Master Closet Makeover

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Our Master Closet Makeover is probably really stretching the limits when it comes to the word “makeover”. It’s more of a budget before after working with what I already had on-hand! But it only took a quick afternoon and it was a huge improvement! 

I know… I hear you… it doesn’t seem like much. But compared to what we started with, it feels like a huge improvement to us! It’s one of those projects or room makeovers, like tackling decluttering, that leaves you scratching your head and wondering why you didn’t tackle it sooner.

Not only because the above before picture really is bad, but because it didn’t take long at all! More on that in a second, but first, let’s point out everything wrong with this picture.

The bottom left is not usually empty. No, trust me, we cram as much into this tiny closet as we can. We normally have 2 laundry baskets on the floor there, but for your sake, I removed them. It might be an ugly before, but we don’t need to go as far as to show our dirty laundry.

Because of those laundry baskets, though, I never really used that lower rod. I had some spare hangers on it pushed back to the far right, but other than that, it just kind of got in the way.

With the closet emptied, the other 2 big issues become all the more glaring.

Let’s start with the least obvious- the clothing rod in the upper left side of the photo. Right above that is the access panel to our crawl space. My husband had to get up there at one point and accidentally stepped on the rod coming down instead of the ladder rung.

It bent, and while I realize it’s not that big of a deal… I noticed it all the time and it drove me nuts. Apparently it’s quite easy to drive me nuts.

The other very obvious issue is the entire bottom 1/3 of the wall. All that raw drywall and mud that we never even bothered to prime.

When we were completing our house renovations about 2 years ago, the HVAC guys needed to run some new pipes through this wall. After they finished patching it up, my husband asked if we should quick paint it while it was emptied.

Guys. Our entire first floor was ripped up. We were spending every night tearing up floors, ripping down walls and basically being exhausted. I told him I didn’t care about this closet at all and I didn’t want either of us to spend any time painting it.

Two years later, and it turns out I do care about it. It just looked unfinished (duh, it was), and I was re-energized and ready to do something about it.

The first step in fixing up this closet was priming this raw drywall. I used a drywall primer and paint combo to put two coats on it.

And here’s another example of how I approach projects. I hate the prep work. We all do, I know. I started this while my husband was at work and just thought I’d paint around the shelf unit.

He came home, kissed my cheek to hide his eye-rolling and spent about 5 minutes taking it out for me.

So, yes, I realize there is a tiny patch of drywall at the bottom that never got primed. It stayed like that, because I was ready to move on to paint.

How to Edge the Trim When Painting a Room

When I start a new painting project, my first step is always the edging. This tiny space had 4 corners and lots of other edges because of all the wood strips on the walls.

I decided to use the HomeRight Quick Painter with the Corner Pad Attachment.  You just follow the instruction manual to fill your Quick Painter directly from your paint can.

You then use the trigger to control how much paint is released directly through the pad.

I was able to get all 4 corners in just minutes!

Then I moved on to the pieces of wood that were attached around the walls for support.

How to Paint a Room Quickly

Next it was time for the walls and my HomeRight Painstick EZ Twist. I’ve shared my love for this tool before when I gave you tips on how to paint high stairwell walls.

I’m still shouting it’s praises! For someone like me who hates the prep work, my favorite part of these tools is that you don’t need to bother setting up and cleaning a paint tray. You just fill directly from the paint can. I never get tired of it!

Then use the twist action on the end of the stick to control how much paint flows through your roller cover. I had to fill my paint stick up 2 times and the entire closet was done!

After letting the paint dry, we put the shelves and rods back in. We decided to leave off the lower right rod that we never really used. We swapped that one out for the bent one that used to be in the upper left side. And all feels cleaner, fresher and less like a construction zone!

Supplies to Paint a Room

• HomeRight Quick Painter
• Corner Pad Attachment
• HomeRight Painstick EZ Twist
• Paint

Before After of Master Closet Makeover

And while I still wish I had my walk-in closet from our last house, I’m much happier now! It only took a couple hours to go from this disaster:

to our after closet:

We did purge a few things while we were putting the closet back together, but honestly… not too much. We kept nearly everything. It’s just more organized and in the correct place now!

And while I realize this post isn’t going to be pinned to any Master Closet Inspiration boards on Pinterest, I hope it does provide a little inspiration. Maybe help you realize that we don’t all have these designer show case homes (look at that awful blue carpet I’m still dealing with!!), but we can still take a little bit of time to improve what we do have.

I was so bummed about leaving my old walk-in closet behind, that 2 years ago I just didn’t care what this tiny closet looked like. But after a couple hours and some paint, I’m now kicking myself for now showing some pride in it before. It doesn’t have to be Pinterest-worthy for me to want to keep it looking it’s best!