Three weeks down, three to go! We made some serious progress this week that gives me hope that our wardrobe won’t be living on a rack in the bedroom forever. Whew.
Psst: If you’ve got no idea what I’m talking about, I’m in the middle of the One Room Challenge, hosted by Linda from Calling it Home. Click here to start at the beginning (warning-scary before photos included).
When we left off last week, I was a little concerned that I was STILL painting. By Friday, the closet was even more of a disaster zone, as you can see in the very fuzzy photo below.
Bonus points if you noticed my constant One Room Challenge companions, the Gilmore Girls, hiding in the photo.
One of the biggest challenges I had this round was that I created the closet plan with a few pieces from IKEA, including a mirror that they don’t ship. I looked for alternatives, but the price/quality/style trifecta led me back to IKEA every time. The problem is that IKEA is precisely 245 miles away.
Cue up an epic road trip! We headed out Saturday morning at 6:15 so we could get to Dallas/Frisco pretty close to opening at 10 AM. A couple of hours later, we had sped through IKEA picking up everything on our list and not TOO many extras.
What is a road trip without a crazy deadline? We had plans to go to a new Warhol exhibit opening party at my favorite place in Tulsa – Philbrook museum at 6 PM Saturday. Which meant we needed to be back home by at least 5 to quickly go from IKEA clothes to exhibit opening clothes and drive downtown. Craziness! But we did it!
Five hundred miles round trip and we had what we needed for the closet, which meant Sunday looked like this for me.
I assembled one of the dressers while my husband painted around the top of the closet. Darn the luck that I can’t reach the detail work where the wall meets the ceiling.
With the painting finished, and dressers assembled, the closet was finally starting to look like a real room! The walls are Naval by HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams and I am obsessed with the color.
We still have the hard part ahead of building out the rest of the shelves and organization, but for today, I’m ignoring that and enjoying the lack of drop cloth on the floor!
That covers the road trip part of the title, but we still had one more challenge to overcome. I spent hours sourcing an affordable desk to use as a vanity that would fit in closet alcove. HOURS. It didn’t help that I wanted chrome X legs, a white lacquered top, and drawers.
So I found one, but might not have realized what a close call it would actually be. You see, the desk is 3/8″ smaller than the space, giving us a whole 3/16″ wiggle room on each side. Which might have been okay if we didn’t have to get around the laundry room door molding. We tried everything, including attempting to lift the vanity straight into the air, over the door, and then back down again. Thankfully no one was injured in that failed attempt.
Finally, we realized the only option was to take the molding off.
I’m really surprised my husband doesn’t find a way to leave town during the One Room Challenge.
The molding is back up and now the vanity almost looks built-in! I can not WAIT to get the mirror hung up. It’s 5 feet tall and is going to be fabulous!
Just when I thought the room was looking pretty good, FedEx came to remind me how much more we have to do. Our new chrome closet rods arrived today along with some of the organizational goodies like pull out tie racks. I had to laugh when I saw the GIGANTIC boxes on the porch.
The drawer pulls for the dressers also arrived, so I was able to knock one more thing off the list this week. Remember all the money I saved (84%) in the pantry painting Euro style pulls gold myself versus buying them that way? I decided to do it again in the closet. This time I went with the same style and brand, but in a big 15″ size, which will give my Malm dressers a custom look.
Here’s the before and after!
That last task of the week brings me to this week’s HomeRight giveaway. All my spray painting these days happens in my Spray Shelter
. Especially since I can set it up and take it down by myself. 
When I’m done, it fits into this magic little bag. I admit being quite skeptical that I’d ever get it back in the bag, but I was wrong. It works! I’ve had it up and down several times, and each time it fits right back in the bag.
Since I’m not the only one obsessed with the Spray Shelter, HomeRight asked me to let you know they are temporarily SOLD OUT. Don’t cry, more are on the way! The winner’s Spray Shelter will be delivered in December.
See the whole closet makeover week by week:
Week #1: Skeletons In My Closet
Week #2: There’s No Going Back Now
Week #3: Road Trips and Close Calls
Week #4: Adventures in Closet Building
Week #5: The Final Countdown
Week #6: It’s Done – The Final Reveal!!!
Follow Up: Source List & Money Saving Tips
If you don’t see a box to enter below, click the words “a Rafflecopter giveaway”.
Don’t forget to visit Calling it Home to see how the other participants are doing! Week #3 can be rough so head over to give some extra encouragement to your favorites. And send me lots of prayers and happy thoughts for shelving week.
Laura Irion // Avery Street Design says
This closet is ALREADY making me jealous. It’s going to be gorgeous! (Also, how have I been living without that tent thing in my life?! I am entered and all fingers are crossed!)
Melissa George says
Thank’s Laura – I’m working on making the angels sing in there! And yes, you need the tent. It’s a marriage saver since my husband REALLY loved it when I’d whip out the spray paint with the cars in the garage before. I still don’t see the problem with a light dusting of gold covering my car.
Holie says
Looking good! I’ve had to make the epic road trip in one day too, not ideal! I really like the wall colour.
Looking forward to next weeks post!
Melissa George says
Thank you Hollie! Definetely not ideal to do the long trip back and forth in a day, but I was so happy to pick up my goodies it wasn’t TOO bad.
