Bedroom Closet Shelving

Now that the walls are complete I can start the installation of the shelving unit. Once I've built the first level of the 12" wide shelf, I realize there is a problem. This is an old house and the flooring and walls are not quite level. Of course this is not a problem in and of itself, but if this shelf starts off uneven, it will become a problem at the top. So the solution was to put in a full length shelf at the bottom to give a level platform. Also, this separates some room on the floor for shoes or other small storage items.

With this solution complete, I can install the first three shelves, the clothes rail, and the full length shelf above. Then with a ladder, I can repeat on the middle shelf, installing the three narrow shelves, then the clothes rail, and finally an upper shelf. The top shelf is quite high and does not have a lot of vertical space, so it will mainly be for longer term storage.

Bedroom Closet Patching

After all of the demo and mudding, it takes about 12-18 hours for the mud to dry. The dry time depends on thickness. After it drys, I sand it down tediously until it seems mostly level with the wall. The sanding produces a lot of dust, so it's important to wear something over your mouth and nose. Can't do much about the layer of dust on the arms though. Then I rinse and repeat, filling in the holes and cracks with more mud in order to sand again. I did this for 3 days before completing the drywall and being able to paint. The bottom right image shows the closet after the whole wall patching process is complete.

Bedroom Closet Demo

This is the first legitimate project in a while. I am going to demo the bedroom closet and install a nice space-efficient closet unit in order to maximize the space. Currently there is one shelf and one clothes bar in the closet. This makes it impossible to use the space high in the closet and painful to use the space low in the closet. With such a small house, maximizing storage is essential.


To start with I use my crow bar and hammer to remove the shelf and support boards. These must have been original because the demo reveals the plaster on the wall with no paint over it. I also remove the window sill and the casing around the window. While this window does provide some light, it is not worth the space on the wall, so I am filling the gap with drywall. Time will tell if an addition of a closet light will be required. After cutting and installing the drywall piece (with the back side painted bright white, even though this window is barely visible from the outside), I apply a large amount of mud to all the damaged areas. This will take most of the week in the evenings to cycle through sanding and mudding until there is a fairly smooth surface remaining.