Shoes, Shoes and More Shoes

Between Andy's hip surgery at the end of September and Hurricane Sandy at the end of October a lot of house projects got put on hold and there were several that I forgot to blog about.  So hold on to your pants, people -- there's a lot of blogging to be done before the end of the year!

I have been using my new closet for clothing since the end of July but we hadn't figured out how we wanted to arrange shoe storage just inside the closet.  My shoes remained in my office for a few more months.  We debated a fully built-in cubby system but it lacked flexibility, then we talked about a pre-made unit but there are conflicts along the bottom wall because of baseboard heat.  We finally settled on a shelving system with rails and adjustable clips for the shelves. It's perfect and holds all of my shoes (I promise -- it didn't look like I had so many when they were on the floor of my office!). And I share with Andy too (he gets the top shelf for less used shoes).  He prefers to keep most of his shoes in a bin by the backdoor.

I Have a Closet, I Have a Closet, Hey, Hey. Hey, Hey!!

I've had a closet for several months, but this is what it looked it.  Just a big, blank, box and I was having trouble figuring out how I wanted to arrange my new closet.  

Enter Google Sketchup.  I was able to use some of its simpler 3D modeling to create some layout options.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

I actually settled on the layout several months ago but was having trouble deciding what type of storage system I wanted to use.  Option 3 was the ultimate winner because it gives us shoe storage right inside the door that Andy and I will share, a section of double hanging for shorter hanging clothes, a section for  longer hanging clothes, and four shelves along the back wall.

Lowes and Home Depot have several closet organization systems but every time we would go to the store with the intent of buying one we would leave empty-handed because we either couldn't justify the cost without looking at other options or there were things we just didn't like; for example, I don't like the hanging bars that have support brackets that prevent you from sliding hangers the full length of the bar.  Instead, you have about 12" until you have to pickup the hanger and move it to the next section.

After much debate we finally settled on creating our own system with wood shelves that we would cut and paint.

First, Andy mounted the brackets for the hanging rods with the help of his laser level...

Once everything was checked and leveled he installed the adjustable rails (in the corner) to the side wall for the shelves.

While he was working upstairs I setup all of the cut shelves in the garage and primed and painted them.

These didn't have to be the best paint job in the world...just sealed and smooth so I used a foam roller.

I started with two coats of stain-blocking primer.  We never used this brand before but we were pleased with the results.

After two coats of primer and one coat of paint they dried in the garage for a few days before they got installed in the new closets (some of these are for the new bathroom closet).

And here is the relatively finished product.  It still needs a better shoe storage system that we are working on and some organization but after almost a year all of my clothes are once again in one location.  I got so used to walking down the hall for shoes and the guest bedroom for my hanging clothes that it took me a few days to readjust. 

Hob Knobbing

We have been enjoying our new closet doors sans door knobs since Andy installed them a few weeks ago.  The problem was that without knobs they were next to impossible to open, especially with a load of clean laundry.  We tried slipping our fingers beside the door to pull it open or sliding our toes under the door to pull it open --neither were fast or effective and it was finally time to pick and install some knobs.

Measuring the location...

Drilling the hole...

All better! Now we just need a little bit of trim around the doors!

We Have Closets (With Doors!!!)

I'm pretty sure that the bifold doors for the closets in the master bathroom and bedroom were one of the first purchases we made.  They have been sitting in the office for months!  With the drywall and painting finished we could finally install them.  Andy got the door on his closet.  It still needs trim and the door needs painted, but at least we have functioning doors!

Installing the door jam in the bathroom.

 Can't wait to build some shelves and actually use this space!

Andy's Closet

We have both been very excited to get our closets back.  Andy currently has stuff in two different closets and we each have clothing in three different rooms.  By the time we get dressed every morning and then find socks and shoes I think we've probably walked a half mile!  

Andy's new closest is a square and he knew exactly what he wanted -- 2 bars of hanging clothes and some hooks on the side.  I, on the other hand, have drawn three different 3D models of my closet in Google SketchUp, and am looking at the 4th type of closet organization system.  I'll figure it out eventually.

On one of our weekly trips to Lowe's Andy got of the the supplies to mount in his closet and broke out his laser level to get it setup.