Tammy says
Hi Melissa,
I am drooling over your closet and it isn’t even finished yet. Can’t wait to see it in a couple weeks. Absolutely love the wall color! It is going to look fabulous!!!!
Melissa George says
Thank you Tammy! Sherwin-Williams did a killer job with they came up with Naval. It’s perfect!
Denise says
Looking good Melissa! They really need to open an IKEA in Oklahoma, right? Keep it up, it’s going to be beautiful!
Melissa George says
Yes they do! I was thrilled when they opened the one in Frisco, but they’d get so much more of my money if they opened one in Tulsa to cover Tulsa/Okc & NW Arkansas 🙂
Teresa says
I’m loving the deep blue of the walls. It will look so fantastic next to white furniture:)
Melissa George says
Thank you Teresa! It makes me so much happier to have the white and navy over the beige walls, beige trim, beige shelves, and beige carpet!
Kristi says
WOW! You are making such great progress! LOVE the colour and cannot wait to see those pulls on your new dressers!
Melissa George says
Thanks Kristi! I’m dying to get the pulls on too!
Danielle says
That was a close call with the vanity but your closet is looking amazing! I can’t wait to see it finished!
ange says
The paint looks great! And wow, that’s a road trip but for IKEA it’s worth it. I’m glad ours is only an hour away! I am going to spray paint the same hardware, it’s at Home Depot too so that’s where I am headed. And why is that spray paint only at wally world? It’s my favorite gold too and it drives me nuts that it’s not at HD or Lowes. Cant wait to see the closet!
Melissa George says
Thanks! That Gold is totally my favorite – but did you it comes in two different style cans? I swear they are interchangeable and one I’ve gotten at HD before. Amazon also sells them both for under $4 a can now, so I think I’m going to just start ordering in bulk 🙂 Here are the links to you can see the can photos and check at HD when you go: http://amzn.to/1PCSCpJ & http://amzn.to/1MGnKhR
Ashley@Biggerthanthethreeofus says
My favorite color!! Love the blue so much. Great progress girl!
Melissa George says
Thank you Ashley!
Grace says
That navy is fab-u-lous! I love it! Can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Kyla @ House Of Hipsters says
Loving how it’s coming along. That navy is the BOMB girl! And I’m crushing on the vanity.
Dpoppy64 says
I absolutely love the idea of a spray tent. I am like everyone else wanting a closet just like yours. I am in love with the vanity and drawer pulls.
Krista @ the happy housie says
Fabulous progress Melissa! I love the gold hardware. Our Ikea is a long trip too – we actually have to catch a ferry!! Luckily my husband heads over to Vancouver a few times a year for work so he pops in for me… and his sister lives 5 minutes away from it so she picks us up stuff before coming over to visit. Even so, sometimes I have to resort to shipping! I guess I have a bit of an Ikea addiction…. The navy blue looks amazing. I am hanging on with baited breath to see your reveal – so excited about it because we want to do our closet very soon!
Melissa George says
Oh my gosh! I’m glad we at least don’t have a ferry to navigate! And I can’t wait to see your closet – hopefully I come up with some fun inspiration for you!
Jessica says
The closet is coming along nicely. I love the wall color…in fact, I love everything about your space.
Melissa George says
Ah thanks Jessica! I’m dying to be past the construction phase and into styling!
Lisa @ Shine Your Light says
I can’t believe how perfectly your vanity fit into that space!!! (after the moulding came off!) It looks great and I can’t wait to see your mirror and all the other elements you are working on!
Melissa George says
Thank you! I still don’t have the mirror up and am anxiously awaiting that part myself. I’m considering leaving it out of all the pictures until the final reveal, but it just occured to me that I better make sure I like it before then 🙂
Iris Nacole says
Your progress in the space is looking great! I used some Ikea products in my master closet as well, and they are perfect pieces! Can’t wait to see your post next week!
Melissa George says
It was so much less intimidating to start with some Ikea dressers and build around them than starting from scratch. We’d probably still be trying to figure out how to build a drawer! 🙂
Lianna@theresnoplacelikehomemke says
You have gotten so much done! Looking great. Can’t wait to see that updated dresser! Also That spray paint tent is pretty cool!
Melissa George says
Thanks Lianna – so much done, so much to do 🙂
Erin @ the-organized-life says
You should get some type of an award for furthest distance traveled for ORC accessories! Glad you got everything you needed. Love the color! And I question the same thing with my husband… why doesn’t he just leave town? Probably ’cause I truly couldn’t do it without him! Have a good day!
Melissa George says
So true! I would have been in HUGE trouble without his help in this round and in the garage!
Kaitlyn | Daily Opulence says
This looks so good! I bet it’s going to be great!!
Emily @ Table & Hearth says
You kicked ass this week!!! That’s one hell of a trip to attempt in less than 12 hours, you go girl!! Also, I’m REALLY glad the spray shelter goes back in its bag…I’m busting mine out this week and said the exact same “No way it’ll fit back in there!” as you did 🙂
Melissa George says
Thanks Emily! I’m glad I wasn’t the only one skeptical about the spray tent fitting back in the bag! And all my ass kicking was used up last week.You’ll see in the post that goes live tonight, this week was not as successful 🙂