I don't mean to brag, but as far back as i can remember, closets have been something that have been present in my life. There was a brief period in college when i lived in a makeshift room added on to a less-than-sound house in muncie, indiana in which i did not have a closet. None of this is a euphemism for anything. This is just closet-talk, man. But i digress. Anywho, you learn to take a thing like a closet for granted. After living out of a dresser and laundry baskets during the past year, one might imagine how stoked MJ and i were at the prospect of finally having our own closet in which to hang clothing once again. You know that thing that they say about the little things? Well, i'm not going to argue with whoever they are that say that, because, hey... closets are nice. Am i right? You don't have to answer that. I've now learned to never take a closet for granted again.
Our master bedroom (formerly the "green room") came equipped with a useless secondary furnace housed within its closet. In the previous photo featuring me in a dust mask you can see the return vent that was connected immediately to the unit behind the closet wall. You may notice in the photo directly above that the aforementioned return vent was removed (along with that hunk of scrap metal) and replaced with drywall. Nice patch, eh?
Now we're starting to see less and less of that pea puke green and more and more woodgrain. With a fresh coat of paint on the wall you'd never know there was once a return vent in the mix. It's not black magic, kids. It's just a little elbow grease and mostly raw talent. Now, let's open up that closet and take a look inside. Shall we?
Sadly, i haven't been able to dig up any shots of the crumbling disgusting plaster that once covered the inside of the closet. However, you can see from the "before" photo that i masterly removed said plaster revealing the lath beneath and a glimmer of the someday-bathroom on the other side of the wall. Notice the fresh gypsum in the "after" shot. Tasty, right?
Now, if you'll allow me to give you a peak at the inside of the closet. Again, i'm disappointed to say that there are no photos of the preexisting furnace. Still, if you look at the next "before" shot, you can see the supply and return ducts which we put through ceilings and floors to connect everything in the attic to our single furnace living in the basement. The ductwork fit just snug between that there ol' coal chimney and the closet wall. In order to squeeze everything between the floor joists, we even had to manufacture our own pieces out of scrap sheet metal. Mr. Mike once again helped us out with figuring out that piece of the puzzle.
I then built a wall with some two-by-fours and gypsum board to cover the monstrosity and patched the floor with some salvaged floor planks.
After refinishing the floors, more paint, putting up some baseboards, etcetera, our brand new closet was finally ready to move in to...
Huzzah!
A few brackets, hand-cut shelves, and steel rods later, we had a place to hang clothes. In the next shot you can really see that new wall (baseboard and all) that hides the new ductwork...
On the other wall directly across there's a little nook in which we hung some hand-cut shelves for our footwear to lounge upon.
Say it with me, people:
Closets are nice.
