ONE ROOM CHALLENGE™ WEEK 7: Custom closet
We officially have one more week of the One Room Challenge™ and I couldn’t be happier as to how things are turning out. If you are new to our blog, you can catch all of our previous weeks below.
If you are new to what the One Room Challenge™ is, it is an event for the design community. The ORC™ is currently in its thirteenth season, and this challenge is a widely anticipated biannual event every April and October. Every Wednesday, the designers document their process while sharing their sources and professional advice over the eight weekly posts. You can see all of the participants here.
This spring, Apartment Therapy is the official media sponsor as well!
custom closet
When we built our home, both the Mister and I were excited to have a dedicated closet area. Truth be told, I’m having a hard time remembering our first home and what that closet space looked like. All I know is that when we had a dedicated walk-in-closet in our new home, it felt pretty special.
A few years ago, the Mister was taking a steam shower and became light-headed. As such, he ended up fainting and fainting right into one of the walls of our walk-in-closet (WIC). He fell so hard that he actually ripped off the corner bead of the drywall. Thankfully he was totally fine but seeing the torn corner bead started this entire thinking of removing the closet walls.
A reminder of what our Ensuite looked like prior to us tearing out the walls.
When the Mister saw the 2D and 3D rendering of what our space could look like without the walls being there, I turned my attention to the design of the closet area. This allowed me to fully take stock of what we had, what worked, and what was not working.
Our old closet that housed a long wall with double hang and a shorter wall for a long hang. Do you see the wall on the left where the corner bead was knocked off by the Mister fainting?
HIS CLOSET AREA
The Mister previously had the entire top row of our long wall that was a double-hang area. He also had a few items on the long hanging area.
MY CLOSET AREA
My closet area consisted of the lower level of the double hang and the long hanging area. I could shop for tile, wallpaper, flooring all.day.long. Take me clothes shopping? You may as well stick a fork in my eye. I absolutely detest clothes shopping. As such, both the Mister and I really don’t have a ton of clothes.
DECIDING WHAT IS BEST
When I took stock of our closet area, there were many items hanging that could be folded. For example, all of my yoga and work-out pants were on hangers and hanging. The Mister also has many, many t-shirts that can be folded. This is the design plan that we have come up with.
Our cabinet shop drawings by our cabinet maker, Netcor Interiors
We will each get one of the cabinets with the shelving unit. We also have the full depth of the long hang (which I know we will never fill up), and we will share the long hanging area like we did with our old closet.
I actually looked at a number of ‘pretty’ options for this space as well.
I originally had glass doors on the cabinets above the drawers.
I originally had a mirror on the back wall closet.
Originally idea for our closet | Sheri Bruneau
After going back and forth, we decided to delete the glass doors as well as all doors on the closet, including the mirror door. I have a dedicated space in our bedroom for a full length mirror. Truth be told, it is only going to be the Mister and myself using this space and the doors would only be for ‘pretty’. They added nothing to the functionality of our space. The comment, “I have to open a door to get my clothes” is one that resonated with me. While it would be SOOOO Insta-worthy with the glass doors and mirrors, I took my own advice that I often give to our clients. Our designs are not to pad our portfolio. They’re meant to be functional and pretty. I often ask:
How do you envision using your space?
Does an element add to your space or hinder it?
As I mentioned above, we decided to go without doors and will have an open hanging closet. In the end, if I truly feel we need doors, I know a guy!
NEXT WEEK
Oh my goodness - next week is the FINAL REVEAL! I can’t wait to see all of the other spaces and of course, share our own space as well. I hope you’ll join me!
We are regularly posting on our Instagram page and stories with our project as well if you wish to follow us there.
