Closet to Cloffice

Here is the before and after of my closet to "cloffice" aka "closet office" transformation. My husband often works from home and uses our guest room as his office, however I am taking online classes as well to finish my degree and have 2 kids as well, so finding somewhere to "hide" and do homework etc. was no easy feat.

Our house isn't that small, however we have a lot of space in places like storage rooms, closets etc.

Under the stairs we have a walk in closet that was being used for a few coats, shoes, and some other random items. I decided that would be the perfect place for my "cloffice" as it was quiet and had a door that I could close when I needed to...

Step 1: Step 1: Cleaning

To start transforming my closet into an office, I first removed everything from the closet and vacuumed the floor.

Then I dusted the baseboards and trimwork.

I filled in any holes in the drywall with drywall putty and sanded after it was dry.

Step 2: Step 2: Design

To design my new cloffice I knew I would need a desk or somewhere to write, and be able to put my laptop, yet my space wasn't HUGE and I didn't want to feel cramped. I was also working on a very tight budget, as I already had a few other projects going on at the time....and my husband didn't exactly want me to take over another entire closet!

I decided to build a built in floating desk as I had already had experience doing the same thing in our bathroom.

For the paint color, I used what was leftover from our bedroom/bathroom. (It is a custom color made out of 2 colors at Sherwin Williams btw)

The previous owners already had a wire shelf in the closet and a couple of wire hanging baskets, so that was great for storage. I really wanted something closer to my desk though, so I could easily reach pencils, pens, scissors, and things like that as well.

I had a left over towel bar from our bathroom redo that I wasn't using anymore, so I decided to paint that with Gold spray paint and hang near my desk. I bought these cute containers from the dollar spot at Target and just tied them onto the towel bar with some twine.

Step 3: Step 3: Paint, Build, & Decorate!

I painted the whole closet with my special mix of turquoise paint and went over the trim with a brighter white paint, as the trim was a bit more beige than I wanted.

To build my built in desk, I measured the length of the back wall of the closet, which was 36" wide. I had bought a storage cube at a garage sale for $3, and that became my chair/stool. I liked this option because I could move it under the desk when needed for extra storage space. Plus I was able to store things IN it as well!

Since this would be my chair I sat on it and found that my desk would be comfortable to me at about 30.5 inches tall, so that's how tall I made it.

Now for materials...I was already on a tight budget and didn't want to spend more on wood...so thankfully the people who lived here before us had left a shelf in the attic. It was simply a long 8 foot by 1 foot by 1/2 in MDF board that was already painted paint. I cut it to my 36" length, by using my jigsaw and left the rest in the attic.

I made the support for the floating desk with scrap 1x2's. I used a stud finder to locate studs in the walls and made marks at every stud. Then I drilled and screwed my 1x2 scraps at 30" high. I used a level to make sure everything was straight and lined up. I put them at the 30 inch mark because the top of the desk (my MDF board) was 1/2 inch thick, so total after putting it on would equal 30.5 inches tall. ; )

Then I drilled holes to attach the top of my desk to the frame. I used finish nails to attach the top and counter sank them. I filled in the holes with wood filler and sanded, so the desk top would be smooth. To hide the frame under the desk top, I attached a scrap piece of 1x4 board to the desk top to act as an "apron".

I also had some left over trim pieces from our kitchen redo that I used as a backdrop/decoration for around the top of the desk. I simply measured and mitered the ends and used finishing nails to attach them to the wall. I painted everything the same color as the trim (a bright white), and caulked all the edges for a clean look.

I had a small white shelf that I bought at Goodwill and hung it above my desk by drilling and hanging 2 drywall screws. I added my favorite little flamingo friend (also a thrift store find!), and a small terra cotta pot which I painted gold and turquoise. I stuck a bright green faux plant in it to bring some life to the space.

I had some Lilly Pulitzer prints (also a favorite!) from a catalog, which I put in some random picture frames that I bought (also from Goodwill!) and painted all the frames gold as well. I hung them with some picture hangers in a diagonal above my desk.

I used a rubbery? dark turquoise placemat for my laptop to sit on.

As for the coats and shoes...I bought a coat hanger with 8 hooks from HomeGoods to hang our coats on the back of the door. Shoes... we put in a bin under our bench at by the front door : )