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Wood Closets

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Since this here blog acts as our virtual scrapbook, and I’m beyooooond excited about the closet project we’ve got going on at our house right now, I wanted to include a picture of our amaaaaazing new carpenter friend, Brian, in today’s post….

See him ducking down there in the right hand corner of the photo above?

Turns out he’s a little camera shy.

I took that pic on Monday morning, after he got done whipping up the bones of our soon-to-be home office/guest bedroom closets. It’s been so fun talking to him about building and renovating, and his nail gun and table saw are like music to my ears!

Today, Brian’s going to clad the exterior of each closet with thin, tongue-and-groove wood planks (like we used on the ceiling in our dining room). You can see that he left a little gap (in the crown and base molding) on the front and side of each closet so that the planks would fit, nice and snug, all the way from floor to, up to the ceiling…

After that, he’ll put the doors in place (he had them attached to frames at a local millwork shop) and then he’ll line the insides of the basket cubbies (up top) with MDF…

A note about the basket cubbies: Since we decided to look for the doors at an architectural salvage place, we had no idea what we would find, or how tall the doors would actually be. We LOVE the doors we found, but we thought they’d look “short” if we just planked the area above them. Solution: basket cubbies! We picked up those baskets on clearance at Pottery Barn in Birmingham last year, and they’ve been sitting on the floor in that room ever since. I’m so happy we’ll finally have a place for them!

Now if I could just get a picture of Brian. Hmmmm….

Maybe I’ll surprise him paparazzi-style tomorrow morning!

PS- If anyone in the Prattville/Montgomery area is looking for a great carpenter- drop me a line. Brian ROCKS. He’s super nice, extremely talented & punctual, and his pricing is reasonable, too!

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Comments

  4. Kelly

    Love the doors, can’t wait to see the finished room! I just put 1×6 mdf planks on my sons bedroom walls, thanks to your blog, thanks for the inspiration 🙂

    • Layla

      Awesome! Isn’t it amazing how much cottage-y character a bunch of planks can add? 😀

  5. Carla

    This is going to be so cute when done. Of course I love the inspiration photo you are using it is one of my all time favorite houses. And what you come up with will be equally as fantastic, I love everything you do. Have a great day dancing to the sounds of saws and nail guns. 🙂

  7. Courtenay

    Oh I need a carpenter in the worst way. Now that my husband is away working all the time, my projects wish list is just getting longer and longer. Too bad I’m 2000 miles away!

  9. Rachel

    Well, who doesn’t love a cubby? Super cute doors. We have a habitat re-store local who sells their doors for $5-$20 with hardware. I picked up two and whipped myself up a huge piece for my kitchen…

    Cubbies rock and you can decorate them.

  10. Fairfield House

    Layla,
    I like the idea of the basket cubbies above the doors better than a taller door! You are the Princess of Perfect Design Solutions. 🙂
    Your Friend,
    Deborah

      • The Mason Jar Antiques

        Just a thought for the cubbies, what about vintage stained glass windows instead of the baskets?

  12. Virginia

    Love it! I can’t wait to see the completely finished project. I’d love to do something like that in my house, but as handy as hubby is, he’s not the fastest worker. We’d be “under construction” for months! LOL

  13. Lisa

    Such a tease — just can’t wait to see it all trimmed out! I too get a little giddy at the sounds of construction ; )

    • Layla

      Tease!? 😀 No way, Jose’! I’m just posting progress pics as those suckers (finally!) come together. 🙂 That being said, I’m looking forward to snapping the “after” photos BIG TIME! 😀

  14. Suzanne

    Love that you give such detailed shots, it’s really helpful. Very exciting Layla. Any thoughts on color?

    • Layla

      Thanks, Suzanne! We’re painting them the same “Moonlight White” (Benjamin Moore) that the existing planked wall is painted. The doors will be red. Not sure which one yet, but we got some sample to try out yesterday. Fun, fun! 🙂

  15. Ter'e

    I always judge my carpenter by the size of his thighs!
    🙂
    OH LUST……………………………on the closet doors, of course!!!!! They rock! Love the basket cubbies!!!!! Super idea!

  16. The Mason Jar Antiques

    So glad you’re sharing the process! I’m new to your projects but loving everything you’ve done so far. Can’t wait to see the finished room. Sure it will be AMAZING!

