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sunny631

off the wall storage places

sunny631
14 years ago

With the limited space we have I was wondering what creative idea's y'all have had to utilize a space for something it wasn't designed for?

I realized today that I have a large linen closet that has sheets for 3 beds and 2 tablecloths in it. That's it! It has 5 large shelves and I had something on every shelf in no particular order.1 sheet on each shelf.With misc. pillowcases.

So, I moved them all down to the bottom shelf ( with room to spare) and used the other four shelves to hold all our books. All those books that I had no idea what to do with now have a home. I feel like we have a miniature library now. I still have almost 2 full shelves left.

How 'bout you guys? Any creative ways to use your space?

Comments (12)

  • User
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    It is not MY creation, you understand. But my DH built it when he finished a room and closet over his garage. This room is now our study, not a 4th bedroom, up in MA.

    The closet is the full width of the room. It slopes a little at the back, because it fits in under the roof of the garage.
    What he did was in the back of the closet, down low, he put in another small door. The space in that really low area is also finished out, and it is a place to store stuff like
    a window A/C, old tax papers, and smaller seasonal decorations. It takes the pressure off the attic.

    In my mother's kitchen, years ago, I used decorative brackets to mount a 12" wide x 2" thick x 8' long board above the door moldings, down the side of her kitchen. It sort of blended with the woodwork of the three doorways in that area, and had enough headroom for her larger pots not used too often. And it served as a display for them too.
    In her tiny kitchen, it made a big difference in organizing the rest of her cabinets.

  • Beemer
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, since the house we are moving into has only 1 closet, we are designing a little something different.

    We have a large bedroom, 15 1/2 X 16, and we are planning to build in a full length closet -- 4 1/2 feet deep. We will have 2 feet deep shelves across the entire back side. That way, we can store luggage and all sorts of stuff in totes and boxes. This will be a great area for Christmas decor and hunting clothes. THe clothes will be on poles in the front of everything.

    Just think of what you could store in the back of your closets if you had the extra depth!

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    When we had a large and tall linen cabinet I used the bottom two shelves to hold those larger plastic drawers and kept medicines in one with bandages and such and in the other drawer I kept the extra shampoo soaps curlers all that kind of thing. So two shelves were turned to drawers. Made it nice when we moved I just took the drawers and off I went. No packing..

    Now I have a smaller chest of drawers in our master bath that has long legs. I tucked those plastic drawers as is under the chest of drawers and hung a short valance curtain on the front to hide them, It is not a problem to get into the drawers. The curtain lifts right up.

    Chris

  • desertsteph
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "full length closet -- 4 1/2 feet deep"

    I have 2 closets that deep and each 5' long on either side of the hall from the mstrbdrm to the mstrbath in my new place! I'm so excited about it! it'll be so much st*orage. I don't even need the front of both for clothes. 1 will be total st*orage and the back of the other will be also.

    Sad when one gets so excited over storage... lol!

    I won't have an attic, basement or garage tho so it'll come in handy. I'll also have closets in 2 other b*edrooms that are about 8' long to use for st*orage. 1 of the bdrms will be mostly storage - my sewing, crafts, computer paper, supplies, wrapping paper etc. it'll have 2 huge cabinets flr to ceiling in it for those things.
    It also has a pantry and a laundry room. I'll think I'm in a palace!

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just remembered my studio storage area I had the manufactured home bui1der do. No front on the closet up to the ceiling. This lets me use that tall space, vaulted ceilings, for storage. I used tension rod and short curtain to hide things on the shelf. I used those wire cubes you put together for the shelves. They are not great but the space was so long that long single shelves would sag. AND I put the cubes together with zip ties. That makes them so much stronger.

    I also used a c@binet to create a cl0set only I put shelves behind the curtain. Since this picture was taken I have changed this china c@binet for a narrower c@binet so I could set it about 6 inches out from the wall. This left space behind to hold my tall sheets of glass and cutting mats and other tall thin things I used to have in front of the shelves that were a pain to move all the time.

    Chris

    Here is a link that might be useful: Cabinet making closet end.

  • idie2live
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Beemer, will you have a full wall of doors to gain access to the entire closet?
    I have a 5x12 walkin with double racks for shirts and pants, long hang racks for dresses/coats, and storage shelves on the floor, and I also have my dresser in it. I only have a 2' door so I still have room to put my bet on the closet wall.

  • Beemer
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We plan to put in two sets of wooden bifold doors. His and hers. This will allow us to put a chair or hamper next to each outer wall and a chest of drawers between them.

