Office Closet Reno: Part II

Happy Sunday!

I'm back again with the second installment of the office closet renovation: making built-in pocket shelves.

Since the dresser I refinished last week couldn't accommodate all of my supplies, I had to come up with some convenient storage solutions. In addition to shelving (which I will be building next week), I came up with the idea of utilizing the wall space to hold my papers/mailers/etc.

At first I was just going to build a box and mount it to the wall, but I saw a perfect opportunity with this bump out section where the closet door sits:

Here's another look from the inside:

It was the perfect width (2.5") for an enclosed pocket ledge that could span the depth of the closet. If this doesn't make sense yet... hang tight, detailed pics to come.

So off to Home Depot I went, measurements in hand.

I gathered up my materials, and asked them if they could make the cuts for me... but sadly, their saw was broken. Ugh.

So off to Lowe's I went. And, btw, this trip made it official: I heart Lowe's. Way, way more than HD. From the products they carry (way better home decor, and way more options) to the friendliness of the associates... I'm going there first from now on.

All this project needed was some 1x3" pine board and 1/4" plywood, cut to size. This was actually the first time I've ever had wood cut at the hardware store, and the friendly gentlemen working in that section made sure to cut every piece just right for me. Here's one of them in action:

And here's all the pieces, cut and ready to go:

I decided to make two shelves for more storage. The total cost for all the wood was just under $15 (plus there's a generous amount of scrap wood leftover for any future projects). Not bad!

Here's a visual on how the shelf comes together once it's on the wall:

Pretty straightfoward stuff.

Since I was dealing with pine, I needed to do a bit of prep work. I wasn't loving the crevices on the edge of the wood, so I filled it with a bit of spackle to even things out:

And, taking my dad's advice, I drilled pilot holes where the screws would be going (since pine has a tendency to splinter easy):

Once all the prep work was done, it was time to start the assembly.

I marked where each shelf would go, and drilled my first piece into the side of the wall:

And repeated the process for the other 3:

Then I mounted the bottom ledges:

And finally, it was time for the fronts. I opted to use our nail gun here with finishing nails, which are perfect for the plywood.

After caulking in some of the gaps where the wood didn't sit flush on the wall, I coated the fronts with wood glue:

Then attached the fronts with our nail gun (sorry, no pics of this process since it took both of us to hold enough pressure on the gun so the nails would go in flush).

And here's the finished shelves!

I went ahead and removed the wire shelf, since I will be replacing it next week with custom built in shelving:

After everything was spackled and sanded, it was time for paint. I wanted to bring something a bit more fun and refrshing into the area, so I picked up a gallon of this pale spring green shade:

It's Glidden's Pistachio Ice Cream, color matched in Behr Paint + Primer in one. Just the name of the color makes my mouth water... I've been craving pistachio ice cream all day long now! Torture.

Here's a play-by-play of the process... since Brad was feeling left out and wanted to contribute by picture taking :)

For anyone wondering, I really like Beh'rs Paint + Primer in one. All it took was 2 coats and it was completely covered. (It better perform well for over $30/gal though!)

And... drumroll please.... the fruits of my weekend labor:

This project took less time and energy than I thought, and I now have the confidence to tackle the large shelving project next week. I'm happy that it's all coming together!

One more office pic for the day—I had set the file holders that were in the closet on top of my file cabinet temporarily, and decided I kind of liked how it looked there. So today while at Walmart, I found the perfect green bins to hold my inks ($4 each!) and put them up there as well, and now I have this:

I'm sure things will get changed around as needed, but for now I'm loving the way it fills the wall space instead of the empty void that was there before.


Stay tuned for Part III next week! I'm off to go dream about pistachio ice cream.....

psst... this post has been linked to the DIY Showoff!