Designing a Custom Nursery Closet (+ Wallpaper Update!)

Welcome back for Week 3 of the One Room Challenge, wherein I chronicle the transformation of our makeshift office into our very first nursery over the course of six weeks.

I know it’s hard to believe, but we finally have actual progress to share with you! Considering the fact that we’re halfway done with the challenge, I would HOPE we would’ve made progress by this time! In less than three weeks, I’ll be unveiling the nursery tour for all of the Internet to see – a terrifying thought, considering I have SO MUCH LEFT TO DO!

Catch up on the progress (or lack thereof) thus far:

• 1st week – A Modern, Glam Nursery for Our Baby Girl
• 2nd week – Small Nursery Layout & 3-D Room Mockup

One rainy, stormy evening this week we (finally) tackled the wallpaper installation. Although all I have to share are grainy evening time photos (with the dreaded lights-on situation!), the improvement is undeniable.

Up to this point, it was all fun and games – ordering pretty things online, creating room mockups in Photoshop. But this week, reality set in.

An important lesson to take away this week: wallpaper application is not for the 6-month pregnant. Truthfully, home improvement projects in general are not for the 6-month pregnant. There’s that minor detail of a growing belly that makes the simplest of tasks most dreadful. I’ll spare you the details of me rolling around in an attempt to raise myself up from the floor for the twentieth time in a span of 30 minutes, but let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.

But you know what is pretty? The “Clara” mural from Walls Need Love. Feast your eyes on its mesmerizing, captivating beauty below, and then I dare you to tell me you don’t want to wallpaper EVERY SINGLE WALL IN YOUR HOUSE afterwards.

Nothing like a large-scale floral mural to add a dose of whimsy (and some much-needed depth) to the space!

The great thing about Walls Need Love is that their vast array of wallpapers and murals are temporary, and this comes with many advantages over traditional style wallpaper:

1. No need for lengthy and complicated installations involving paste – the wallpaper has an adhesive backing that you simply peel off and apply to your wall. Moreover, you can easily remove and reapply many times over – just in case you can’t line up the design just so. And if you need to trade out your floral mural to something a little more masculine for a second or third child (talking to myself here), the wallpaper is guaranteed to remove safe and clean for up to 3 years!
2. The wallpaper is printed on Fab-tac – a material that’s a cross between paper and fabric. It never wrinkles; plus, you don’t have to worry about accidentally tearing it during installation.
3. The company is based in Nashville, TN – practically down the road from us – so it’s nice to promote and support the local economy.

Before I forget, Walls Need Love is currently running a promotion of 20% off the entire site. Just use the code “SPRING20” when checking out!

Designing a Custom Nursery Closet

Next on the list is installing the custom nursery closet. Hopefully we can tackle that over the weekend, so I have some better photos to share with you all next Thursday.

Today, though, I wanted to walk you through the easy process of designing a custom closet for any room. I’ve received quite a few questions around this topic, “Custom closet? Built in? How does that work? Did you design it yourself?” So I’m addressing these questions in today’s post.

The idea of a custom, built-in closet was a bit intimidating to me at first. I’ve never lived in a house or apartment that had anything beyond a basic, builders’ grade closet. Sure, I had pinned enough inspiration images to last a lifetime, but when it came to designing one for myself, I had no idea where to start.

Thankfully, ClosetMaid eliminated that dilemma with their easy-to-use, online SpaceCreations tool.

You already know my obsession with 3-D design programs – I designed our kitchen using one, also reconfigured our entire floor plan using another. Needless to say, I was quite excited to test out ClosetMaid’s SpaceCreations tool.

A major plus for me (and my super old Macbook Pro) was that, unlike with most other 3-D design tools, I didn’t have to download any software onto my computer; you just set up a quick account and get to work!

First, you select your closet type.

The nursery closet is a reach-in, so that’s what I chose. There’s also a custom option – great for not-so-standard spaces like our master closet with its awkward, slanted ceiling.

Next is probably the most labor-intensive part: the measuring.

As with any project, you want to double-check your measurements. You can even choose from a variety of door options – everything from bi-fold to sliding doors.

Input the measurements into the software.

Then comes the exciting part.

After answering a few basic questions – i.e. Do you need shoe storage? Will you have corner cabinets? What about hanging space? – the program creates a custom closet based on your answers. If you don’t like a particular element the software suggests, simply edit your answers, and the program will re-generate a new design for you.

Next, you’ll want to customize the towers.

The term “tower” refers to each column. Towers come in several standard widths, so if your closet isn’t standard size then you can always opt to install two hanging rods in the remainder of the space.

That is what I did.

You can easily shift the towers around, as well as customize each one, choosing from a variety of options, depending on your needs.

The customization doesn’t stop there.

You can then edit individual components, choosing the cabinet finish, handle style, drawer style, as well as adding additional shelves, drawers, baskets, shelf dividers, etc.

At any point in the process you can view your creation from multiple angles: overhead, wall and 3-D.

You can also keep tabs on the estimated cost of your custom closet in the bottom left of the screen. If you start to notice that your customizations are quickly adding up, you can easily try a different, more budget-friendly option.

My favorite view of the project is, of course, the 3-D. You can rotate, zoom and tilt your closet to view it from any angle.

During the last step you’ll review your design. Once reviewed, the software generates a PDF of your design, along with a list of all products necessary to recreate your design.

See – I told you it was quick and easy!

What’s Next?

As I mentioned, we hope to begin installing the nursery closet this week – and by “we” I mean the husband. I’ll be kicking back and supervising.

The closet is located on the opposite side of the room from the wallpaper mural, and at this point it looks exactly as it did in Week 1. We haven’t even removed the doors!

I still need to order many, many items, including most big-ticket items like the curtain rod, artwork, crib, dresser, glider, ceiling medallion and lots of accessories!

Hardly considered physical labor, but somebody’s gotta do it, right?

Tune in next Thursday to see just what we accomplish. You can also sign up for the FOXY OXIE newsletter or follow on Instagram Stories, where I’m sharing behind-the-scenes peeks at items as they arrive – like the wallpaper installation I shared earlier this week!

Huge thanks to Linda from Calling It Home for organizing the One Room Challenge. To see the other bloggers’ transformations, check out Week 3’s “One Room Challenge” linkup.

Another huge thanks to this round’s sponsors, including ClosetMaid, Walls Need Love, Lamps Plus, Minted, Rockabye, Freshly Picked, Safavieh, and Sproutling + Co. I can’t wait to show you guys the different ways I’m working with these brands to bring my vision of the nursery to life!

Most of all, thanks to all of you who continue reading, sharing and commenting on FOXYOXIE.com. You make this blog (and projects like this!) possible.

About the One Room Challenge

The One Room Challenge (ORC) is a wildly anticipated design event hosted by Calling It Home in partnership with House Beautiful.

Twice a year, 20 featured designers along with hundreds of guest participants are challenged to transform any room they so choose, but they must complete the entire project in six weeks.

Learn more.