    The bifold doors will take up less space than full doors, and we already have them on hand (a custom door shop was throwing out this unclaimed custom order because they were 1" shorter than standard doors. We got 14 sets of doors!)
    We can use the extras as the shelves.

  • emagineer
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I found some well made solid wood drawers from a custom closet (huge house remodel). Put felt on the bottoms and they slide under my bed for shoes and clothes stored in plastic. They are like built ins under the bed.

  • lazy_gardens
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Idaho - Did you paint that "pink chair"?

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I did paint a pink chair white. Not sure if you are asking about a chair that was pink and now is white? Was a blast to do and I totally love it and wish I had done it over four years ago when I first found out about painting furniture. I have the directions somewhere if you need them.

    Ok I am gone time to eat and go play.

    Chris

  • User
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Shades, are you talking about painting the fabric on upholstered furniture?

    I thought I saw a picture of you actually using a paint brush on the chair which turned it white, so that is something I've meant to ask about.

    Indeed, I would really like to know how it is done. We have the ugliest fabric on a chair and I keep throwing a canvas over it, but that is not as neat as a good solid paint job. I'm not good at form fitting slip covers, just at the square cushion-like covers mostly.

    I'd appreciate it.

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OK I am adding it all here to give credit to the person that wrote the directions. I will say I was totally freaked about doing this and put it off for several years. THEN this pink chair was so yuck looking it was either recover it or toss it. I loved the chair and the upholstery was good it just was dingy after 18 years or so being a light mauve. So I had nothing to loose and gave it a shot. It is close to the vinyl covered fabric but not as sticky feeling on your skin. The trick is in the sanding. Do it very gently. This happened to be a slightly nubby fabric and I still did it even when it says not to. I love that now I can wipe it right off when it gets dirty.And it does with the kitties getting on it. And if I change my decor I can always paint it another color. AND it is not likely to wear out now with four coats of paint on it. LOL

    Have fun with this . It is freaky at first why I took so many pictures of it. the first coat soaks right in. I used a paint brush not foam. The foam brush did not work for me.

    Chris

    DIRECTIONS:

    Here are the directions from Magnaverde that he had posted a few years back. I did the same instructions.
    I used a good natural paste wax to cover the chair, and if you can find a dark tinted powder to coat it that works better for a darker color. I have not had to coat the chair again in a year of constant every day use.

    "Of course you can paint a sofa.

    Forget all that nonsense about teensy bottles of expensive paint medium from the crafts store. You don't need anything more than regular latex semi-gloss paint and a lot of guts.

    I found a beautiful Baker Chippendale camelback sofa, with cool curved arms and a fat down cushion, but it was covered in a hideous glazed chintz in the ugliest colors I ever saw. I found some great yellow wool damask to reupholster with, but it would have cost me $3OOO for the fabric alone, and I was in a hurry anyway--people coming in 2 weeks--so as a temporary fix I painted my sofa instead.

    Everyone freaked out when I told then the plan, but it worked. I was planning on painting my living room dark green, so I decided to go with red leather. First, I painted the whole thing with bubblegum pink semigloss latex paint, using the widest foam brush I could find, and brushing it on in long strokes front-to-back and up + down. Think of that as the primer coat.

    I let it dry 2 days, then sanded it super lightly with fine-grade sandpaper to get rid of the burrs--and there were a lot of them. When I couldn't feel any more sharp things, another coat of paint, spread thin. Dried & sanded again. Then spread--with my hands--a thin coat of raspberry red semi-gloss paint I had deadened a little with brown to make it less vivid. Because it was a deep color, there wasn't much white filler in the paint, so it was almost like a glaze or stain, instead of paint, which is just what I wanted, anyway. I just smoothed it on, like suntan oil, and worked it into the pink paint. I let it build a little thicker on the back, on the inside of the arms and at the back edge of the loose cushion, so that the paler, thinner red took on an air of wear at the high points.

    I let it dry 2 days, then CAREFULLY sanded the few new sharp things, and touched up those spots with my fingers. I let it dry 2 days, then waxed the whole thing with regular paste wax. After it was dry, I polished it with a soft cloth, then dusted it with talcum, and vacuumed it all off. It was a little stiff the first few days, but now it not only looks like red leather, it feels like it.

    This worked great on my ugly glazed chintz, and probably would work on any smooth fabric, except that some may have more burrs and therefore require more sanding, but I wouldn't try it on anything with a heavy texture. And no, the paint doesn't peel off. And no, it's not stiff, either. Think about it--it's latex and essentially, that's what's in those little bottles of fabric medium."

    Regards,
    MAGNAVERDE.