Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes: Closet + Powder Room

The second two things we want to change on the first floor are the closet and the powder room door.

The coat closet and powder room are off to the right of the foyer.  Here’s a photo of the hallway taken from the foyer and looking toward the garage, with the powder room on the left and the coat closet on the right.  The laundry room is straight ahead, and the garage is a right turn after the coat closet.

The Closet

The coat closet was pretty large, six feet wide with bi-fold doors.  The idea that our four kids would actually open a door, hang up their things, then close the doors, was pretty laughable.  Hooks and bins, they can do.  Additionally, we don’t have a good record with functioning bifold doors in our family.  And thirdly, the coat closet made the garage entry very dark and closed off.

So we decided to remove the closet in favor of a drop zone with a bench and hooks, maybe some shelving.  I removed the drywall from the closet, enough to reveal the structure so an inspector could tell me it was safe to take the walls down:

 Here it is after I took out all the studs.  The view is from the laundry room doorway:

 Here it is with the drywall patched in:

I haven’t totally decided how to finish this space, but I already like how it feels more open.  Additionally, we had the electrician wire for an additional light in the hallway over the garage entry to brighten things up.

Powder Room Doorway

One of the things I never liked about my current house was having to walk past the washer and dryer to get to the powder room.  I think a powder room should be closer to the entertaining areas of the house.  In the new house, the powder room door faced the coat closet.  When it was open it offered a view of the toilet, sink, and mirror.  We decided to close up that doorway and instead move it around the corner so it opens inward off of the foyer.  I plan to hang a piece of art so it is centered in the doorway.

I ripped off the drywall:

measured for the new toilet, and selected a door width—26”—that wouldn’t conflict with the front of the toilet.  I removed the studs and framed the new opening (and added some blocking for the toilet paper holder):

then filled in the old opening with studs:

 Here it is after the drywallers hung the new sheets of drywall:

 

You can see the new doorway in front, and the old one now filled in to the right.  I'm vacillating right now between classic and vintage for the fixtures.  More to come!