  17. Betsy Derr

    I love the Sarah Richardson room that inspired you, and I know I’m going to love this room, too! Can’t wait to see the finished product. That picture of you popping out of the closet reminds me of the Von Trapp children singing, “Cockoo!”. You’re too cute!

  18. Jean @ www.thebackyardbungalow.com

    That’s gonna be awesome! Isn’t it great to find a carpenter…or any service worker than you can depend on and like?!! My daughter’s boyfriend helped out with a multitude of tasks around our 1920’s bungalow, but he has since moved away and taken my daughter. I’m hoping to find someone equally good here in the future. Can’t wait to see the finished product. Love the baskets up top!

  19. Katie

    I love that pic you’re basing your closets on. The red doors plus all those hats on the wall. Why don’t i have a space in my house to hang a bunch of hats (for display purposes only)? It’s so cute!

  20. shari

    Layla,
    I am a 46 year-old mom of 6 and grandmother of 3. I wish so much that I had the internet years ago (probobly wouldn’t have gotten much done). I would stay up all night to paint, sew and …paint. Most of my friends could not understand when and why I did all the projects I did. I would have loved to have had access to so many crafty and awesome women. You are truly an inspiration. I am so proud that there are so many young women and young moms having the tools to utilize all of their talents. It’s great too, to see the unity and joy in your marriage! Thanks -Shari

  23. kelly at talk of the house

    This is going to look amazing! and what great storage space you will have too! I think you should definitely sneak up on your cute carpenter friend for a photograph…or maybe you can distract him and Kevin can take the picture!

  24. Marianne in Mo.

    OOOHHH! Gonna be so cool! I’m loving the process and look forward to seeing posts! Since I don’t have any projects going now, it’s fun to watch yours! We’ll be doing Crown in a few months, but at our ages, we’ve decided we must hire out for it. Wish Brian was in our area! He has to be better looking than the guy we’re getting! =)

    • Marianne in Mo.

      p.s. comment about Brian being better looking…….I may be old, but I’m not DEAD!!! Scenery is more enjoyed when you have the maturity to appreciate it I think!

  26. kathy boyce

    this didn’t look too hard,…i bet the hubby could have done it for you!! looks awesome! 🙂

  32. Ashli

    I am obsessed with baskets, and that idea is pure basket inspired genius!

    You are a rock star!

  34. kerri hillis

    I just emailed pics of your inspiration room plus these closets to my hubby bc we have been looking for a solution for our bonus room. We MUST have more storage in our house. Problem is the ceilings are vaulted so I always thought it would look weird for a closet to be shaped that way. So I have a question: If your room had angled ceilings would you have built them out at the top (like you did) or would you have them stop with a flat shelf at the top like the inspiration pics you showed us last week? I would really appreciate your advice! Oh and the other funny thing is there’s a projector “screen” that would be btw the 2 closets.
    Kerri H.

  35. Alisa

    THANK YOU for posting these progress pictures!!! I’ve been wanting to add a small corner closet in our closet-less entry way and I couldn’t find any pictures of how I was imagining it to convince the hubs it was a necessity. Do you know about how long it took your carpenter to frame it out?

  36. Pauli

    Oh My Gosh, I have read several of your blog post (just found your blog not long ago) and never realized you live in Prattville… I am in Wetumpka, but love going to Prattville (especially the antique stores). Love your Closets, and can not wait to see them when they are finished…they will look Beautiful! Might have to drop you a line some time in the future about your carpenter, I have some projects on my to do list.

  40. Jimmy

    I really like this addition. I’ve built a closet from scratch myself, and it is remarkable how straight-forward the process is once you know the door dimensions, etc. Of course, real carpenters already know all the tricks. Leaving that little space next to the crown molding – yeah, I would have never thought of doing that on my own.

    I’ve been knee deep in framing out our baby rooms (they are more like closets – seriously, each is about 3ft x 3ft). We live in a one bedroom basement apartment with our toddler, and will soon welcome our second baby (julyish). We decided to split up the bedroom into three “rooms” so that us parents might be able to have some privacy at night. We don’t want to move, so we figured we would try to adapt to the small space instead.

    Look forward to watching the rest of the build out. I’ve already noticed a few things I need to incorporate into my own project.

  42. Karen

    I’m doing the same thing in my family room with the red doors and I’m painting them Ladybug Red it’s perfect for a pair of doors BMPaints. Check it out you may like the color…