I’ve been hard at work lately with my latest home improvement project. This season, I’m tackling my old water heater closet. I’m transforming it into a closet space for my deluxe rental / guestroom. The plan is to completely update it to the rest of the house, increase my property value, and pack it full of amenities for independent living.
Sometime last year, I got rid of the bulky old furnace that hadn’t been working for years (before I bought the house), and upgraded my home to tankless water. This way, the tank could be placed outdoors allowing me more space in the closet. In addition, I had water lines run through so that I can play around with customization of the space. I also had two power outlets installed because the room was so old, it didn’t have any! My first idea for this room was to make it into a laundry room. But after seeing the space and doing some creative research, it will now function as both a laundry room and a sweet walk-in closet.
*BONUS POINTS*
According to state code, flipping this room into a functional closet means my bonus room (deluxe rental / guestroom) is now a fully functioning bedroom; increasing the number of bedrooms in my home for when or if I decide to sell, whoopie!
Now that the room is empty, it's time to move on to the big stuff. The next few steps are to raise the floor, finish the floor with laminate, then hang and finish the drywall. These things are out of my reach of expertise so for the last few weeks, I’ve had contractors back and forth to do the more professional work.
Seeing the changes of the space in real time motivated me to go shopping and ended up at Ikea. Most of the times I've been to Ikea was to look around and fantasize about my dream home. With the addition of this closet, I now have a real reason to visit with the added fun of turning my fantasies into reality. Not to mention (but I will), I love putting things together! There were so many things to choose from. Thank goodness I had an idea of what I wanted or I could have spent hours there!
(Tyler, (my partner) came with me)
As I mentioned above, I love to put things together. I get the same rush as a D.I.Y. project but with half the tools, mess, and sore fingers in the end. It wasn't until I walked through the door with my new furnishings is when the idea for a portrait shoot crossed my mind. Once it did, It didn't take long until I had my camera setup and ready to go. Halfway through finishing the pieces, I looked around and noticed I had fashioned a nice stage to position myself. Paper manuals laid about, cardboard boxes tossed to the side, and a very excited self right in the center!
For these portraits I used the natural window lighting from my left side and a single strobe placed in front. This adds more depth with less shadows and highlights to the skin. With just a few starter shots I was very pleased with the results and began firing away. My excitement grew with every photo that bounced back at me through the preview screen. It became a lot more obvious with each passing moment captured with a click! When I have an idea for a photo in my head and it exceeds expectations in camera, it's hard to hold back my enthusiasm.
With such powerful results came great inspiration. Because I was already documenting the room's progress, I thought to turn these photos into a series! With the furniture assembled and my next idea fresh in my head, I made my way to the back and got to work. As I made progress through the room, more ideas and compositions came to mind. I would do a little bit of work here and there but often stopped to re-setup the camera. I couldn’t help myself after the great photos from earlier and had to keep this spark going! At this point, the floor was done and the hanging of the drywall had commenced.
My next set of portraits are centered around the closet construction. This side of the room will be for clothing and other storage needs. Turns out you can take fancy curtain rod holders and use them to make designer closets; that's what I did! After a few calculations, I was able to attach the rod to the shelving and cut enough to fit the mini fridge. Did I mention that the closet will also serve as personal kitchen space? That's right, the guest or renter will have their own mini fridge, dry food storage, and optional microwave (if they buy their own). Visions of a completed room tickled my creativity among other things. As I snapped away at my remote trigger, my eagerness grew and grew ever larger! Soon enough, my excitement had once again become apparent in my photos with no signs of deflating in sight. The portraits came out great and so did this side of the room. It already looks like a whole new space from just a few days ago.
The last thing that needed to be done with the contractor is the drywall. After a few days of knocking it out, the next step was to paint it and the room. Now, I knew this was coming and had been thinking of a setup for when It does. The space is a lot bigger than I expected but still small enough to make shooting clunky. Don’t worry, I made it work and was right back to shooting! This composition is a lot like the first set of photos in my living room; further away and standing. This way, I can capture the wall getting painted and my happy naked self getting right to work.
Every inch of progression in this room felt like a mile of success. Thinking about the many, lucrative benefits once the space is done added more fuel to my already very active, exhilarating fire. With every stroke of paint came a sensation of pleasure and inspiration. It wasn't too much longer before my transformation vision became reality but what came even sooner was my apparent excitement. I would roll the paint on the roller, roller to the wall, then receive positive energy from my hard work. And like many times before with more to come, that very energy has pulsed its way from my brain to my heart through my shaft; rendering me to a state of focused ecstasy and blissful shivers.
I didn’t capture it on film but believe me; the walls weren’t the only thing painted white that day. I had released a 5+ day load all over my brand new floors! Think of it as the christening to the new space because that's what I did. With a level head and relieved self, I knocked out the rest of the room and began work on the other side.
This next side of the room is for the laundry and dry food storage; basically a storage pantry. Nothing too fancy, just a few more shelves above and a small stack in the corner. The window brings in a lot of light so I opt not to put anything in front of it. Everything works well and looks even better but the star of this show is the washer/dryer combo unit. I knew these existed but have never seen or used one before. I saw the latest thing floating around the web and was enchanted by the features! With it delivered and installed, the room was completed and I’m one happy camper! This project, like the photos, exceeded my expectations and blew me away. Here are some dynamic before and after shots.
FRONT and CENTER:
LEFT SIDE:
RIGHT SIDE:
I even made a quick video to show off the room!
This home improvement project was a lot of fun and so rewarding. Walking into that room and not being greeted by a dungeon is such a breath of fresh air. I’m happy to say that the very next day of posting the room for rent, I got a long term renter. Another successful project for the books and some great photos to the collection! What do you think of the transformation?