Room number one is closing in on completion!

Our first room is nearly complete now. It was a strange first choice, I will admit, but we had reasons for doing this particular room. This house has a lot of bedrooms and we don't need multiple bedrooms; however, the house also doesn't have closets. It has closets, but because it was built in the 1930s, there wasn't the need for the sort of closet space many of us desire today. So, the idea of transforming one of the rooms into a closet came about while we were still considering offering on the house. 

The bedroom/now closet space as it stood the day we closed on the house. The level of grime is not evident in this photo, but the walls (and ceiling) were in pretty bad shape - both physically damaged and dirty from smoke (or something that made the walls/ceiling black).

We haven't shared a closet in our married life (over 18 years), so the thought of being able to do so was exciting. Perhaps some people prefer separate space, but I think this will work out well for us. What we've discovered in this process is that we both have a lot of clothing. Among work clothes, street clothes, cycling clothes, workout clothes, winter clothes, water-use clothes and coats, there's just a lot of stuff. 

Initially, I was excited about the prospect of a whole room to use as a closet, but honestly, I think it became more of an embarrassment as we pulled out all of the pieces we've had in boxes for the last several months. How two people can have so many clothes is beyond me, and even though we donated a lot before we moved/packed, there is still a lot that will be going away in the near future. 

The closet in early stages of transformation after removal of the carpet and the start of my plastering of the walls experiment.

We chose this as the first room because 1) we wanted a space that wouldn't be the first thing we'd see when we walked in to experiment with some things; 2) we had a lot of clothing boxes sitting in the garage taking up space that we need for appliances being delivered soon that will need to go in the garage because we're not ready to have them in the house yet; 3) we honestly just wanted to start with a room that would be a little easier to do to give ourselves a little boost in morale when it seems as though nothing is getting accomplished (we tend to bounce around a lot from room to room throughout the process, so finishing anything seems to take a bit longer than we'd hope).

The walls were being painted (though the color showing up in the photo is not a true color representation because of the lighting in the room at the time of day. It's more of a coral, I'd say. This was a bold color choice (for me) as I tend to choose/prefer lighter colors, but I think I was more okay with it because it won't be the first thing I see every time I walk in the door.

The finishes aren't high-end, but we also know that we can always modify in the future. At the moment, because there's so much to do, we just wanted to make the most efficient use of the funds for this house renovation and spending on more pricey closet systems just wasn't going to happen right now.  We did look at many lovely wood systems, which would be a nice upgrade in the future, but for now, the wire racks work just the same and cost much, much less. Maybe it seems silly to say this as we just transitioned a room into a closet, which admittedly seems counter-intuitive to this statement, but we really tend to be more practical and knowing that no one will see this room (other than the two of us), it just didn't make sense right now to spend more for the same function.

It's messy right now with lingering bits, step stools, plastic/clothing on the floor, etc, but with a little cleanup, 

it'll be ready for full use in the near future.

Sam did a great job (it was incredibly time consuming) installing the storage system, and is trying to figure out a fix for the chandelier I bought because it doesn't seem to quite want to do what it's supposed to do at its connection point at the ceiling. We also have a door on order that has frosted-glass panels, so even when the door is closed, light will still be able to pass through (which will very much be needed to keep the house as light as possible). We have window coverings coming, but they seem to have been delayed in shipping (par for the course in these times we live in), though eventually there will be shades that can cover the windows (when needed/wanted). We're waiting on a couple of other storage pieces as well, but overall, the room is as close to being done as it can be for the time being.

We've been working a bit on other rooms while working on this room too, so hopefully, we'll be able to wrap up the next one in the next couple of weeks (fingers crossed).