Baby Step 1

Posted on August 27, 2013 by prairiemoonquilts in Prairie Moon Ranch

I have one little house project I can call done.

It’s a closet.

Nothing big.

Just a closet.

But what it means to have this closet finished is that I could put away a lot of the stuff that was sitting out in the way, keeping me from being able to work on other projects.

Not all the stuff, but a lot of it, which clears the way for me to figure out what to do with the rest of it so I can move on.

It’s the Landing Closet, otherwise known as UFO Storage . . .

It’s a fabulous closet! This house is chock full of fabulous closets. The shack only had one closet, and it had our clothes in it. We have so many closets now, I can’t decide what to put in them all!

This particular closet is at the top of the staircase, hence the moniker of Landing Closet. It’s in the space between the two north rooms and the two south rooms. LCempty

The first thing it needed was a new ceiling, so while our friend, David, was here working one day, that was one of his projects.

Then I had to paint said ceiling, and the side walls. I chose white to make it a bit brighter in there when you have the door open, since there’s no light.

There was nasty old linoleum on the floor, so I tore that up, and also painted the floor — again, white, hoping to help with lighting.

What I love about this closet? That lovely beadboard wall at the back. Such a shame that such a beautiful wall is hidden inside a closet! I rubbed it all down with Old English oil, and it made the closet smell really good.

Then I loaded it up with my stacking plastic cabinet full of projects, and most of my smaller project bins. OK, OK, so it’s not most of them, but hey, it’s a real good start! There’s a whole ‘nother stack behind the door I’m not showing.LCfull

A random project bin keeps making an appearance now and then in other parts of the house, but there’s still room in this closet for more. Also behind the door is the box for my sewing machine, just in case I ever need it, and my spare sewing machine, and there are hooks on the wall where I’ve hung a few seldom-used items to keep them out of my way.

There was, before the ceiling replacement, a shelf with a hanging rod in this closet. David asked me when he was done with the ceiling if I wanted him to put the shelf back up, and I stupidly said NO.

Then I decided that I’d like to have lots of shelves in there, and then promptly decided again that I didn’t need them. It’s working great like it is. Maybe someday I’ll hang one shelf up higher, but I’ll wait and see if I even need it.

The only thing that would make this closet better is if the door opened OUT instead of IN. I can’t load it chock full because then there’d be no way to get the door open. On the other hand, it’s probably a good thing that I can’t load it chock full, right?

Oh, and I have one other partially completed project to show you — in the kitchen. My new pantry!

This cabinet was the hallway linen closet in the house I grew up in. My mother’s house. When the highway came through, the house was taken by eminent domain and torn down. My dad was allowed to salvage what he wanted, so my sister took the two built-in cabinets — the china cabinet in the dining room, and this linen closet:Momscabinet

She turned them into free-standing cabinets, and she now uses the china cabinet in her own sewing studio. She gave this one to me. It fit perfectly into this strange opening in the kitchen (we were afraid to disassemble the opening because we were afraid it would make something else fall apart!)

So we had David build it into this opening, and . . . now I’m using it as my pantry! Pantry

The drawers are still empty, as I haven’t yet decided what I will put in them, so that’s why I say it’s only “partially completed”. Plus, I still need to add a trim board down the side to conceal the crack where it’s inset. Minor things . . .

Please note the absence of a cereal box in the pantry. That’s because when My Cowboy brought the groceries home, and I put them away, I accidentally put his box of cereal in the freezer! There’s one I’ll never live down . . .

Next project? The closet under the stairs . . .

First task there? Tackle the cobwebs . . .

And that’s what has me stymied — yuck!

9 responses to “Baby Step 1”

  1. Genny Wright says:

    Looks great. You are making progress. I don’t think you need to worry about anything in that house falling apart. The old part anyway! When some people took down my little house that my grandpa built, they said it was put together better than any they had ever seen.

  2. Cindy says:

    You’re getting there. It looks good!!!

  3. Celia says:

    I know you are happy to see your finished work in the closet. Good job! I am on the other end of the closet thing….moving all my fabric out, trying to sell my house. My fabric is in the garage, ready to find it’s next home.

  4. WizCuz says:

    A closet door that opens IN?? LOL..what were they thinking? I’ll bet your ceiling handyman could turn that around for you!

    Love what you’re doing there and wish I had some of those here! Even if they DID open IN!
    Smiles,
    Candy

  5. WOOOHOOO! That closet looks beautiful. Do you find yourself gazing at it in amazement? I love doing that with a newly loaded closet…. Honestly, with this one, I would pull up a chair and stare at it for a while. But maybe that is just me?

  6. Rose Marie says:

    Atta girl!! I don’t understand a closet where the door opens inward………………….

    Just sayin’

  7. Barb says:

    You are doing it! Way to go, Shelly. I love how you were able to save your Mom’s linen closet. It was made for that spot.

    One suggestion for the fabric closet–you might want to add ADJUSTABLE shelves for the tubs on the left (that we can see) so that you stack only 2 tubs or so on a shelf at the most. It will make them easier to get to the one you want, plus the weight of the ones above won’t squash the lower tubs. I just installed shelves and LOVE the results. (You’ll find you’ll actually put something away in that bottom tub because you can get to it, rather than tossing it aside and saying, “I’ll do it later”.)

    And I agree with Candy, David can probably fix it so the door swings OUT. Think of the extra room you’ll have!

    Be sure and use the back of the door for storage, too. 🙂 Lots of things can hang from it.

    Thanks for sharing!

  8. Cassandra says:

    It is a very lovely closet! I am impressed (and a bit jealous) by all of your project bins. Are those all ongoing projects or things you have planned?

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