Closet Sneak Peek

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #9:

Organize

One of the downsides to our house of 16 years is that it has no storage spaces. The house was built with a coat closet in the living room and a small pantry in the kitchen, and that's it. When we toured the house, I didn't really notice the lack of storage, so I was a bit frazzled when I was unpacking, and I realized that there was nowhere to store towels or linens. I also didn't realize that one of the bedrooms didn't have a closet. People always tell me that rooms without closets can't be counted as "bedrooms" in real estate listings. Somehow they got away with it here. They also got away with not disclosing that there was a hole in the floor of the basement with a sump pump in it. It was conveniently covered up with moving boxes both times we walked through the house. 

Making our home work storage-wise has been a bit of a nightmare, but we've managed. We have to keep our towels and linens in our bedroom closet and under our bed. It's not ideal, but it's also not the worst thing we've had to deal with in life. 

Several years ago we made our family room into a bedroom for Daisy and a storage room. We also added a closet to Nicky's bedroom that shouldn't have been considered a bedroom. The storage room helped a lot and was necessary for us to be able to move shelving out of our basement to build our new family room (six years later)... 

As we planned our family room, we wanted to make sure we included a nice, big closet. We decided to build it deep enough to store several 27-gallon bins. 

The closet isn't finished yet, but it's close, so I can show you what we've got in the works:

Basement closet at 75% completion

(See that awkwardness at the bottom-right? That's where the hole to the sump pump is). 

We've been working on sanding and staining wood for the shelving. We used some wood that Scotty got from his grandpa's property after he passed away, and Scotty really wanted to make the wood pretty because it's really nice wood, and he wanted to maintain its woody integrity even though it will go behind closed doors.  

We are now trying to decide if we want to add one more shelf, allowing us to store shorter bins on top, or if we want to leave it as-is, which will allow us to stack the 27-gallon bins two-high on the current top shelf.

Look at me! I have storage options!

I've actually had many of these storage bins for a while, as I've been anticipating this closet for the past few years, but they have been out in the garage. It's nice to finally be able to host them inside, where the stuff can be more accessible. Right now, I have bins for the following:

• Blankets & bedding (2)
• Holiday decor (1)
• Puzzles (1)
• Winter clothes (coats, snow pants, gloves, etc) (1)
• Costumes (1)
• Duffel bags/backpacks (1)
• Gift bags/boxes/wrapping paper (1)
• Imaginext toys (bat cave and fire house) (1)

The other three, I just bought last week and need to consider what would be most helpful to store in them. I can even fit four more if I want!

The closet is also hosting our gigantic waffle blocks. The blocks have been one of our kids' favorite toys - they use them all the time! But until now, they've been a bit of a pain to store. I'm pleased to have a proper and practical place for them.

I'm really excited to have this closet. I feel like it has enhanced my organizational options immensely and will take a lot of strain off other areas of our house.