I feel like Candice Olsen,,, "The Reveal". "My Master Closet is Finished"

I've created a space that is all mine, literally, all mine!

It's not an office or pretty kitchen it's my

 "Master Closet" 

Somewhere for me to go and do my hair, nails and makeup.

To stand in front of the mirror and see what I'm wearing each day.

 

This re-do has been going on for weeks now and my bruised shin and hands are happy to say "All for a few tweaks It's just about finished".  I brought all my belongings back into the new closet and am in the process of fitting it all in, although I'm sure it will all be moved around again and again, until I find the proper placement.

Now that I look at the before photo, it's sorta scarey and I feel like I was some sort of a slob for the past few years but it's not me, it's miss management of a big closet with those horrible wire racks and much wasted space going on in there. 

This is a shot from the odd wall placement and wire shelves.

Dead air space!

Now look at that same space filled with all the clothing that might go on my body several times a year. Looks like a tight space but it's really not.

This project started with my literally taping my design idea to the wall.  I then measured each piece of wood needed and took it  to my HD guy who cut a 4 by 8 piece of 'sandy pine'.. it took three sheets of the pine and the scraps  gave me plenty of left over wood to add a few more shelves.  My idea changed with each new screw that went in. The original design was not set in stone.

Once I removed everything from the space I gave the walls a fresh coat of white paint.

I rolled a white primer on each cut of wood, right in the closet,  before I put it all together.

The HD guy was good enough to put the measurement of each cut on the ends of the wood.  That saved me a lot of time and energy.

Then bit by bit each board went together.

I went through two large rolls of masking tape to hold the trim as I glued it to the raw edges of each shelf.

Every board is hooked with molly's both to the wall and to each other. I used over 80 of these little L brackets, along with liquid nails.

The entire unit is one strong fortress. I even tried to climb it just to be sure it would not fall down!

The only problem I had was figuring how to hang the long wood clothes rod.  The space was perfect but I had no idea how to make it secure and not bend in time, with the weight of all my clothes.

So I got the big idea of using heavy wood and putting holes in it for the 2" dowel. I then used strong molly's into L brackets and liquid nails to anchor the wood brackets to the wall.

My drill bits were small and I did not want to buy a large one so I took my time and drilled many holes to create a big one..  It may look crude but once I inserted the rod I used liquid nails and then wood filler. It vanished once painted.

I only have to hang the mirror and then tweak a few spots.

But all in all the bones of the closet are up and finished.

This has been quite a project. One that makes me smile and now I'm thinking of doing the other closets in the house.  My other two bed rooms have  standard closets and I'm thinking of putting in shelving on the right side of the clothes rod.  Will add more space for odds and ends. 

That is for another time.

In the mean time,,, 

"I love my new Closet" 

I told my daughter "I just want to sit in there and look at it"

 I am now actually using  my new little "dressing room" and  all my hair supplies are on the shelf next to the mirror.  Now I need to instal an electrical socket for my blow dryer. A bit of research and that should be an easy project.

I also need to paint a little stool that has been out in my store room to use while doing my hair.  I cut the legs shorter and now it's a comfee perfect size to sit in front of the mirror.

I'll be painting the stool. I really love the color below.

.

As of now I'm reading about electric because as I said, I need an outlet to plug in my hair dryer.  One of my fears, working with electric but I bought the socket and all the little things needed.  I'm going to give it a try since there is so much information on the net.

Ok, I did not put the new socket in myself. 

I called my handy man, but look how perfect.

 I did manage to finish the little stool. See how I did it Here

One thing I learned, never be afraid to take on such a project, no matter how big or small your closet space is, it's amazing how much room you will have if you just get it organized with shelving... and, of all the projects I've done in my home, this

Closet Make Over is the one that has me smiling the most.

One more important thing, I did call a contractor before I tackled this project and he said it would run between

$1500. and $3000. to do this (plus materials).  

I spent all of $245.00 so far.

Not bad!

(doing the happy dance here)

 As I've said before, "Never be afraid to tackle such a project"

If you really want something,

Just do it!

I'm linking up to

 

Where Bloggers Create 2012 

Crime came to my street with a vengeance.....

