One of the biggest challenges we faced when we moved into our farmhouse was storage—specifically for my extensive collection of clothing, shoes and handbags. The house is over one hundred years old and because of that, it doesn’t have many closets. Only one of the bedrooms has one, which led to our decision to transform one of our spare rooms into my walk-in closet.
Before Renovation
I don’t have many photos of what the room looked like before we renovated, but as you can tell, it was pretty scary! The flooring was old, ugly, and peeling off, plus the room had an odd-sized large shelf along the back wall that wasn’t useful. My husband started by tackling the floor. He put down peel-and-stick laminate flooring, although he says in hindsight he would have used this nicer vinyl plank flooring we put down in the rest of the house because the sticky kind has a tendency to pop up. He then removed the odd shelf and repainted the other shelves so I could use them for my shoe and handbag storage.
Shoe & Handbag Storage
This is part of the existing shelving which has been working well for my shoe and handbag display. If you want to know more about the cases I use to store my designer bags, be sure to check out this post for all the details.
I love having my shoes and bags on display because I can see exactly what I have for putting outfits together and that really helps spark inspiration.
Accessories Storage
I found this box for my sunglasses last year at Home Goods, but here is a sunglasses storage case that’s very similar.
I found this antique dresser for $10 at a yard sale, my husband stripped off all the old layers of paint (there were a lot, poor guy) then he re-painted it with furniture paint. The decorative knobs are from Hobby Lobby. I use this for storing my scarves.
I always have a rolling rack with my latest clothing hanging up to help me plan outfits.
Shop Closet Organization
Installation of Clothing Racks
Luckily, my husband is quite the handyman and he built these reinforced closet bars for my hanging clothes. Here are a few of his tips for making them extra strong to hold the weight:
Try to find a stud – This is important because studs are part of the framing for the wall and they provide the most security for hanging things. You can use a stud finder like this one to make it easy, and then make sure to use long, wide threaded fasteners, like these wood screws to secure the hangers which will hold the closet bar.
If you can’t find a stud – Our house doesn’t have evenly spaced framing and finding a stud was nearly impossible due to the thickness of the walls and irregular surface of the stucco/spackle texture of the finish. If you run into something similar then the best course of action is to mount the hangers with heavy duty drywall anchors. These are a two part system and are rated to hold 100 pounds each. They have self-tapping anchors (no drill required) that can be screwed directly into the drywall until flush. Then a screw is put through the hanger eyelet and screwed into the anchor, which then engages a “T” on the far side of the drywall that then tightens agains the wall and holds the hanger securely. Heavy clothing requires heavy duty anchors, so don’t go the cheap route and get the plastic anchors; if you do then I’ve been told you should expect the hangers to rip out of the wall and for your clothes to be on the floor!
Measure where the hangers will be and ensure they are level – Once you figure out the height of the hangers then mark the holes with a pencil. You don’t want your clothes sliding off the ends of the pole, so make sure to use an actual level to verify the hangers are all even. Because our house is over 100 years old there is some slant to the floor and ceiling, so you can’t just install the hangers and rod based upon the height from the floor. A level is absolutely necessary to verify the rod is aesthetically and structurally sound.
** You’ll need to measure spacing between the hangers as well as make sure they aren’t too far apart (this can cause bowing, so don’t place them more than 36″ apart and make sure the ends of the bars extend past the outer hangers). This one is autolocking, so it’s very easy to use, but any tape measurer will do.
This can get complicated, so my husband is happy to answer any additional questions if you have them – just send me an email!
Shop Closet Bar Tools
This concludes the process of my closet renovation! I have to admit I was skeptical about how it would turn out but I’m glad I trusted my husband’s vision for the space. The transformation is pretty incredible considering what it looked like when we moved in!
