*Lyrics from David Bowie’s Five Years. We’ve officially owned this house for five years, and it feels like that’s how long each project is now taking. My brain hurts. A lot.

AFTER, for reals: beauty shot.

Weekends around here have become mighty precious. Jeff’s work schedule has been non-stop since about September (I’m not actually exaggerating – it might even have been like this since August), with small pockets of time off here and there. And by small pockets I mean a day here, or a few hours there. It’s been hard on both of us, and even harder on the state of the house. With so few hours to spend together who wants to spend it cleaning out the garage, or organizing the stuff in the basement for giveaway, or otherwise finishing projects that are half done all over the place? Jeff did manage to get the week between Christmas and New Year off and we were able to finally tackle some of those half done projects. Like the closet in the master bedroom.

You might remember that the closet renovation began last winter (December 2010 to be precise) and that it has been the bane of my existence (one of many) since then. We have lived with a missing threshold, cracks in the walls, unpainted walls and trim, and our clothing spread out into the guest room and office closets. Mainly we were able to endure such inconveniences because, well, we don’t really wear clothing that needs to be hung up very often. (If I’m honest, not much of it fits right now anyway – another side effect to a long and emotional year.) And we’ve gotten really good at ignoring things. Not really a skill I admire in myself, but survival comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

So, we finally patched, sanded, caulked, painted, found a closet rod and cut it to size, installed it and moved our clothing into the new pocket of space. It’s amazing how something so minor as being able to put your clothing away can bring such giddiness. But it did. This is not a closet renovation that will make anyone drool. Nor will it induce any jealousy. We have an old house with small closets and we’re okay with that (it is New England, after all). But now we have two small closets in our bedroom instead of one. Score!

Some pictures of the (mostly, nearly, almost there) finished product. Enjoy! xoxo