Our DIY Custom Dressing Room is (almost) Done!
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Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! What's the game plan today? Awesome brunch, followed by high tea, followed by a gourmet dinner paired with champagne? That all sounds very lovely! For me, I won't mind just spending my morning, afternoon, and night here... My Mother's Day present from the Mr. - our ALMOST complete dressing room/ walk-in closet.
Disclaimer: I'm sorry if my tripod sneaked in the photos. I'm sure a professional photographer would know the trick with mirrors, but I'm not one!
We left off the previous dressing room update with the closet doors built and dry-fitted.
This is the current view coming into our master suite.
After the Mr. painted the closet doors, I suggested that a rope trim be added to the inner frame of the door. The little architectural detail adds depth and dimension, while tying in with the trim that separates the bottom drawers and the upper hanging units. Not to mention, it adds a touch of elegance to the otherwise plain shaker style closet doors.
I'm so glad the Mr. agreed to this little addition, though he warned that it would be the last wifey request for the closet. :-P
The "must have" for any built-in unit is, of course, the crown mouldings. For our closet design, the icing on the cake was the LED tape lights that the Mr. installed at the crown.
He toyed with the idea of LED lighting even before we moved in, and had our electrician install the rough-in for the LED lighting. The Mr. decided to beef-up the simple crown design by adding a low profile chair rail just below it to create the illusion of a thick crown.
The LED lights are then taped on the top of the chair rail to highlight the crown and light up the perimeter of the dressing room.
While he worked on the trim, we ordered mirrors to go on the doors. For safety concerns, we opted to go with acrylic mirror instead of glass mirrors. Although all of the closet doors have soft closing hinges, we don't want to risk the danger of shattering fragile mirrors, especially when we have a silly little one in the house. So for the look of mirrors and brightness, acrylic mirrors work out for us.
The con of using acrylic mirrors is that they can scratch very easily and they need to be cleaned with a special cloth/ material. Installation can also be tricky, requiring the thinnest of double-sided tape to avoid any warping of the mirror.
We understood all of these, even the unavoidable minimal warping, before we placed the order. In the end, we still love the acrylic mirrors, how it brightens up the dark indented closet space, especially when the sunshine pours in from the ensuite windows across the closet.
Drawers, as you can see, are a huge part of this closet. They can store a ton of stuff with the KonMari folding method! Having them on full extension self-closing glides are little indulgences that hit the sweet spot for our particular selves - when we don't hear the returning "bang" upon closing the drawers.
Nothing beats customized storage. Even though we don't have excessive articles of clothing, it's important that we have a spot for everything to keep clothing clutter under control.
The vanity drawers are also on full extension glides. Sorry I can't share the more intimates with you. But I'm totally envious of the Mr.'s collection of colorful socks!
The Mr. still needs to patch up the trims at the mirrors and install the chandelier. I wouldn't even have minded if the mirrors aren't installed by Mother's Day. But I've to admit, seeing it to pretty much completed is like my closet dreams come true.
This closet has definitely come a long way from our previous DIY dressing room from hacking IKEA PAX wardrobes. I can't name one favorite part of this closet - the built-in vanity, pull-out racks, numerous drawers, or the mirror doors. All aspects of this closet are pretty AND functional.
I'm quite proud of the Mr.'s amazing build, and so is he! He asked if I were surprised by his ability to build this closet from scratch, or does he just meet expectation. One thing I know is, I never doubted he would be able to build this from scratch (he built our office built-in at our previous home). Yet, he still exceeded my expectations; I think the closet has turned out even more beautiful than I had envisioned it to be. I hope he's happy with this report card =)
Just as he wrapped up the other night, I told him the closet reminds me of a wedding gown boutique's dressing room. It could be all the mirror doors' reflections on each other, the lighting, or the sparkly hardware, that had me reminisce about being at the wedding boutique. I know I'm a lucky girl, and this closet was definitely built with love. Thanks Honey!!
Here are the previous updates of our DIY custom walk-in closet/ dressing room:
