Before & After: Goodbye Closet, Hello Library

Dealing with this closet and salmon painted floor was high on the priority list of things to do to begin turning this basement into the modern family room it was destined to be. It had been on my mind since the moment we got the keys to the house. It took a few months to get around to it but we finally did. Follow me after the jump to see the result…

We didn’t have much use for the closet but we did have hundreds of books that needed to find a home. I had envisioned a custom wall to wall bookcase for this space to solve this problem and give my husband the library he had always dreamed of having and was determined to see it through.

We dealt with the floor before we moved in. We ended up getting a concrete overlay to get the industrial look we were going for. Months later came the closet renovation, as I began designing the structure I had decided to include my office space into it for it would be moving down to the basement in a matter of months and had nowhere to go.

I wanted the final design to be clean, modern, minimal and, asymmetrical. I started out with measuring our books, it turned out that we had a few specific sizes so that determined the size of the cubbies. I also wanted to make sure to include negative space for visual rests and enough room for objects as well as books.

Most of the structure is freestanding except for the right side above the desk. We made brackets out of plumbing pipes to secure that area. The project took a few weeks on and off and was totally worth the effort. The best part is that the whole project including wood, screws, pipe and paint only cost about $300. That’s much better than the multi-thousand price tags I’ve seen in other places.

More on this project at Old House New Tricks.

Images: alysha findley