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We have a study off our master bedroom. Our master is huge as is. Since moving back, we don;'t really use the study.I sold my bookcase and other stuff when we moved, and haven't felt the urge to put it back. Even sold my curtains lol. It has french doors leading into it, and a nice bay window. We were thinking of turning into a closet with built ins, and maybe a window seat. bench in the middle. I am ready to repaint regardless, and i am thinking about an ebony wood floor.. Am i making a mistake?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: boolovespink,

another view.. sorry pics are small . not sure what happened

view in from bedroom

Depends on the windows and how much light you get (for example South facing window?) and how much of that light do you get through the french doors to your bedroom?

If you do want a closet, then you will have to make sure that much light does not get in on the clothing, fades them fast.

You could make shelving again, but drawers underneath so you could use them as extra storage for clothing without it looking like a closet. And one one side where it is deeper such as the photo you posted. Put full length units with doors for hanging clothing.

This way it won't look like a closet but have all that extra storage where light can't fade the clothes!

I have considered leaving as a study and painting the walls, trim & ceiling . adding crown molding, new drapes, and a wood floor. I would also paint my cabinetry black and add crown molding to top. I would also change my countertop from that hideous green ( it was all they had in stock at time) .. and adding a pair of chairs where the bookcase was. The only thing I do like is the cabintery works much better than a desk.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: boolovespink,

We have a similar room off our master and it has been used as a study, home office, master closet and now its back to being a study again!Have a recliner in there, some book shelves, the cats have a tree in front of the window. I'm gussing it will stay that way!

Becky : another southern AL Lady.. I'm from AL as well. Ours is a nice little room, nice light and all.. I just feel it could be more functional.. Who knows what it may become lol

Howdy neighbor!

Sometimes it is so tempting to turn it into a huge closet again! But I love going back there in the mornings with my coffee, crossword and morning devotional.

It came in very handy over the holidays. I corraled the kitties in there and never had to worry about anyone escaping out the door, visiting the guests in the middle of the night, or being traumatized by the visiting grand dog. So I'm guessing it will stay as a study/retreat room for awhile!

Are you lacking storage for your wardrobe? Could you put an armoire in the room for out of season clothing? It seems a shame to eliminate a sitting area unless you really need to.

Not lacking on clothing storage. I have a nice sized closet (but not a full walk in - its a partial) in the sitting area part of master. I also have the chest and a large dresser. I just have always kinda wanted a big walk in with custom cabinetry for my purses and shoes and such.. One with drawers, and nice hanging rods and stuff.. We just don't really use it much as is, i stuck an aquarium in there for some homeless fish i acquired, but thats about it. I have a nice sitting area in master, and its just me and my husband .

Sounds like you could make a nice clothing storage/dressing area in there with custom built ins. I think since you have a nice sitting area in the master and a semi walk in if I were in your shoes I would be tempted to turn it into a custom closet/dressing area.

I would make that space a nice BIG closet. Think that would be awesome. You can make it really cute and swanky, : )

I would turn it into a luxurious sitting/reading area with an elegant chaise lounge and a multi-level-lighting floor lamp. If your hubby loves to read, you could have matching overstuffed reading chairs or a loveseat.

To me, your room is way too elegant to close it away as a closet...JMHO.

Love the space and what a fun dilemma to decide. How the best of both idea? Put the closet storage/built-ins on the long wall spaces. Then create a sitting area smack in the center of the room also?


Too funny about the paint color. I love it!

quote:

Originally posted by CJO:
I would turn it into a luxurious sitting/reading area with an elegant chaise lounge and a multi-level-lighting floor lamp. If your hubby loves to read, you could have matching overstuffed reading chairs or a loveseat.

To me, your room is way too elegant to close it away as a closet...JMHO.

What CJO said. And, I'd add a beautiful writing desk with chair, even if it is just for putting on nail polish or reading your email on your laptop.

How about making it into a walk in closet WITHOUT spending any money for built ins, shelves, etc.? Just use stand alone racks.
That way, the room remains flexible - in the future you can use it as a study, as a closet, as an office - whatever. It can bounce back and forth between functions with no trouble. As for the window.....just put a blackout shade on it.

IF its going to be used as a closet, you're going to keep the doors closed anyway so what does it matter whether or not it looks like a walk in closet in Architectural Digest?

