Sometimes I still can't believe I'm pregnant! Then I walk past a mirror and I'm reminded that it's true! ;)
Of course I am so excited about having a little girl, but you know what else I'm thrilled about?! That I got to rip out the old wire shelving in the future nursery's closet!! Hooray!
I've been begging my husband to help me with closet makeovers throughout our entire house for a year now. I'm a big fan of organized storage and the closets in our house just weren't using the space efficiently. Now that we have a deadline (July due date!), he's on board to get things done, so I'm taking advantage while it lasts!
I started with my office closet renovation to complete my office makeover that I did at the end of last year. I'm obsessed with it and love how it turned out. I open that closet at least 2x each day, so it makes me so happy to have a pretty closet to match my office.
So now that we are thinking about nursery plans, I knew that I wanted to start with the closet this time. To be honest, I can't quite come up with a nursery design yet. Everything that I look at for inspiration looks so "baby" and I'm just not sure how I want to bring it all together yet. Hence, starting with the closet!
The Inspo
When starting with a blank slate, I always like to start with inspiration photos and a vision board to keep myself on track as I make decisions throughout the process. I rounded up a few images that I kept going back to when looking for nursery closet inspiration....
I am loving the look of wallpaper on the closet walls, BUT since I don't have the room design complete yet, I didn't want to pick out a wallpaper and hope for the best. In the photo below, it looks like they are using wall decals, so that could be a great option for me, since I imaging that installing wallpaper once the shelves are already built would be much trickier.
A few items on our closet wishlist:
- plenty of hanging space
- lighting inside the closet (husband's request)
- new doors (the old ones were tragic)
- shelves for plenty of baby gear and clothing storage
A lot of these images show drawers built-in, but I don't want drawers. We will have a dresser for clothing items, but I want to make sure that I have plenty of shelf and basket storage for larger items like blankets, diaper backstock, keepsakes, baby gear, and next size up clothing bins. As I mentioned, the storage in the rest of the house is pretty limited, so I want to maximize storage in the nursery as much as possible, while still keep the space organized and tidy!
The photo directly above is one of my favorites - the wallpaper is fantastic for a little boy, but I love the custom look of the shelving. You can see the thickness of the shelves, as compared to the other photos. I had a few people recommend store bought or Ikea shelving units to be installed in the closet, but I wanted to make the closet look custom and higher end...the visible adjustable shelf holes just don't do it for me.
The Plan:
I'm going to build a custom vertical shelving unit on the left side of the closet, then add two hanging rod sections on the right. I'll remove baseboards and reinstall new ones that go around the shelving unit for a custom look. I'll complete the space with coordinating baskets for organized storage, and either wallpaper or wall decals, once I finalize a nursery design direction. I can't wait to show you the progress on Instagram! Of course, I'll be writing a DIY blog post for the build and a reveal post for the final closet look.