Sound the alarm. Alert the people! Apartment 34 dove head first into the realm of DIY this week!! This is a big deal for a self professed DI-buy girl. I’ve tended to take the “lazy” way out, convinced that my creations could never be as good as anything in a store. But with help from my team, I broke out of my comfort zone {and I hate to toot the ol’ horn but…}, we DIY’d something that turned out so many different forms of amazing, I can hardly believe it!

I must first start with a little confession: things haven’t been as organized around here as we may have led you to believe. From hopping on a plane every week to juggling meetings and projects, let’s just say it’s a miracle I’ve even remembered to eat. Things have been shoved behind closed bathroom doors, crammed into cabinets and buried at the bottom of closets – anything to hide the growing mess.

The office closet has suffered the most. You may remember seeing it here and here, always with the doors tightly closed!! I decided it was time to practice what I preach and get back to basics with a good ol’ clean out and DIY upgrade. Here’s how it went down:

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We began with the purge. Everything was cleared out {and laid aside to be sorted. Hours of shredding and trips to Goodwill over the weekend and it’s like a breath of fresh air!}. We went so far as to take out the closet shelves in order to give it a fresh coat of white paint, immediately making her look a million times better. However, that was just the beginning. Your closet is actually a great place to have a little fun with design. We wanted to really bring some fun personality by adding pattern so we set out on Pinterest looking for inspiration.

We came across this and loved the bold statement a stripe makes. We just decided to take it a step or two further. We sketched out our plan of doing one big 4” stripe surrounded by asymmetrical smaller ones, one 2” and 1”, on either side for a little riff on a sporty look!

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Once we had our supplies in hand: ScotchBlue Painter’s Tape, paint, a handful of brushes and measuring tools, we were set! We wanted a subtle color palette so we chose Chalkboard White as our base and Benjamin Moore’s Sail Cloth as our accent {with a little gold craft paint thrown in for a glam touch}!

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We started by finding the middle of the cabinet and marked off every six inches from top to bottom, setting where our big stripe was going to be. Starting from the top, we followed our marks, taping off the middle section. We found it easiest to just use one big piece of ScotchBlue Painters Tape. Trust your eye, if you see your line going a little crooked, double check your measuring and just lift up the tape and rework it. It’s so easy! Then simply paint inside your ScotchBlue Painter’s Tape column.

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When the paint is dry to the touch {about 30 mins for a single coat}, lift up the tape. You’ll have a perfect stripe!

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A key to making asymmetrical patterns work is to make sure you’re working with the same spacing on both sides of the middle stripe for balance. So we taped off our most outward stripe of the pattern and worked our way back in towards the middle.

During the creative process we felt like challenging ourselves even more. DIY is all about improvisation, right? So, we strayed from our original sketch a little. Thinking another gold painted stripe would be too heavy, we called an audible and used gold striped Washi tape instead!

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We also decided to paint the face of each shelf to give an often overlooked detail a touch of shine and glam! We used Martha Stewart’s Metallics line in gold and really liked the reflective quality it has.

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Et voila! There you have it. The perfect backdrop for a beautiful cabinet, closet, wall, dresser…the possibilities of where this look can work are endless.

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Here’s a little sneak peek of the finished office supply closet! We’re so excited how the entire project turned out. You’ll just have to stay tuned for the full reveal – we promise it’s coming soon!!

3m-diy-closet-sneak-peek3m-diy-finished-sneak-peekorganizational items from The Container Store, Dwell Studio and Muji

And of course we had to do a little happy dance when we were done!!

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scotchblue, scotchblue painter's tape, painter's tape, tape

This post is a collaboration with ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape. To join the creative community, visit www.facebook.com/ScotchBlue. All opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting posts that keep Apartment 34 doors open! 

original photography for apartment 34 by aubrie pick // styling and art direction by erin hiemstra

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27 Comments

  1. Such a lovely job! It’s getting my wheels turning how i would love to spruce up my closet. Thanks for sharing xx

  2. Love that look! Now there is a closet I’d like to keep organized (just so I can see the stripes at all times!) Painting the front of the shelves, and adding that gold Washi tape really made it special.

  3. What a great DIY!!! I love the way it turned out! I am inspired to possibly try something at home myself! Thanks for sharing!

  4. As I was reading, I wondered how you got that patterned gold stripe. From far away it looks like a chain or rope-like pattern. I thought it was a stencil! Washi tape is even better!

  5. Thanks so much everyone! We really had fun with this and having an organized closet that doesn’t stress me out every time I look at it is SO refreshing!!

  6. Love this! Where did you get the hanging folder holder?

  7. Great idea, one more time when you think. Why! Did I never think of that. Makes me very grateful you did and were gracious enough to share. All 3M products are reliable to a fault. That blue painters tape is a lifesaver since I am not a professional painter. Thanks again.