   It starts somewhere folks. ;-)

Do your closets need a sprucer?  It's actually kinda fun....go for it! :-)