I’m still working on the fake concrete “stones” for my front porch baseboard, and it looks like I won’t meet my goal of finishing my outdoor projects by my birthday this weekend. I’m a little disappointed, but I’m working as fast as I can and I’m not going to leave projects unfinished just because of an arbitrary deadline I set for myself. So I’ll finish the front porch (finish the faux stone concrete baseboard and paint the wood porch), install the new front porch lights, and paint the area around the new bedroom door. Then I’ll clean all those areas, as well as the area around the side door of the studio, and be done with the outdoor projects for now. I hope to return to them in the fall.
After reaching that stopping point outside, I’ll finally be working in our bedroom storage room. If you’re new here, the room I’m talking about is a hall bathroom that used to be our master guest bathroom, but has since been subsumed by our master bedroom. And since it’s pretty weird to have a guest bathroom inside a master bedroom, and I really need more storage for Matt’s gear, I’m going to turn that guest bathroom into a storage room.
For now, that bathroom is hidden behind closed doors in the hallway of our bedroom.
I’m really glad it can be hidden because that bathroom/future storage room, which used to look like this…
…it currently looks like this…
I started on it and then decided I just wasn’t ready to jump into another major interior project right after finishing my bedroom-to-closet conversion and our bedroom remodel. So I closed the doors, temporarily stepped away, and focused on some off-the-wall outside projects for now. But as soon as I finish these last few outdoor projects, I’ll start over on this storage closet project. Now I feel ready and prepared for another interior remodeling project.
But before I get there, I need to make some decisions. I’ve already worked on the basic layout of the room. When I’m in the entryway, I want the cabinets on the right wall to be arranged like this (which you saw in a previous post). The large, blank area will be where I store Matt’s electric wheelchair and shower wheelchair when they are not in use…
And then the left wall will be arranged to look like this…
I’ve been trying to think about exactly how I want to build these cabinets. Since this is just a storage room, and I will really be the only person accessing this storage room, it all comes down to what I want and how much effort I want to put into this room. I have two options for the cabinets.
First, I can go all out and build real cabinets like I did in my closet.
If you followed that project, you know that each section of my closet is a separate cabinet, and each has its own sides, back, bottom, and top. I then lined up the individual cabinets against the wall, screwed and anchored them to the wall, and then added all the trim. That’s the most complicated way to build a closet, but for me it results in a more custom look.
But a much easier and quicker way to create a lot of usable storage would be to use wall brackets (like these from Home Depot) and attach shelves directly to the wall.
If I go in that direction, I would still need to build or purchase the drawer sections, but then on top of those drawer sections I could have continuous shelves that run the entire length of the wall.
The second option would obviously be cheaper and faster, while the first option would look more personalized and match the dressing room. But here are some more considerations:
- The first option (i.e. full cabinets) would cost more and take more time, but would allow me to have adjustable shelves in each section.
- The first option would make the cabinets the star of the show with very little wall space in the finished room.
- The second option (i.e. full length shelves on brackets) would be faster and cheaper, but would not have the option of adjustable shelves.
- The second option would make the walls more prominent in the room, so anything you do on the walls would be the center of attention.
I haven’t really been able to decide what direction I want to take. What I do know for sure is that I want to use this wallpaper in the room…
And I want the cabinets and/or shelves (and probably the ceiling) to be painted pink or orange. I haven’t even looked at the paint colors yet, but I grabbed these two colors straight from the wallpaper.
I know I’m in my pink era right now so pink seems like the obvious choice. But don’t forget that this storage room is in our bedroom, and our bedroom is the only room in the house without roses. That room has a lot of orange color.
Anyway, while I’ve been working these past few days, these are the thoughts and plans that have been floating around in my mind. As you can see, I’m still working out the details. If I choose the full cabinet option, the paint color will play a much more prominent role in the room and the wallpaper will be an accent. If I choose open shelves on stands, the paint color will be less prominent and the wallpaper will show up much more. Additionally, there are other considerations I listed above with each option.
I’m still thinking about it and I still have a while before making my final decision. Even when I’m done with the outdoor projects, I still need to finish the demolition of the room before I can start building. I have some time, but I’d like to have a solid plan in place within the next two weeks.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 upper that my husband Matt and I purchased in 2013. Matt has MS and can’t do physical work, so I do most of the house work myself. You can learn more about me here.
