Built-in Shelves

have you ever seen those floor to ceiling closet doors? the awful, hard-to-close, always-get-stuck doors?

they are miserable! we are lucky enough to have 7 of them. yep, 7. the closet behind the front door had the worst ones i think. the front door was always banging into them so they were bruised and battered. plus, when the front door was closed, it looked like a wall of closet doors. not too pleasing to the eye.

closet before:

note dirty, dingy beigey color of walls and shelves. yikes:

my mom had this great idea to take the doors off and put shelves in the closet, making it look like the ever popular built-in shelves instead of an old closet. a little paint, measuring, sawing, and help from my dad, and viola!

during:

after:

i am really pleased with how they turned out! i don't miss the closet at all (thanks to the aforementioned 6 others) and now i can showcase some of my favorite pieces.

i decided on bright white shelves and a gray-blue 2 shades darker than the living room walls. the darker color and the white really make the space pop. the baskets at the bottom are from target and they hold blankets and pillows for the couch.

some of the goodies on the shelves are other meadowvale finds.

the blue lanterns,

the messages and papers of the presidents books and the fox,

the fish bottles,

the bird china plates,

and the circa 1930's globe.