progress (part two): a new closet door

Follow my blog with Bloglovin, if you'd like!

I promised to follow up my post about our thrifty guest room makeover with an update about the closet. And here, a little more than a year later, is the finished product.

I wish I had a "before" image to show you, because the new version looks so much better.

When we moved in, this little closet was unfinished looking, built of 1970s wood paneling and fence boards. Painted barn red. Aack. Trust me, it was U-G-L-Y. And though it doesn't need an alibi, I'm giving it one.

I added sound-proof acoustical board to the back; new shelf supports, boards, and trim to the shelves; and new flooring to the tall side, then caulked and painted everything in coat after coat of primer and paint. Already, it looked much better, but I wanted a door of some sort to cover up the storage. I saw someone use a roller shade as a closet door in a magazine (Living, maybe?) and inspiration struck: I started hunting down an old classroom map.

This one is just about the perfect size. It's a bit outdated (so the population chart at the bottom is really off), but then, so are the globes in my globe collection, and they're not hurting anyone (we teach the kiddo using a new one, so the older ones are just for decoration).

Does it count as a thrifty find if I scored the map on eBay? It only ran me $30.

And I think it looks kinda awesome.

It's pretty easy to hang one of these, if you can find one with the metal roller mechanism intact.

It's a simple matter of two s-hooks, two brackets, and some screws from the hardware store.

Because this is the spare bedroom, we use the closet to store excess canned food (no pantry + small kitchen lead to this sort of behavior), printers, camping gear, and the goods for my Etsy shop. We used to keep the stroller in here, too, but it's been outgrown by my two-year-old, so we donated it to the thrift store this week. One item in, one item out!

The best part, I think, is that I can set the map at any height to hide everything, or just the stuff at the top, or anything in between. It's pretty great.

Thanks for reading! Have you been doing anything awesome with maps lately? Do tell!

p.s. you can make these photos larger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that.


Linking up to:

Simple Design's Thrift Haul
Cap Creations' Thrifty Love
Southern Hospitality
Thrift Share Monday
I'm Crafty!
Mop it Up Mondays