From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone

*This post has been sponsored by Church & Dwight Co., Inc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It’s probably pretty obvious that I’m passionate about good design at home. I try my best to carefully consider just about everything that we bring in through the front door, making sure that it’s something that will add to our space—not detract from it. Big box stores know me by sight at this point because returns are sort of the norm for me. If it’s not a good fit, it goes right back to the store!

And, while it might be a little more information than you need this early in the morning, that logic even goes for cat litter! For years (and I mean decades), I’ve always used the same run-of-the-mill cat litter. Our cats—both our current trio and the kitties I had growing up as a kid—have always used clumping litter from one specific brand, so that’s what I kept up with into my adulthood. Then, very randomly a few months ago, I decided to make a switch.

I decided to stick with clumping litter since I didn’t want to throw our gals for a loop, but I had gotten so sick of the layers of dust that would build up in the room where we kept the litter box that I was drawn in by the 100% dust-free formula of the new Cloud Control™ Clumping Litter from ARM & HAMMER™.

It has now been two months since I bought the litter from the pet aisle at Kroger, and I’m a true convert. It really is 100% dust-free, so you can breathe easy. Plus, I no longer have to wipe down nearby furniture (ew!). This litter reduces airborne dander and other nasties when you scoop, and it’s free from heavy perfumes—having just a light hypoallergenic scent.

I know I’m getting a little wordy, but I wanted to make sure I introduced the story as thoroughly as possible. Today’s post is sponsored by the company behind ARM & HAMMER™ Cloud Control™ Clumping Litter, but I had already made the permanent switch over to their product long before I received an invitation to be a partner with them.

Anyway, to celebrate our partnership, I decided to go really big by turning an ugly closet in our basement into a dust-free pet zone. See the before/after photos below, and make sure you take advantage of Kroger Pickup to find extra savings for yourself!

The closet in question was in our basement under the stairs. We hadn’t touched it since moving in four years ago, so it still had the same stained bare drywall, raw concrete floors, and dusty old shelves. I’ve always just used the closet as a hideaway spot for boxes filled with craft supplies, and, of course, our extra cat litter box. It worked, but it was far from pretty. Like, really far.

I’ve wanted to give the closet a facelift for years but since I only ever went in there to scoop litter or grab an armload of craft supplies, I wanted that facelift to cost me very little money and take very little time to pull off. While I could have skim-coated the walls to make them smooth and rebuilt the shelves to look nice and custom, I just didn’t want to get that involved. My main goal was to retain the function but make it a small space I wouldn’t mind wandering into from time to time (read: that wouldn’t make me scowl and want to run right back up the stairs).

After lots of brainstorming, I decided on this plan of action: (1) paint the bare drywall white, (2) spray the exposed pipe on the left a nice modern matte black, and (3) cover the raw concrete with fun patterned peel-and-stick vinyl tile. I also thought I’d bring in some faux greenery and rattan textures, plus a new-to-us vintage rug to help breathe personality into the space. The finishing touch was an upgraded white litter box and a pet house for the corner of the closet.

Honestly, the hardest part of this entire makeover was the painting. It’s difficult to avoid covering your entire body (and head of hair) with paint when crouched down in an awkward closet like ours, so I was a mess by the time both coats of paint were done. The difference in the closet, though, was worth every ounce of effort.

As you can see, I didn’t patch up any of the seams or cover any holes in the wall—I just painted right over the bare drywall as it was—but the fresh white paint helped hide all of the old water stains and brightened the closet, too. I could have stopped there, but I wanted to tackle the floors before bringing in any accessories and storage boxes.

Can you believe the difference that new peel-and-stick floor made?! The new vinyl tiles helped finish off the closet perfectly, and made a bigger impact than I could have ever anticipated. The best news of all is that I was able to lay it down right over the exposed concrete floors in less than an hour with John’s help.

Truth be told, the instructions on the box of tiles said to prime any concrete surfaces before laying them down but since we barely ever actually stand on this floor, I figured it was okay to skip that step in the interest of time and energy. If you plan to use the same type of tile in a higher traffic area of your home, definitely make sure you follow the installation instructions and prime your floors first. I just wanted to bring that out into the open before I got lots of questions in the comments! Despite the lack of primer, our tiles are holding up just fine so far.

The final step in this closet makeover project was to bring in the accents and décor. I spent an hour or so tweaking every detail, and now I finally feel like it’s perfect. The best news of all is that our pets love it, too. The closet has been done for about a week at this point and whenever I can’t find one of our cats, I almost always discover them lazing around in their new hideaway.

Of course, the ARM & HAMMER™ Cloud Control™ Clumping Litter is another big hit in this project, but I already knew that was going to be the case. The modern rounded litter box I found online was the perfect way to contain the litter, and the litter itself has done an excellent job containing what goes on inside the box (TMI but true!). It also comes in 2 sizes (14lb. and 19lb.), perfect for any household!

Can you believe the before-and-after difference? That one photo above is a tiny bit of a stretch from the truth because I Photoshopped the ugly pipe out just to see how it might look but even with the pipe, the freshly designed room still takes me by surprise. I’m kicking myself for not doing the project sooner, but I’m glad that it provided the perfect opportunity to team up with a brand that our household already uses and trusts.

Grab your own box of ARM & HAMMER™ Cloud Control™ Clumping Litter in the pet aisle at your local Kroger or Kroger banner stores, and don’t forget to find savings using Kroger Grocery Pickup. Now, shout out in the comments below with any questions you might have or tell us about a closet you’ve been meaning to make over in your house!