Coaxing style out of the closet-office

Chicago Tribune (MCT) - The thing is: "When we bought it (our condo), it looked a lot bigger when it was empty," says Jason Loper, 33, a first-time buyer. "You walk in and hear the echo" through the barren rooms "and think it's big. And then you bring in your furniture and say, 'Really?'"

Loper and his partner, Michael Schreiber, 41, uttered more than a few "reallys?" when they moved into their two-bedroom condo in Rogers Park 1 ˝ years ago. And one of those "reallys?" resulted in the creation of an ingenious non-room, the office-closet.

First, some details on the condo: Vintage walk-up. Completely renovated. Enviable amenities: In-unit laundry. New galley kitchen with granite countertops. Divided floor plan that makes the place feel bigger than 800 square feet.

And, yes, we got that right _ 800 square feet. Two adults.

"Everything in this place, we've tried to make multipurpose," Loper says of their space-crisis solutions.

Note: the daybed in the dining room, which is the largest room in the condo and was supposed to be the living room. They reassigned it the "dining/everything room" with "everything" including guest quarters.

Note: the chalkboard paint on the walls in the galley kitchen, which allows them to write messages/lists on the walls. It eliminates the clutter of paper.

Note: the captain's bed with built-in drawers in the master bedroom. It eliminated the need for their vintage dresser and sideboard, which Schreiber described as "enormous."

And note, in particular: the (one-time) second bedroom, next to the master. At 10-by-12 feet, it was a difficult bedroom _ but made for a joyful little living room.

And in it: developable space _ the closet.

Measuring 6 feet wide (wall-to-wall) and 2 feet deep, it would have been a handy, secondary clothes closet. But Loper-Schreiber needed something more. They needed a place to stash their computer, bills, files, books, etc. So they "renovated" this 12 square feet, turning it into a shipshape home office.

The idea got real when they figured out the Internet access. A mere drill through the closet's back wall brought the cable in from the master bedroom. And all systems were now "go."

Down came the closet doors. Up went a (hang-it-yourself) Elfa shelving system (from The Container Store) to function as desk/shelving. And in went stuff. Their printer and file cabinet tucked nicely out of view in the 2 feet of space beyond the door jamb.

It was a functional office closet _ but not the "wow" space that Loper, a handbag designer, envisioned. It needed polish.

Textiles were the answer, according to Loper, who knows his way around fabric stores and sewing machines. (Loper makes his handbags out of upholstery fabric.

Down came the shelving. Up went industrial felt.

Loper first sewed gray felt together to create 6-foot-long panels and then stapled the felt "onto the wall with a staple gun." He worked strategically, placing staples in spots that would be hidden by the Elfa braces. (For those who don't sew, an alternative would be using a staple gun to put up carpet tiles.)

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He sewed felt pockets (for bills, pens, cards) onto the felt walls. He sewed a felt "jacket" for the (unsightly) computer tower. And he covered the lowest shelf/the desk with a final piece of felt, for a finished look.

One more notable addition: the undershelf light (from The Home Depot), whose cord was strung through the Elfa braces and down to a power strip to keep them hidden.

What's next: Drapes to close it up when not in use. "It would give it a decorative look," Loper says.

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RENOVATION NATION

Project: Converting a bedroom closet into an efficient home office that measures a mere 12 square feet

Cost: $850

Time frame: 1 hour to install shelving; 1 ˝ hours to sew felt panels together and staple to the wall. Then again, these homeowners knew what they were doing.

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© 2008, Chicago Tribune.