My daughter’s closet has always been a bit dull, serviceable, but nothing special. Most closets are really just utilitarian, unless you can make-over a small room into a fantastic closet, and add lots of fancy extras: lighting, seating and specialized compartments for shoes, jewelry and accessories. Lacking an entire room to remake into a specialized closet, we are working with what we have; a small, but well organized space.
A year ago for Christmas, I gave my daughter a pretty chandelier for her closet. We always thought we would get that closet painted, and shelves covered in pretty wallpaper, and the chandelier installed; but that plan just did not happen quickly. Here we are a year later, and we decided to tackle the project.
We thought we could install the chandelier by ourselves; after all, we’ve done simple stuff like this before. What we did not realize is that the bare bulb that illuminated the closet was actually in a junction box and had a pull cord to turn on the light; it was not hard wired into the wall, to a light switch. Handy husband aka dad, had to do a little work on the chandelier to make itwork in the closet. While he could have hardwired it into the wall, he has too many other projects on his worktable at this time. He decided it was easier to rewire the chandelier to work with a pull cord; he could do without having to cut into the wall and do some plastering work to boot!
My daughter and I had decided a metallic paint for the walls would add some glam. We bought what was available, one of the three colors we wanted to try—the paint store was out of the other colors. Without other choices, we decided to plunge into the project full force, now that we had the light that would be in the finished closet, instead of the bare bulb with low wattage.
I am nearly always skeptical after the the first coat, when I start a painting, stripping or staining project. “What was I thinking” comes to my mind, but knowing that the next coat will be a huge improvement, I power on. After the second coat of metallic paint on these walls, I was still a wee bit unsure. The metallic paint is not hard to work with, but it is a bit tricky and does not cover as evenly as I expected, even with the advised paint extender meant to give you more time before it sets.
After painting the walls and trim, we were anxious to get the chandelier put together to see if we would like the paint color. The paint color was called Champagne, but it is most definitely an antique gold, much like the gold calligraphy ink, I have used. It was growing on us. The chandelier was another trial, to get all the crystals put together and then hung on the appropriate arms of the frame.
We were afraid early on that the project would look a bit more like Liberace’s closet than chic Hollywood Regency on a small scale. In the end, we love the effect. The Audrey Hepburn poster from Italy has been framed in a simple black frame. We added a pretty cord of silk with one of the crystals on the pull chain, and painted the dresser a fresh new color. All new hangers, will complete this project. As usual, small projects can morph into much bigger ones, but they can be broken down into smaller, more manageable ones too, that allow for you to complete them as time allows.
I am happy to say, the closet turned out to be a great success and my daughter loves it; just enough bling for the small area.