Master Closet Makeover

I was compensated with a free stencil for this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

{Scroll to the bottom of this post to continue my home tour}

I’m so proud to be the FIRST to review the “Teardrop Trellis” Stencil from Royal Design Studio. I used this gorgeous stencil in my tiny closet that was waay too small for two, so I transformed into a additional square footage–a dressing room, (all for ME!). It now offers a sit-down vanity with lots of storage (custom made from a pile of wood by Mr. Snazzy himself–isn’t it beautiful?)

I was inspired by the pattern itself to decorate with a twist of Old Hollywood Glam. I’ve always loved the art deco, glamorous look, but I don’t typically decorate that way. Because this room is separate from the rest of the house, I decided to have a little fun with it and dive in head first into glammy motif.

The drawer pulls are from Hobby Lobby along with the mercury glass finials, but most of what you see is upcycled decor from my own storage, updated with a coat of shimmery paint.

Below is a picture of my closet (before). It often served as a dumping ground for unfolded laundry. Plus, I used it as a hiding place for work conference calls, you can read more about my privacy dilemmas as a work at home Mom. We ripped out the wire shelving (left big holes in the wall) and had some repair work to accomplish.

No windows in this space means I will need to add more lighting, but you can see it sits in a tiny little private space in the center of the house. The things that you DON’T see:

• That we are not finished yet. We are looking for items to break up the wall pattern a bit, including a repurposed antique mirror that I can paint. We also are planning to build wall shelving (built-ins). Still looking for a perfect vanity chair and plush throw rug as well.
• My messy room — clothes are scattered everywhere! We eliminated a master closet (temporarily) for this makeover, (as of November 1st, we have started building an IKEA Pax Wardrobe system on a single, empty wall in the master bedroom).
• My shower served as the rinsing station for the stencil. If you don’t do that on occasion, your stencil will build up with paint and potentially create a rough edge.
• Drying time between coats is what extends the project over several days. MUST BE PATIENT in order to stencil.

The positives:

• This room solves a number of privacy issues in our house, you can read more about my privacy dilemma here.
• The bathroom vanity is now clean – all of my beauty products have been moved. Major convenience!
• At 3:00 when my kids come bursting through the door after school, this is my hiding place! I can even conduct business calls here during the day (I work from home as an IT security rep).

About the project and how it evolved: Back in September we drew up plans for a custom vanity, so the white dresser that you see was built by Mr. Snazzy who worked in his spare time (while simultaneously starting a new job). Poor guy! But very sweet, in fact, one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me…building me my own, custom space. As for picking colors, I love the dark-on-light approach to stenciling. That took me a minute to realize, the LIGHT goes on first, followed by the darker color. (I’m sometimes not too quick when I switch from work-mode to DIY-mode). I chose Benjamin Moore’s “Day’s End” for the dark coat.

Me, prepping the paint lab (he often panics when I do this, I know, I know, I get impatient and need to put down plastic).

For a shimmery base, I experimented with a few colors and dug out a few things I had laying around the house. I am guilty of mixing paint all the time. Finally after not achieving enough “shimmer” with what I had, I ran to the craft store and bought this: I rolled it just like any old wall paint over my previous attempts at a base coat. Then I decided to use a brush in a criss-cross pattern to achieve a brushed metal effect, which is exactly what I wanted. (Old Hollywood Glam…ya see?)

So I left the edges unfinished for a reason…you’ll see in a bit. (You bend the stencil into the corner and roll as close as you can).

Shimmer…just what I wanted.

So I found the center of the wall. Dead center is where you start to stencil, then you work right and left until the wall is filled.

The Teardrop Trellis comes with an edge stencil (see below) so you canget close to the ceiling. I filled the white space at the top later with the dark paint.

…more of the process… See those “slits” in the stencil? (You can best see if you click the picture to enlarge it). That’s how you line up the stencil perfectly with the next application. Here, I’m filling in that white space at the ceiling. Eventually you do this all around the entire perimeter of the wall to give a nice crisp edge. See what I mean? It gives it a finished look. Corners. This is what some people get stumped by, but it’s really pretty simple. (Unfortunately I can’t show you exactly what I did since I was by myself and couldn’t take pictures at the same time). Best explanation I can muster—after taping it in the bent position below, with my free hand I pushed the stencil into the corner at the same time I painted with the small foam paint roller (held sideways). It applies surprisingly well. Eventually you tape off the edges all the way around to finish it off with a clean line, so don’t freak out about uneven lines. You see a rough edge on my entire wall until the end. Like so…(just like I showed you at the ceiling): Do the same thing at the bottom: With the stenciling done, I decided to alter a few items around my house for my glamour dressing room using the DecoArt Paint. Such as this old vanity bench. (A glimpse in the background of what my once-oak kitchen cabinets looked like before painting). All the while, Mr. Snazzy was still building me a CUSTOM vanity. I’m so proud and thankful for his handiwork. We used autobody spray paint on poplar wood to ensure that the paint was heavy duty. Lots of coats give it a hi-gloss finish (we are still working on these pieces). You can see these were in my closet “before” picture. I fancied them up using the DecoArt paints.

More pictures to come. This room has no windows and we have to catch it at the exact time the afternoon sun hits the back of the house for the best shots. (I promise to post more). In the meantime, I’m so excited about this project and loved sharing, hopefully you found the photos of the process helpful.

***************