Seven Days To A Better Closet – Makeover Part 1

 

Yep, it took me seven days to make my closet better, cleaner and prettier.  Much longer than even I imagined.  So I am going to share with you my closet makeover! We cleaned, stained concrete, painted walls and here is how we did it.

 

 

I am really embarrassed and can not believe that I actually took a picture and shared it with you!  The thing is, this is the smallest closet I have ever had since before I got married!  Seriously, I have lived in apartments with bigger and better arranged closets. Ugh!  This closet is only 10 X 6.  Shouldn’t a castle have a bigger closet? Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful that it is as big as it is…it could be smaller.  It is just so dark, poorly laid out and in big need of a paint job.

Day 1: Prep for the closet makeover.  Empty the closet.  Oh. MY. Goodness!   Easier said than done.  I kept thinking “If this is such a tiny closet, how come we have so much junk?”  For reals!  I kept hauling and hauling stuff out of there.  Note to self: get rid of some stuff!

After we had removed everything from the closet, it was obvious why we need to have better closet organization, not to mention new paint on the walls and trim.  What I didn’t plan on was putting in new flooring.  The floor was – well – disgusting! Cheap builder grade carpet had to go.  It was the only installed carpet left in the downstairs of the house anyway. Since the rest of the flooring was either tile or stained concrete, we decided to go with the stained concrete in the closet too.

 

So… we removed the carpet and that was the end of day one.  At this point I was getting really excited about this closet makeover!

 

 

DAY 2: Staining concrete is easy.  It’s the CLEANING  of the concrete that is hard.  I am talking like trying to scrape dried Fruity Pebbles cereal off of bowls hard!  But once it is clean and dried, it’s a piece of cake!  I like to use Kemiko stain – which is really an acid etching product.  The big DIY stores carry a  concrete stain, which is just what is says.  It only stains the surface area.  Which means that it will wear off and you don’t get that rich, mottled look that you do with an acid etching product.  Plus, when I say etching, I mean it eats down into the concrete.  It isn’t going anywhere! Trust me on this!

I painted the walls the same grey as my bedroom, then cleaned the floors ( HOURS people! Hours!) I then waited for it to dry over night.  If the floor isn’t completely dry it will look “milky” when you put on the sealer. No Bueno!

Doesn’t sound like I make much headway but, that brought day two to a close. Seriously doubting my sanity!

 

Day 3:  I stained the concrete!  Woo Hoo!  Be sure to cover your walls or you will have discoloration and  acid eating into them! ALWAYS wear protective clothing, shoes, and gloves!  I used a plastic garden sprayer to apply.  Then you let it dry and apply again.  Once thoroughly dry, you scrub off with water until really, really clean!   Again, it has to dry over night for the next step!

So, there you have the first three days of my closet makeover.  Just writing this wears me out again!  I am going to show you the rest on Friday….

Until next time…..

Tammy