My dad gave us some used cedar that he had planed down a while back. It turned out to be just enough to finish our entire master closet! There were some splits and rough areas to cut around but in general it was in great shape and we were able to use a lot of the split/scrap pieces on the short sections by the door.

So after putting a skim coat on the ceiling this morning we got to work on the cedar walls. By 5pm we were done! In plenty of time to get cleaned up and head out to Chunky’s for dinner and a movie (went to see The Help – which was great!).

Skim coat on the ceiling

Starting the cedar

A view of the back wall finished.

The left wall

The right wall

It’s very hard to photograph a closet – so these are the best shots I could get of the wall with the door (also finished).

Left side of door.

The right side of the door

Great progress for a 3 day weekend!  I’m going to do a second skim coat on the ceiling tonight before bed and a final coat in the morning.

So far the cost of this closet remodel is the cheapest project we’ve done so far:

•  demolition = $12
• wood for reframing door = $18
• drywall = $13 (mostly scraps)
• cedar = $0
• joint compound = $7

So far so good!  Although the closet system we picked out will cost plenty, all in all this will be a relatively cheap remodel compared to the rest of the house.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to sand the cedar walls to smooth them out just a bit and we’re going to put up a molding at the top since the cedar didn’t butt up tightly all the way around.  We also hope to work on the diningroom window panels tomorrow.  Can’t wait!