Best Closet Ever

With all the excitement during the growing season, it’s been a long time since I’ve shared anything about the renovation projects. Too long. And things have been happening, but seeing them every day is akin to watching paint dry (literally) and I forget that weekly transformation is pretty interesting. I do promise to get back to regular updates, and Thank You to all who said they were missed.

Now…Here’s something that truly got my heart aflutter when I got to the Shelly Project yesterday. Our fantastic carpenter and I have been sporadically brainstorming over the last few weeks about closet doors. See, Shelly is a great mid-century home, built when some things were crafted on site. The bedroom closets are just an example. Super-tall, extra deep, and with a built-in drawer. Over the years, though, it seems the original doors didn’t hold up, and other owners resorted to using curtains instead. A great look for a country cottage, but just not right for Shelly’s retro-contemporary vibe. But the extra tall and extra wide space didn’t lend itself to standard bifold or sliding doors. Custom-made doors from the manufacturer would be ridiculously expensive. Additionally, over the years the drawers had warped and no longer opened. (As in, we needed a crowbar to pry them out)

The only closet doors that remained were definitely worse for wear.

Stubbornly, I refused to have the drawers or the scalloped edging removed to allow stacked sets of prefab doors. And no way was I even thinking about tearing these vintage beauties out and replacing with standard sized closets.

But time was ticking, and little by little, the only renovation puzzle that remained was what to do with the closet doors. I left the site the other night for a two day work assignment, with assurances from Fantastic Carpenter that he would have a solution when I got back. Nice to be able to delegate sometimes, isn’t it?

You can just see the original scalloped molding on top of these closets. The new doors are gorgeous, and provide additional storage space for small items.

Wow.
Are these closets amazing, or what? The doors are custom-made shallow boxes. There is room on the back side for hanging accessories. They are held by magnetic clasps so the lines stay crisp and clean. And the drawers have been planed and sanded, so they glide as intended.

I am quite envious of these closets now. And thinking of how I can use their space-maximizing ideas in our own little house.
One of these days…