Hi all!  I’m sorry for going MIA for a few days.  I started a couple projects and then ran into some DIY speed bumps (more on that later), so things got pushed back a little.

This weekend I got the sudden urge to makeover my coat closet.  It was getting a little unruly and I figured it would be, ahem, a quick project.

Here is the offending closet:

So embarrassing.  The closet hadn’t been touched in the 30 years that it has been there.  It was so gross. The walls were filthy.  What on earth did the previous owners store in there?  It was so therapeutic to paint over it all.

And here is the after!

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What I Used:

1. Paint – Behr (Home Depot), color “Double Click” (best paint name ev-er for a blogger, right?!) $15
2. Hangers (similar) – At Home (pack of 12, they come in ombre, light gray to dark gray).  $10
3. Shelf – 12″x60″ pine board from Home Depot.  Cut to size at the store.  $9
4. Stain – small container of Red Mahogany Minwax stain (Home Depot).  $4
5. Rod – 3/4″ silver plumbing pipe, and two flanges (Home Depot) – $30
6. Basket – At Home, $13

The Mistake That I Learned During This Process…

This is my first attempt using pipe.  It’s really popular right now with DIY projects and I wanted to give it a try.  Well, I gave it two tries.

The first attempt:  I actually bought it in black, and used a 1/2″ pipe.  I had it cut to my specs.  So you can imagine how annoyed I was when I realized it wasn’t fitting.

What other bloggers haven’t told you…  the flanges (thats hardware store speak for the two end pieces you screw to your wall that holds the pipe), don’t let you twist the pipe to the back of the flange (to the wall).  So mine was a 1/4 inch too long after I screwed on both flanges.  ARGH.

So spent $10 on a pipe that I can’t use.  Great.

I went back to Home Depot, traded in my two half inch black flanges for two 3/4″ silver flanges and a silver pipe cut to 32 1/2″.  Going from black to silver, and up 1/4″ in size, added another $10 to the bottom line.  So my $20 rod system just went to $40 including my error rod.  Sigh.

More advice:  A 1/2″ was almost too much to shave off.  I should have gone closer to just a 1/4″ inch.

I cleaned the silver pipe with Goo Gone.  I tried a Mr. Clean sponge first, and it didn’t work.  Goo Gone got off all the slimy grimy stuff with no problem.

So that wraps up my mini hallway coat closet makeover.  Despite the speed bumps and added costs, I do really love how it turned out.  And I learned a couple things in the process of it all.  Now that I have a DIY pipe project out of my system, I can move onto something new!