The real slim shady song has been STUCK in my head all day. I have no idea why. I also have a terrible headache because my coffee this morning was 20% coffee and 80% sugar & whipped cream. Oh well, It’s the weekend. I’m back to distract you with my $100 closet remodel (otherwise known as the February house project that is just now being written). If you like organization and terrible before photos but also really good after photos, stick around.

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I have wanted to remodel our closet since we moved in, so 5 very long years. However, I always thought it wasn’t worth it because we would be moving eventually anyway. Flash forward to now, we will be here at least 2 more years since we are saving up to buy our next house with CASH. Thanks, Dave Ramsey!

Here is the before. It’s so bad. To be fair, I did take the photo when it looked particularly bad. It had better days than this.

Evan has more clothes than Isla and I combined so we got to the point that all our clothes were never fully put away because we just didn’t have room. Our house was built in the 1960s and our closet is a 96x96x30 standard reach-in.

I thought about building a dresser, but it would have been more money than I was wanting to spend on this project. The goal was to try to spend less than $100 on this entire project. I searched FB marketplace and found the dresser in need of some TLC for $20.

Before we get started with the build, here are all the tools that I used to complete this project:

• Miter saw (If you don’t have one, this is a great and inexpensive saw to get started.
• Drill (This is the one that I have used for about 6 years now.)
• Sander (I love to use the corner sander on most projects)
• Kreg jig (I use the K4 but you can do this entire build with the mini)
• Brad nailer( I use the Ryobi airstrike and LOVE it. I used it almost daily on projects.)
• Jig Saw with a metal blade for cutting the closet rod down
• Table saw (Mine is a super old and enormous Craftsman) – If I were buying new, this is the one I would get, or you could get this compact one. I use the table saw for a lot of projects, but you could get by with a circular saw and use a fence to rip your plywood.

You can see that I am all over the place with brands but it’s just because I like DeWalt for drills and I always have, just like my tape measure of choice will always be a 25ft Stanley power lock. When you’ve been doing this long enough you know what you like.

Materials:

• 4×8 ¾ in plywood
• 2-1x2x8
• Dresser that you can repurpose
• Paint
• Additional rod (we had one left over from when we put in a new rod a couple of years ago.)

Okay! Let’s get going with this closet remodel! I also have the entire build saved to my story highlights on Instagram.

The very first thing that I had to do was paint the dresser and reinforce the slides with real wood because the dresser is made out of MDF. I ended up changing out the hardware as well and then I cleaned out the closet and attached the dresser to the wall. I just used a small flat mending plate, marked my stud, lined it up with the back of the dresser and attached the plate to the dresser first and into the stud. We wanted to anchor it to the wall so that Isla can’t pull it over, should she decide to start climbing it one day.

After the dresser was attached, I moved the existing closet shelf up until it was an even height with the door frame. I took the rod down and planned to use it later. If you watch my Instagram stories (@paytononpurpose), you saw me struggle with removing the shelf brace. Those 1960s contractors really knew how to hang a shelf.

DIY Hutch

I built this hollow back hutch to the width of the dresser and attached it to both the wall and the dresser top using Kreg screws and then I painted the back of the wall to make it look like a built in. I used scrap plywood that I had for this build. If you wanted to build this hutch with ¾ plywood, you could do so for around $30-$50 depending on what plywood you get. I used 1×2 on the face of the hutch.

I added the top rod back onto the shelf brackets that I moved up, and then built the shelves for the bottom rods. The bottom shelves are plywood and then I added a 1×2 to cover the unfinished plywood edge using my brad nailer and wood glue.

We had the skinny rod left over from the closet when we moved in. Evan cut the bottom rod in half for me using the jigsaw with a metal-cutting blade. It is attached to a 1×4 brace on either side of the dresser and the wall. The wall braces are drilled into the studs using 3-inch Spax screws.

Once everything was attached, I painted the shelves to match the dresser and hutch and let everything dry for a full 24 hours since I didn’t want my clothes to smell like paint.

Moving In

I used the very top shelf to store luggage, my purses, boots and the pack and play.

Next, I moved our clothes and shoes back into the closet. It’s amazing how much room we have now.  Even with the addition of a dresser inside, we doubled our hanging space because of the double rods on the top and bottom of both sides. We have usable shoe storage now and I love the way it looks.

The after photo is so nice to look at because that before was awful. I leave our closet doors open all the time now because I just love the way it looks and I know that whoever buys our home next will be so pleased with the extra storage. All of Evan’s clothes go into the closet dresser and I use the bedroom dresser. It feels like a true extension of our bedroom.

I spent about $90 on this project. That includes the dresser, paint, and hardware. I completed the entire project in one weekend and it is one of my favorite projects to date.

Let me know if you remodel your closet! I would LOVE to see the before and after. I am by no means encouraging a trip to the hardware store or meeting a stranger to buy furniture. This closet remodel was completed the first weekend of March before the shelter in place orders rolled out across the US. Look around your home and in the garage, do you have an extra dresser or chest of drawers you could use? If not, draw up some plans to meet your needs and get to work after it’s safe to venture out into public.

If you’d like to see the January project click here.

Be safe and stay healthy.

-P