Assuming this isn't your forever home, I'd keep the space as flexible as possible. If you installed a combo of closets and shelves (for either books, accessories or your purse and shoe collections), the room could be used as either a closet or study/office.

I would leave sufficient floor space so the room could eventually be staged as either an office, sitting room, library/reading nook or even a nursery, depending on the most likely, future buyer. In the meantime, you can use it for anything you like as your needs change, too!

One specific thought - it'd be easy to install a built-in, small, writing desk inbetween a couple of shelving units or closets. And, it could also be used as a dressing table or even a vanity, if you like. So, MHO is basically flexibility and flexibility.

Beautiful rooms, BTW! Good Luck!

P.S. WRT the flooring, I'd use your selection (whatever it may be) in both rooms to both enlarge the spaces and provide continuity and flow.

Lets see if I can answer everyone lol.. been a long day in painting world.. and cold I might add


CJO : Neither of us are readers at all, unless the internet counts lol.. And we aren't real formal either.. I like a real relaxed comfy fall like feel. My home throughout has a fall look and I would like to incorporate that a bit more I think?

Beau's Rose.. Thinks for the ideas.. gives me somthing to think about. Te color is SPICY CAYENNE by Behr .. Its the only room that remained its color for over 3 yers ( its made it almost 6) I am just tired of it and ready to move on to something deiffferent. If I keep as a study I am going to do a faux copper leaf ceiling, and will pick a wall color that better suits the ceiling.

Love, Lu : MY thing is I have alwys pictured a closet with the super nice built ins, with drawers & such that are not only funstional but pretty to look at. We can actually build them ourselves, ( we are skilled in homebuilding from ground up) so it really wouldn;t be a big $ project.I think i either want the full blown swanky closet , or leave it as a study.. I have the plain jane ol closet, and I am not hurting for my space. I just like the idea of a custom closet.

AguaBella: your the first to hit the "touchy " subject with me lol.So don't take my answer the wrong way... i mean it wit as much humoor as I can lol . No, I don't plan on this being my forever home, but for now it is my home. We have had it sold 2 times, each falling thru for people being dumb within 24 hrs of close.. I have made changes for their liking, sold my furniture ( what they didn't ask for at clsoing), bent over backwards and catered to not so nice people. I have had my cat kicked, and my personal drawers pilfered thru.. Lets just say it won;t be back on the market anytime soon.But regardless going forward, I am done doing what others like . Next time, I will empty all my stuff,no staging beacause I am tired of buyers wanting all my furniture, tvs, lawn mowers and such..lol.. So this room can be whatever at any time.. Theres nothing I can't undo.. We change a lot , because we don;t have to pay someone to do it.(but that has a downside becuase we do & redo, and do somemore lol).. Thanks for the compliments on my rooms. I am so glad to be back in my home & to this board. I am trying to finsih what i started, and make my master bed, bath & study all flow together & be finsihed..haha.. Right now the flooring is the same carpet in both the study & master bedroom. . I am thinking of the ebony wood floor all thru our home becuase we are planning a kitchen addon sometime this year..

Sorry to hear you had such bad selling experiences. (Blank) happens.

Didn't intend to suggest that you make any major changes for others b/c I've never done that myself. I apologize if it sounded that way. The room can be flexible for you, too - you may wish to convert back to an office/study at some point.

For dedicated walk-in closets, many people utilize all available floor space. What I suggested (or intended to, anyway) was to merely install a combo of perimeter closets and shelves with possibly a small table inbetween a couple of them for use as either a vanity, dressing table or small writing desk but leaving the center floor space open.

If you don't care to stage it eventually, no problem. Buyers s/b thrilled with the built-ins and able to visualize the shelves and/or closets as part of any room they'd prefer. Incidentally, I was thinking about you staging it years down the road.

And, if you don't care to do built-ins, the movable clothes racks plus stand-alone bookcases/shelves for your purse/shoe collection works, too! If you finish out the room to coordinate/flow with the bedroom, future buyers s/b thrilled with the entire suite, IMHO.

Please update us with a photo when you complete it. Take care -

P.S. Wasn't 100% certain the flooring was consistent from the photo. The new flooring will be terrific!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: AguaBella,

Sorry you had such a bad experience in selling your home. I STAYED with all open houses, not making myself known to the buyers that I was the owner, the realtor I had could not watch everyone in the house, so I stayed. She eventually referred to me to answer questions and I went upstairs while she stayed downstairs for showings.

