We kicked off 2008 with a major home-improvement project that changed our master bedroom for the better.
On New Year’s Day we were up at 8:20 a.m. and on the road to Ikea by 9. Why get out of bed so early? Simple: we wanted more closet space. Our master had only one small closet, which forced John to store half his wardrobe in the guest room. We decided that wasn’t acceptable and set out to fix it.
Here’s the New Year’s Day timeline:
8:20 a.m. — Up and ready to go.
9:00 a.m. — Headed to Ikea.
11:00 a.m. — Arrive and make a beeline to the closet section.
12:30 p.m. — Leave with two large wardrobes and a stack of interior fittings — about $460 lighter.
2:00 p.m. — Back home and taking a brief rest.
2:05 p.m. — Rest is over. Time to assemble.
2:06 p.m. — Forgot to take a proper “before” photo, so we used an older picture for reference:
2:15 p.m. — Clear the nightstands out of the way and grab the allen wrench.
3:50 p.m. — One wardrobe frame complete, one to go.
4:30 p.m. — Second frame built; re-hang curtains on the back wall to make the small window feel larger.
4:35 p.m. — Take a quick victory cereal break and snap a “during” photo.
5:25 p.m. — A Lowe’s run for long screws to anchor the wardrobes to the wall — Ikea didn’t include these.
6:15 p.m. — Install shelves and a hanging bar in Sherry’s wardrobe.
7:30 p.m. — Install drawers and a hanging bar in John’s wardrobe (we discovered two shelves were the wrong size and will fix that later).
8:30 p.m. — Quick Burger King run — cereal only goes so far.
9:30 p.m. — All clothes, shoes, bags, and belts moved into the new closets. The guest room closet is now empty — glorious.
10:00 p.m. — Hang matching white curtains on both wardrobes. They looked cheap and out of place, so we pushed them to the sides instead, which instantly made the wardrobes read more like built-ins.
Over the next few days we made steady progress. We bought 7-inch molding from Home Depot to bridge the 4-inch gap between the top of the wardrobes and the ceiling so the units would look flush. We also tried heavy chocolate panels from Linens N’ Things, but they felt too dark. After returning them, we bought several different options (from Bed Bath & Beyond, Linens N’ Things, and Target) so we could compare how they looked in the room. We spared no effort in choosing the right fabric and returned everything except our favorites.
We held an in-home curtain “fashion show,” with Burger sniffing out the contenders:
The winner was a khaki chenille-like panel from Bed Bath & Beyond, a subtle crosshatched pattern that added texture without overpowering the room.
Next on the list were plug-in swing-arm lamps for above the bed. After checking several stores and ditching the pricy options at Restoration Hardware, we found two brushed-nickel, plug-in swing-arm lamps at a Lamp Factory Outlet for $40 apiece — a steal. They’re mounted on the wall and tucked behind the curtains for a clean, polished look.
To give the wardrobes a built-in appearance instead of two refrigerator-sized boxes, we attached a wide painted plank to the ceiling as a header spanning both units. The header, plus crown molding, visually frames the bed and turns the two wardrobes into a cohesive nook. It’s a small detail that makes a big difference.
Now, lying in bed feels like being tucked into a cozy built-in nook rather than squeezed between two unrelated pieces of furniture. The space reads as intentional and hotel-like — exactly the outcome we wanted for our modest 12-by-13-foot room.
Older homes rarely have large master suites, so you have to be creative to make a small bedroom feel special. We turned a bedroom that looked like every other room in the house into a focused, finished space. Mission accomplished?
UPDATE: Several readers asked how the curtain rod is attached behind the header, so we took photos showing the cheap rod sitting on a bracket fastened to the molding that bridges the wardrobe and ceiling. We hung it a couple inches below the ceiling to allow enough clearance to lift the rod off the bracket — you can see two pilot holes above the bracket from when we learned that the hard way.