It's exactly what he wanted and now all of his hanging clothes are in one place!  We'll share the shoe storage and shelf space in the second closet.

Framing is....DONE

This bathroom project turned half house renovation had a lot of framing work for Andy.  He had to frame a wall behind the new bathtub, close off an old closet door location, frame out a half wall at the top of the steps, and FINALLY frame out the new closets in the master bedroom.  That project started a few weeks ago with the rerouting of some baseboard heaters and last week he was able to get the walls in place.  Now we can get serious with some drywall!

The start of two new closet.

This is the one on the left side of the above picture and will be the smaller of the two.

This is the closet on the right that is "L" shaped.  You enter through the new part beside the window.

Walk through part of the opening for the old bi-fold doors.

And this is the "L" shaped part to the right.

Now I just need to finish planning out the storage in these closets.  We obviously want some hanging racks, but we also want shelves, good shoe storage, and some cube type storage areas that aren't the wire rack options that are most popular.  This has been the most difficult part of the whole process for me becuase it's hard to visualize.  Some of the products have design websites but none of them work for the "L" shaped space.  Now that the space is framed out I hope it is a little easier to finish the planning.

Other Weekend Happenings

Weekend project No. 1:

After working in the yard most of the day Saturday we made an exciting Saturday evening trip to Lowe's. The employees at Lowe's have started to recognize us.  I guess they've seen me looking through tile and grout, tile and grout, tile and grout, over and over enough while Andy is hanging out in the much less exciting plumbing and electric aisles (at least I find them less exciting) that I've become a familiar face.  As long as they don't start running the other way when they see us coming I guess we're okay.  We had a huge list of items to buy which included drywall for the new wall at the top of the steps.  In the interest of not having to store the full sheets of drywall overnight Andy got right to work measuring and hanging the new drywall.

It's definitely starting to look like a wall.  We still need to trim out the top and bottom, but that will have to wait until all of the other drywall is hung and we can hire someone to come and finish it.

We started Sunday with some delicious flax seed pancakes.  At least the stove works even though the burners are extra close together.  It's not nearly as bad as our oven that doesn't heat to the right temperate and causes things in the back to burn.

And then Andy was able to start Weekend Project #2:  New closest and re-route more baseboard heat.

Since we gave up a closet for the master bathroom expansion we need to add closet space to the master bedroom.  There is an existing closet on the right side of this picture (doors removed) and while it's a large closet it isn't a very effective use of the space.  We decided to frame out new closets on either side of the window.  The one on the left (partially framed) will be a square and we will make an identical space on the right that ties in the the existing closet making an "L" shaped walk-in closet.  I moved my stuff into other closets several months ago, but Andy has been using the remaining master bedroom closet.  We put this part of the renovation off for a long as possible because it creates a closet/clothes storage nightmare.  We have stuff everywhere!

Here is the first step to re-routing the baseboard heat.  That's a large section of pipe that he removed.

More baseboards removed.

And into the closet to remove the existing wall. This was a first real renovation hurdle.  Once Andy got the drywall removed we noticed the header across the top of the closet.  Whomp, whomp, whomp. We are not planning to start messing with any structural elements of the house and we don't want to hire someone to do the work either.  This just means that the little wall to the left of the picture will remain along with the header.  No big deal -- just means Andy didn't really have to remove all of the drywall.

Weekend Project #3: Yard work and finish a new flower bed.

I spent most of the weekend outside collecting leaves and getting a few more things ready for the winter.  This included finishing a flower bed that my parents helped to plant a few weeks ago.  They spent a day planting some liriope around the mailbox and some Little Henry Iteas along the back.  Andy and I had one more Little Henry to plant because of a large rock that needed to be removed and then the bed needed some mulch.  We used The Beast to chop up some of our massive piles of leaves and spread them around the flowers.  We tried this instead of newspaper on the bed because 1) there wasn't a ton of grass left to kill just in case it doesn't work and 2) we have oodles of leaves.

Here is the bed with the leaf mulch.

And here it is with a final layer of pine bark mulch nuggets.

What good is all that work collecting leaves (the pile was a tall as me) if you can't play in them??  We took a break from working and even Kodak thought it was a blast.

So I leave you with the FLYING SQUIRREL!  (aka Andy)