I did remove ALL personal items in my home when putting it on the market, and I am so glad I did. We had people actually (this was in the winter) leave the back door and front door open when leaving! That heat I was paying for was going right out the door!

I had a a friend have her jewelry taken during a showing of her house. I highly recommend staging with ONLY what you want to sell and put all else in storage when the house is on the market.

I like the idea of good built ins. Why not drawers at bottom and shelving at the top? And you get that library feeling but also have hidden drawer storage? And a nice tall cabinet with doors that could hold hidden hanging clothes?

AguaBella: thank you for your wonderful ideas, all something to consider.. Its a hard decision .. For once, I just can't make up my mind. Please accept my apology if anything I said came off the worng way ( i didn't mean for it to, thats why i said i was saying it with as much humor as possible lol).

Mary Ruth: We stayed as much as possible in the beginning. When we couldn't due to scheduling the realtor would always call with questions. He would walk thru with buyers while we went over each feature ,age, and etc. I was like "what am I paying you for" ...

We did put all "personal" items out of site, but peopel still thought they had a right to snoop through dresser drawers, and pilfer things in the bath. I understand opening cabintery, my dresser drawers and such are a bit personal.. If a photo album is in a drawer, it should be hands off..We had the door open problem too, even when raining.. We eventually pulled it from market when i had a young couple show up with 17 people to look at the house. They had called, and I gave them address ( as always "wanted to ride by and look" .. which i despise becasue they always look anyway , or decide at last minute they wanna come in without an appt. But anyways, the had no appointement. I dropped by to check on house and had 17 people roaming over my 1 acre lot, driveway smack full and road too of cars.. Peope trying to look thru wooden blinds.. I ran them off and that was that.. we moved back in lol

We are kicking the idea of drawers on bottom and hanging space at top

boolovespink,
How terrible people can be! I hated people driving to my house, seeing the sign and then actually PARK in the driveway and get out to look around even though my car was there and I was home!

This may sound strange, BUT... we put all toiletries (as if going on vacation) in a tote, that was closed and put under the sink. All our clothing were in luggage! We had a wardrobe packing box in the garage with our 'if needed' clothing. And so the drawers, closets and cupboards were all empty! We had minimal in the kitchen too, didn't need everything.

My packing method:
Pack everything that is a treasure, collectables, of value to you. I then packed up the whole kitchen, everything. Then I went to the thrift store and bought two plates, got inexpensive silverware, etc. And then a couple of pans (a few pans of ours needed replacing, so we used those). When we were about to move out, I packed all that was in the house and dropped it off at the thrift store.

And for some reason, people either do not know how to purchase good scissors or they just plain won't spend the money, I have had my good scissors stolen a few times, so those were packed FIRST! LOL

Once you put the house on the market, you can't live comfortably any longer, the phone could ring anytime and you have to vacate. I used to park in the neighbor's driveway till they left if they were with a realtor I trusted.

I watched my house like a hawk... and NO one should EVER come into your home without an appointment so the Realtor can check their ID's and pre-qualify them for being viable buyers. And Open Houses, in my opinion, need more than one person there (which is why I stayed, my realtor was a bit lazy and stayed in the kitchen, so she didn't notice that the attic door was left open upstairs, etc.

Now, with you moved back in, your built-ins can only ADD interest to the potential buyers for the future. I would find out why the house didn't sell other than being tied up with the wrong buyers. If you do NOT need extra built-ins then don't put them in. Do you need more landscaping?
More storage in the kitchen? Perhaps putting in extra features like pull out trays? Are younger or older people moving to your neighborhood? You know... add what WILL make your house MORE desirable than the other houses that your house compares to. For example, my house had a detached garage, so great for Empty nesters, but not for young mom's with kids who loved the bonus rooms that came with the houses that had attached garages! I could not change that, but it did mean the other two homes that were for sale in my neighborhood sold first before mine because young families were looking to move in my area.

Since we could not compete on the 'bonus room' part, we found the next most popular feature was hardwood flooring. So, that we could manage and DID put in. That was a great selling feature for us that an built ins and custom closets.
Picture of the breakfast room floor (right off the kitchen where we also installed hardwood) flows into dining and living room floors. The whole first floor was hardwood and one guest room upstairs were finished.