I woke this morning at 4:30 am to quite a commotion just a few doors from my house. Dozens of County Sheriffs cars and local police had my entire street blocked.  Yellow tape draped the crime scene from house to house and what could be 50 officers going back and forth.  From what I was told it happened at 3:30 am and I slept through the entire shooting that my neighbor's all said, was loud.  5 gunshots and 2 people dead.  The woman was murdered in her grandmothers house across the street and the man took his own life on the sidewalk of my friends house, his mother-in-law.

One by one the lights of the homes came on and the residents peeking out of windows and doors. Once I dressed and went out to my front porch a detective came over and asked me if I heard anything.  No, I said,  but what happened?  Since he was not at liberty to tell me all I could ask is, "Tell me it's not my friend who lives in the house your all concentrating on"... all he could say was, "No, not the ones who actually live in that house". 

This went on for hours. Neighbors going to each others front yards and talking of what they think happened.  Then the man right next door came to me and said, "I saw the whole thing".  3 am a man ran from one house to another and then took his own life on our friends sidewalk. The really sad part is this estranged husband shot his wife right in front of her grandmother and two small children.

What a way to start the day.  I had a 7am Dr. appointment but they were not going to let me out of my driveway.  You can see the back end of my white car in the drive.

news wtsp 10 photo

I was rattled to say the least as I have never been so close to a crime of this size, and my heart hurts for my friend.   

The end of a horrible morning... My friends daughter is dead, her two small children do not have a mom or dad. Then, I guess you could call it a blessing in disguise, the skies opened up to a very heavy downpour. The water ran from the front yard into the drain in front of my house, bright red. Ingrid will not have to clean up the mess on her sidewalk....

Then after the rain was over in came the Fire Department and they took out their high powered hose and cleaned the entire front yard.

Bless them. 

I may sound nieve  but I've never seen a crime scene as large as this or what the authorities  go through during an investigation. And the knowledge of what a mess it is when someone takes a high powered rifle to their head.

photo taken from my upstairs window

This news story reaffirms what I have always thought,

 "No one needs a gun" 

Guns kill people.

If this man used a bat or a knife this woman might have had a chance.

(nuff said on that subject)

Everyone go about your business today but first Hug your children, Kiss your mom and dad because we just don't know what tomorrow will bring.

I'm linking up to

Alphabet Thursday 

The Palm Tree has gone to the birds.. Or rather the "Bees"

 

For the past few days I've been recuperating  from an endoscopic procedure used to place a expandable mesh tube, in an obstructed area of my digestive tract and also a biopsy of the stomach. It was just an all day thing in the hospital but I'll tell you I was not a happy camper the first two days.   All the way from my throat to my stomach hurt with each swallow. Today I'm feeling so much better and can now eat soft foods, and took myself out to sit in the sun. After all the rain we have had this week Mr. Sun thought he better come out to get me feeling better.

While out back I checked on the palm tree that I've been watching for the past two weeks.  At first I thought it was sick because it had a 'sap' of sorts dripping from it.  Palm trees do not drip sap so after asking a Tree Doctor he said it looks like "honey"... and said be careful, there might be a rather large hive in the tree with as many as 10 to 40 thousand  Honey bees!

Yiikes!

I tried to get a shot of the trunk but the sun was much too bright. You can see globs of honey dripping.  Today I did notice loads of little specks (bees) flying all around the tree.

I took the best photos I could and cropped and re-sized them in PicMonkey.  You may be able to see the honey dripping down the trunk.  The tree guy said we need to call a Bee Doctor as Florida is famous for large hives in the most unusual places.. and the bees may get angry and be dangerous.  The Bee Keeper must get up there in their white hooded uniform and take the bees away alive.  I was also told to not go back there until this is done.  Guess we had better warn our neighbors children who play next door.

I'll try to get some photos of the Bee Doctor doing his work, it might be fun to watch.  Thankfully I have the perfect spot from behind the sliding glass doors of my upstairs room.  I'm also going to ask the Bee Doctor if I can have the Honey Comb... that would be wonderful to get all that honey.

While I was out there I spotted this beautiful guy just sitting on a low branch of the Oak tree watching me.  I quickly snapped a photo and he was gone.. sorry for the quality.  It's a large Osprey and I bet he/she was looking for lunch.

Speaking of lunch, let me go find something soft, yogurt maybe.  It still is very uncomfortable down in my stomach.  

It's not happy!

"Enjoy your beautiful week Everyone"

I'm linking up to

Tuesdays Garden Party 

Wow Us Wednesday 

Outdoor Wednesday 

Cottage Garden Party