For Monday's Question of the Week I posted about the importance of a first-floor powder room, something we resentfully scratched off our 'must-haves' list when we bought our house. Well, another thing we had to scratch off that list, that pained me almost as much, was storage -- particularly hallway/foyer storage.
Our foyer is pretty roomy, but aside from an unsightly garage-sale coat rack and an IKEA shoe rack (to say they don't work is a gross understatement), we've no place to store the six months of various Canadian winter wear. No matter how we try to rotate coats and run shoes up to the guest room closet, the piles of coats and boots are relentless.
The racks are to the left of the front door (looking out), the chest of drawers is to the right, by the stairs.
You may remember me complaining about this issue a year ago, when I posted a Shoestring Makeover of my foyer. I posted these photos and asked your opinion on creating a built-in closet in place of the chest of drawers, one that will hopefully not disturb the traffic flow. Well, we're finally ready to do it!
The goal is something akin to the top photo. Because there's not a right angle to be had in our house, and because it'll be a DIY, 'rustic charm' is pretty much our only option for style -- all imperfections are welcome! While the photo shows an actual armoire suspended on the wall, we'll be building a taller, shallower version out of vintage doors (it's too bad none of the doors we salvaged from our own house could be used -- all crooked.)
Here are the doors we bought from a salvage shop in Cobourg, ON, called Legacy, approx. $200 for the three. They're circa '20s or '30s if I had to guess, but to be honest, I have no idea. But they are solid (and heavy, which makes me a bit nervous.)
- The two to the left will be the closet doors, while the one to the right will be cut down the middle to become the closet sides.
- The strip to the far right will be used to build up a frame up top, crowning the closet, upon which we'll affix decorative trim/moulding to match our door frames.
- The height will also match our door frames.
- It will also be suspended, and beneath will be shoe storage as in the photo above.
- The closet will be backless. Inside will be staggered rows of hooks affixed to the wall, allowing us to make the closet shallower than a standard coat hanger. To the left of the closet there will be a rod protruding out of the wall and capped on the end, on which we'll be able to hang two or three hangers, parallel to the wall.
- There will be some shelving up top and at the bottom for shoes and miscellaneous storage.
- I'm planning to strip the paint for a rough, rustic patina. But we'll see what the wood looks like beneath all that paint, and if it's too different even for 'rustic charm'. I may end up painting the whole thing white, though I think there'll be too much white now that I've painted my floors.
Thoughts, friends?
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