I had the great good fortune in my life to design and build a “dream home”. And I lived in it for twenty years. After first moving in to that newly constructed house I felt like I was staying at a high-class hotel that had all the features to pamper its occupants. It didn’t feel quite right that I should live in such luxury, but somehow, over the years, I got accustomed to it.
Of course over twenty years, even in a newly built house, there are things to fix and update and revise. But many features designed into it were a response and solution to having lived in older South Minneapolis houses. I could now enjoy expansive rooms, walk-in closets, multiple bathrooms, upstairs laundry, built-in bookshelves… the list goes on. As a result, moving back to a South Minneapolis house, and into a small bedroom with its tiny closet was an adjustment. My wardrobe had expanded over the years and now there was not space for it. Not that I needed so many clothes; I only wear a few items over and over in the course of a year anyway, so part of the solution is to downsize them.
But still, I wanted some additional storage, so I invented the “two-sided closet”. On the other side of the bedroom wall, was my study, a room for my books, computers, printer, and archives. It has a closet on that shared wall, in which I store tripods, camera gear, and whatever project materials and tools I am currently working on. By opening up the back of the study closet, I could access it from the other side, and have an additional closet in the bedroom too! Brilliant eh?
Now I know this is just the equivalent of stupid accounting tricks. I’m not really getting any more storage space. But depending on what was more important at any given time, it could shift from storing clothes and linens to storing printer supplies and telescopes. This flexibility appealed to me, but to be truthful, prior to moving in, I was mostly thinking about the closet space I had become accustomed to. So at the demolition party I asked one of my nephews to pull the sheetrock off and open the wall. I was now committed to the two-sided closet.
Tom the carpenter, working on the wall opening for the two-sided closet.
Some modifications were needed, the closet shelves and clothes pole had been supported by angle brackets from the back of the closet. With those gone, the wooden shelves and pole sagged. The solution was to replace them with heavy duty steel equivalents that could handle the full six-foot span. I was beginning to find the drawbacks to my great invention.
I also needed a closet door. It made sense to try and match the existing bedroom closet, to have the new closet look like it belongs there, but I was unable to find a match in door style (louvered bifold varnished wood). I would need to obtain two sets of doors and replace the existing set. Not cost-optimal, but at least there was a solution.
I hired a carpenter to finish the wall removal and install them. He measured the height of the new doors, cut the wall studs and installed a header to create the closet opening. At this point it became clear that the existing closet was a different height, and not only did it look architecturally inconsistent, the new door would simply not fit.
This bit of news might have been a serious blow to a normal homeowner. But to me, it seemed almost natural. Why would I expect a closet door in This Odd House to meet modern construction standards and conventions?
Fortunately, I had a carpenter at hand. He was able to modify the original closet opening to match the new closet and accommodate the new door. He was pleased to have the additional work.
The closets are now newly sheet-rocked and trimmed, and the doors are installed and functioning. They look nice and give the illusion of expansive closet space in the bedroom. I will have to wait and report later on the balance of power between the rooms that each store stuff in the two-sided closet.
The illusion of an entire wall of closet space.
Looks terrific!