Nothing like a little weekend chaos. What were we up to? Here’s a hint:
And another hint:
And another hint:
One last hint:
All that weekend activity had one clear purpose:
We painted Clara’s closet to turn it into a cozy reading nook.
While standing on a chair hanging the little ribbon chandelier I made last week, I decided the closet needed fresh paint. We envision a big cushy beanbag and a stack of books for Clara to dive into, so the small closet will become a dual-purpose space: storage and a quiet reading corner. One tiny task quickly grew into a full-on weekend project—clearing the guest room, moving shelves into the guest bathroom, setting up a pack-and-play in our bedroom for nap-time painting, and rolling back the nursery rug to protect it.
The closet already had adjustable shelves that used to hold paperwork in the previous owners’ office. They work great for board books and blocks, but the space needed some sprucing up.
First order of business: clean up the trim and the hanging bar. The baseboards and rod were looking pretty worn.
Out came the existing white shelves and silver brackets so I could paint the trim and hanging bar a crisp semi-gloss white. I used an off-the-shelf Olympic No-VOC semi-gloss, and it was already a huge improvement.
We debated colors. In our previous nursery we had a soft pear wall with an aqua closet—lovely, but we didn’t want to repeat that exact thing. Since the room is already painted a soft gray-pink, we decided to keep the closet the same tone-on-tone color to create cohesion. Rather than changing the color, we wanted to experiment with texture or a subtle pattern—a tone-on-tone stencil or something with a hint of metallic, but nothing too loud because there’s a bright floral curtain at the closet entry and on the windows.
To save money and keep things low-VOC, we used leftover paint from the nursery walls—Benjamin Moore “Proposal” color matched to Olympic No-VOC. It gave us a clean, consistent base.
Still feeling impulsive, I made a quick run to the craft store with the family. I picked up inexpensive water-based metallic craft paints in pearl white and champagne and a small rubber stamper with a girly medallion. The idea: a handmade, slightly imperfect, stamped pattern that would look like subtle wallpaper from a distance and have a little sparkle up close.
I tested the stamping technique on paper and then on a small, out-of-the-way corner of the still-wet wall. I found it worked best to brush the craft paint lightly onto the rubber stamper so the pattern didn’t blob.
Tiny champagne medallions:
The medallions looked pretty in photos but read too subtle and fine in person—almost like someone kissed the wall with gold lipstick. From the side they looked bumpy and muddled. The pattern didn’t translate well, so I tested wiping the paint off with a wet paper towel. With some scrubbing, the craft paint lifted cleanly from the fresh base coat, which was impressive and gave me confidence to try another approach.
Next I experimented with freehand patterns using the champagne paint and a wider brush: imperfect horizontal lines, rows of X’s, and playful dots made by pressing the brush to the wall.
Before committing to a full pattern, I called John and asked Clara for input. Clara reached up to kiss the X’s, and John and I both liked the horizontal stripes best—though we decided to sleep on it and not rush into covering the whole closet. Sometimes a little restraint prevents a long-term regret, especially with bold patterns that take days to apply.
I kept exploring options online and found a scallop-like stencil that appealed to us. It feels playful and soft, like fish scales or a subtle mermaid pattern, and could be a good compromise between handmade texture and repeatable pattern. We haven’t ordered it yet, but it’s on the shortlist.
Other ideas for finishing the reading nook include sewing a beanbag, painting or papering the shelves for a fun surprise, and adding a small rug to soften the floor. The ribbon chandelier still needs ironing, but oddly enough the slightly windblown look is growing on me.
So that’s the closet makeover in progress: fresh trim, a soft gray-pink base, craft experiments with metallic highlights, and plans for a comfortable reading nook for Clara. Anyone else transforming a closet into a cozy hideaway? Share your tips—I’d love to hear what worked for you.