Since we were in the building business and could make built ins (as you see in the dining room on back wall) we also installed our own hardwood flooring (since labor is the most cost) then had it professionally sanded and finished.

*

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mary Ruth,

I used to have a picture of the most gorgeous dressing room...all white built-ins with some glass doors, wood doors, drawers and a fabulous island with drawers and all kinds of custom storage. Love the idea of the counter top for folding and packing a suitcase. I'd make sure there was a make-up area (the bay would be perfect...the light!) with a pretty table and chair. You could make the closets all free standing if you're worried about resale. I think it sounds like a great idea!

I've found the information about Open Houses quite interesting. It would never occur to me to open someone's drawer, cabinets or even closet door while looking at a house for sale.

I LOVE going to Open Houses to see how people have decorated as well as the room layouts. I've never been to one where there was more than one person to show it and they always stayed in the kitchen area while I looked around the house on my own. I have wondered if pilferage was a problem though.

My own experience and thinking on the subject is that people should sell their house "as is" without any attempt to spend money trying to anticipate what buyers want. I've only sold one house (years ago in a hot market). The house was completely redone after a fire. When I went back later, the new owners had painted the woodwork BLUE and taken down the beautiful Williamsburg chandelier that I had just put up.

I would go for the nice walk in closet with all the bells and whistles. What woman doesn't want a huge closet!

Mary Ruth: are realtor was a joke, but thats a whole other story, lol. Our house didn't sale simply becuase of the people on 2 occassions. The first was a young couple engaged to be married buying their first home. Well , the weekend before close they called off wedding , but didn;t cancel on us till sep 14 (24 hrs before close). Neither of their credit could tote the house note independently, so we got hung out to dry.. The second couple were living togther, his name only on contract though.. He was young 20"s , but another case of being a child.. He cold cold feet about a mortgage, (but later admitted he just didn;t go thru because his girlfriend had cheated), once again leabing us out in the cold so to speak..

We live in a very rural part of AL. Its not a boooming market, never has been nor will be. We are country folk lol.. The house passed every insepection without any required repairs. Our house received awesome feedback from buyers as far as condition, looks, space and so on. We only have 2 br 2 bath ( only drawback that was mentioned due to most here have a houseful of kids) Our appraisal says its a 3 br, ( because they count the study as a bedroom).And people here want more acreage, we have almost an acre, but I am landlocked and nothing I can do about that. Our house is just over 1600 sq ft, I have no intent right now in adding the 3rd bedroom. Its just my husband and I, and will remain that way. Our house is overbuilt compared to other homes in the area, so its hard for them to find comps. Our price was low compared to homes that were dated & needed work even. Another problem we face, is we are in such a rural area, the jobs to tote house payments are not aplenty.. There was tons who wanted it, but either no credit or bad credit.

As far as considering any feature , change or renovation for selling purposes down the road, I am out. I will never again think of what someone years down the road will think about what I paying for and want to do now. With us being in building I know I can always undo what is done. In the future it will be "what you see is what you get"..I know I am still frustrated , but it was a well learned lesson. I work hard every day in the cold or heat, to pay for what is mine. So I will never again worry about resale.Not trying to be rude about all this lol, it was just a costly and aggravating lesson.

BTW, Gorgeous floors & chandelier in that pic// GOOD JOB..!

Love Lu, I totally agree with your "as is" comment. I was concerned before with what others thought, and changes I should make to make it appeal more, but not anymore. No matter what i do something will still not be to someone elses liking. When they are paying for it, they can do whatever they wish.lol

Can't believe what you went through, boo. Sometimes the rudeness of people simply astounds me. Nothing excuses it, IMHO.

I agree with you - I would never alter a home simply to please future buyers and haven't ever done so. If you and your spouse don't need more than 2 bedrooms, I definitely wouldn't suggest adding a 3rd. WRT walk-in closets, I love them as much as the next person and am thrilled when a property provides them.

That said, I believe your particular room provides more opportunity/options and a higher/better use than as a dedicated walk-in. I would keep it flexible for myself - not for anyone else. That way, I could use it as a closet or dressing area now and possibly a study in the future, if/when my own needs changed.

The future staging and resale opportunity was mentioned merely as a byproduct. Sorry if it touched a nerve.

Best to you -