Bedroom Closet to Custom Home Office in 24 Hours

First of all, I want to preface this post by saying that I've never painted a closet before, don't know anything about mixing paint colors for rooms and hanging things without the help of someone more skilled usually involves me drilling heavy things like flat screens into sheetrock (no one should ever do this) or sticking something up with command strip velcro (nothing against command strips but they really aren't that strong). I say this because I know my limitations, but at the same time I'm pregnant and nesting and really wanted a home office, like yesterday, so I convinced myself I needed to get this done within 24 hours.  Yes, 24 hours.

Before

After

We live in a very small 2 bedroom apartment with very little personal space. Fortunately, we do have plenty of closets, which made the closet to office decision an easy one for me. For my office, I chose a small (3 ft x 4 ft) closet in our bedroom right next to the door to our back patio. I think subconsciously I figured if I ever got claustrophobic in the tight space I could run outside really quickly.  

Now to the paint... I wanted the room to feel calm and definitely didn't want to stick with the beige/cream paint color currently in the closet. I grew up in a house filled with ceilings painted in Restoration Hardware Silver Sage; a color that brought more height to the rooms. I did a little research online and found that Benjamin Moore's Wythe Blue paint is a very similar match to Restoration Hardware's Silver Sage. Another confirmation came from design friends who told me that a calming blue would work wonders in a tiny space. 

It was around 10 am when I selected my new office (or closet) and paint color. I then set off for my neighborhood Home Depot expecting to pick up a can of Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue paint and a few paintbrushes. First, I hijacked an associate in the paint section to find out what one really needs to paint a room. I told him I needed Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue paint and some paintbrushes to paint a closet. He told me they don't carry Benjamin Moore but he could match Behr paint to a very similar shade of Wythe Blue. Perfect. As the machine mixed the paint, the associate took me around the paint section and pulled all the necessary accessories I needed; a rolling brush, a sponge looking brush for edging, a paint tray, a plastic tarp for the ground and blue tape for the walls (see photo above). He also gave me some wooden sticks to mix the paint and a can opener for the paint can for free. So nice. Just 30 minutes later I was headed back home ready to get the project started. 

As you can see in the photos, the first coat of paint didn't look perfect but thankfully with paint you can always make mistakes and then paint over it again- which I did, twice. 

I didn't have a step ladder, but I did buy a long wooden stick that screws into the roller brush (at the Home Depot associates suggestion) so I was able to paint the walls and ceiling without much difficulty. While the paint dried, I headed off for Ikea around 3 pm to purchase a desk and chair. 

I wanted to find a desk that would almost look like it was built into the back of the 48" length closet. Fortunately, I found the Micke desk for only $79.99, measuring at 47 1/4" I knew it would be a tight fit, but perfect if I could get it squeezed in there. 

Next, I looked for a chair that would disappear into the space. I found that in the Tobias chair. 

As I mentioned earlier, I'm pregnant and after all of this work I was a little exhausted, so I took a little break and waited for my husband to get home before we started building the chair and desk together around 6 pm. Between the two of us we were able to finish building the Ikea furniture by 8 pm that night! 

There aren't any outlets in the closet so I brought in a lamp from another room until I could find something more suitable for the space. The following morning I went to Lowe's and purchased a track light and then Container Store for some office organization tools like a calendar and file holder. By noon that afternoon I was in business!