One Thrifty Chick: Closet Makeover ~ Built-In Guinea Pig Cage

This past weekend all 3 of my children were on a 5 day summer trip with their grandparents and cousins.

Many think that the hubby and I would have taken those 5 days and relaxed and enjoyed some quiet time, however we started a project, that led to another project and ended with a BIG project.

Our kids head back to school in one week and we knew we needed to give their rooms a little TLC to get organized for the next 9 months. Since we built the addition and our oldest son took over our room, we literally left the space un touched.

His bed was moved in along with random furniture, the walls were still the color from where I did this makeover years ago, and he was pretty much camping in our old space.

His closet was nothing but a dysfunctional mess to say the least. Check out what he had going on.

Chaos is all I see in that closet. Last year for Christmas his grandparents got him the most amazing guinea pig cage for his fur babies, the only downside is that it takes up WAY too much room. This was what his room looked like with the cage in the main space.

I knew something needed to be done to not only organize his space, but to also free up as much room as possible to maximize the function of his bedroom.

I'm going to skip the long narrative and give you a run down on how we created this built-in cage.

First we took out that awful wire shelving.... never again will I install that!

Using 1x3's we installed a rail along the walls where we wanted the lower level to rest.

Using 3/4" plywood, we cut a shelf to fit in the space.

We needed the extra 4 inches inside the door jamb, which meant notching out the plywood and installing two extra small supports.

We then did the same above, leaving enough room for the cage below and enough space to hang a mens shirt above. The top shelf is only 19" deep, just enough to provide storage for clothing.

Using whiteboard 1x3's we added faces to both shelves.

During this reno I found this amazing product. FastPatch 30 by DAP. It was amazing, and was perfect for quickly filling all the holes and the grooves where the old shelf supports were.

While this was drying we installed the closet rod support rails that you can barely see in this photo.

Once the joint compound was dry we got right to sanding. It was a MESS!

After the wall was sanded we grabbed a can of Homax Spray Wall Texture that dries in 5 minutes and went to town. Quick and easy!

Right about the time we started painting, I got a phone call that my sweet grandmother had suffered a heart attack and I needed to get to the hospital, so I left the project for my hubby to take over. Grandma is doing well, and is expected to make a full recovery.

I came home to a beautiful white closet that was perfect.

He took the time to caulk every last bit, not missing a single detail. He's a keeper!

It was time to move the girls in. The cage fit perfectly and was exactly what I had wanted.

We will need to build a set of drawers for the bottom, but we were running against the clock, because this closet project turned into an entire room makeover that I will be sharing with you very soon.

I am so happy with how this turned out, and look forward to a more spacious and cleaner bedroom. 12 year old boys are not the best at keeping things tidy!

Here is the before and after side by side! I would say this was a success, and said 12 year old boy agrees. He loved the surprise when he arrived home from their trip!

Thank you to my readers for stopping by today. Don't forget to follow me on Facebook and Pinterest, and you can find me on Instagram @OneThriftyChick.