WE have a vintage bed that is way high off the floor.Makes for great storage space under it. WE even raised it up a little higher by using heavy duty gray PVC legs slipped over the metal legs. They are hidden with dust ruffle.

I can sympathize with you.I was a weaver. I sold all of it lock stock and loom. Not because of the house size I just drifted away from weaving. These crafts take lots of space for supplies.

I gathered a great collection of hard sided suitcases to store my wool salvages in. I kept them in the loft in the shop and they were never bothered by moths or mice.The suitcases were easy to handle with the handles they were meant to be carried.Unlike the totes. Also you can pick them up for next to nothing at thrift stores. I even put the word out and friends donated many tome because they no longer wanted them.

Maybe a designated craft room? Can you hang the rugs instead of putting them on the floor?

I know what you mean dennie. My quilt stuff has been in the attic for over a year while I redid the guest room (former sewing room). I got down one tub the other day to make a quilt, and ended up getting down all 5 tubs and 2 trash bags full of fabric before I finally found what I wanted.

My solution is to start using up my stash. I end up buying more fabric every time I make a quilt anyway. And for all my made quilts, I either hang them on the wall or stack them on a bed. Better for them to be flat than folded anyway. Shades-of-idaho's idea of stacking the rugs under the guest room bed is good. Just shut the door to that room to keep the kitty claws out.

We actually have a lot of closets, but I was pondering yesterday just how to make them more usable. They're all the shallow, reach-in variety, so it's not as though a bunch of custom built-ins would help. Then I looked up. Wow! There is space up there, above that top shelf. It would involve work: either tearing out the doors and casings and doing taller custom doors, or making a new opening(s) up there to access it. But for two closets that include 12' of space across, that means there is room for another shelf up there that is 12' long. That would hold a lot of yarn tubs!

I toyed with the idea of tossing it all out but just can't handle that much radical behavior right now! The new bed won't have a dust ruffle which I found to be a nuisance to keep looking good. The suitcase idea is cool and I already have a vintage blue and white one.

I also have a big stretch of empty space above the closet shelves and will be putting another shelf up there. the main shelf is 18" deep, so i will be putting a 12" deep one above it. each of the 2 spare room closets are almost 7' long.

I have a ton of that space in each of my mini walkin closets in the mstr bdrm also - I'll do the same in those. They are each 5' 9" long. that'll add a lot of storage area - tho not real deep. I also plan to put a shelf across the lower part of each of the spare room closets and 1 walk in for those plastic bins to rest on. will have to measure the height of the bins (plus some) but I'll be able to get at least 2 rows of bins across each closet.

i'll be putting a shelf up high in the pantry also.

and 1 of the extra bdrms will be a storage/craft/misc room and will have at least 1 large storage cabinet in it plus 2 bookcase type cabinets. those will be for things i need access to on a regular basis.

if everything is filled up, that'll mean anything left has to go... will put my priorities in the closets first.

Jakabedy, I like the idea of opening up the wall above the closet and creating storage space. We had that in our house that was destroyed by Katrina. The things up there survived where my first Viking Designer I sewing machine down low in the closet, well, it died a horrible death.

Even if you open up that extra space and have no doors on it, the total depth of even a shallow closet is usually 24 inches. They have storage totes that could be slid into that without you ever changing the closet beneath it. At least, if you have a high ceiling, the space above the hanging areas of your closets would accommodate a pretty deep box. Do you have 8' or 9' ceilings? If you are able to do it that way instead of tearing out the closet woodwork and doors, it would be less expensive.

I bought a Sunset book on designing and reorganizing closets just this afternoon. I was in the midst of reading it too. I have to install the wire shelving in our new walkin closet, and the soft cover book has plenty of ideas. But mostly, I'm thinking I need to get rid of a lot of clothing. My DH needs to have his socks organized. His old t-shirts need to be "recycled" so he can find the new ones.

These closet design books seem to think folks need a gift wrapping station. I personally do not like to keep wrapping paper around, why not go get it when you need it.....does anyone else feel that is a waste of space?

I agree with FlGargoyle that large sets of dishes/china can kill your storage spaces. I like to have a set of 4 plates etc which can be displayed in the Euro style plate racks, maybe changed out seasonally. But my DH has a few pieces left that was his mama's from when he was a child. And he is 78 now, so I treat that American Limoges "Hollywood" design like it was the most valuable treasure in the world. It is cream w/a gold band, just simple, but I think I could display a couple of the pieces on the walls somehow.

And using up my fabric is the best option, instead of buying more. I'm now thinking about painting some of the heavy canvas as a floor cloth, sealing it of course, and then using it like a linoleum rug out in my new Teahouse.
I've always wanted to do that, if not now then when. I'm running out of time! And finally I have both the fabric and the funds (thanks to DH) to buy the paint for the project, and restore the building to do it in...What a blessing.

Well, I've gotta go listen to State of the Union.
Keep warm, everyone.

I will add those wire shelves are awful.I greatly improved them buying a couple packages of the small zip ties and used two at each joining side.

I was told that the shelf above the clothes hanging rods was to keep DUST off the clothing beneath. So in that respect, the wire shelving does not stop the dust. It is my thought that a piece of clear thin acrylic panel will allow light to shine through and keep the dust off the top of the clothing, if laid upon the wire shelf, that is.

I think the wire closet fixtures look somewhat temporary, but they are so modular and strong that I have chosen to use them. I'm a big user of zip ties, especially as a backup to holding the parts of my bird cages together.

We made a Costco run last night for corrugated clear plastic shelf liner rolls. Obviously it will keep the wire pantry shelves cleaner but supposedly keep clothing items from getting the wire crosshatch impressions.

ML the wire box shelves things are sitting on a solid shelf so no problem with dust there.

jakeabedy I would cut a hole in the wall above the door and make a solid floor on that to slide your tubs onto. I added a second shelf in the closet I did not open the wall to and it was areal pain to get things on to and off that shelf. This is when I decided to make them leave off the upper wall. And believe me they balked about doing it.

Also I have spray painted some of my vintage suitcases to make them look better in places where I could not hide them.

Shades, I think you described very well what I meant about opening up the space. You don't need to access it from inside the closet, just access it from above directly. If I have to add more closet space, I plan on having a 12" deep board go around the room....like my kitchen redo....and maybe the end of the back bedroom when we extend the back porch fully across the back of the house. It won't show anywhere except when you are right in front of it, and I believe that will give access to the full space. Walls always reduce the space you can use, so I decided to stop while I was ahead on some projects.

Such as having an open loft in the garage instead of putting up a wall to hide it away. Airflow, eye appeal. A lot more adaptable to varied uses too. I cannot wait.