One of the first things we did since moving in was remodel three of the closets; laundry/garage entry, foyer, and master closets. There was little to no functionality to them due to how the wire shelving was laid out and after years of use, the wire shelving was looking pretty spent.
We decided to do a custom job of our own design. First we measured and drew out the plans to figure out how much wood we would need. Once we had an idea of how much wood we would need we bought the supplies and set up a staining room in the basement.This is where I spent hours staining and applying polycrylic to all the boards.
We also had to paint the closets since they hadn't been painted in years (much like the rest of the house). We chose Ultra Pure White Behr Premium Plus from Home Depot to make the stained wood shelves really pop. Little did we know that it was going to take 3 - 4 coats of paint. The wall colors before were not dark, they were more of an ivory; but I think because it had been so long since it was last painted, it just soaked up the first coat like it was nothing!
Here are some photos of the closets before and after: