The Closet Under the Stairs

Another post from the Hall of Shame…

Clearly I need help. The closet under my stairs is 12 ft deep and 4 ft wide. It’s a little like a train car. Or the entrance to Narnia/Diagon Alley. It just keeps going back and back and at the very end, it gets wider (7ft) but if you turn left it dips and the ceiling is only 4 ft high.

I’ve tried a bunch of things in there. None of which worked. Thus it is a junk repository, like all underutilized odd spaces are destined to be.

It appears that closet organization is yet another area that I am not strong in. Add it to the list along with hair cutting and drape designing. I really can’t be good at everything, and thank goodness or I’d have to do everything myself.

I’m ready to turn it over to the pros. I’m sure this space could be something fantastic, in the right hands. What do you think we should use it for?

Eileen

We had most of our closets professionally organized (even the pantry in the kitchen) but have purposely left several empty, just like this one. It’s for “Things in Transit”. Because where do you put the bag that’s collecting stuff to go to Goodwill? Where do you put the bottles that the water company was supposed to pick up, but you didn’t get them outside in time? The suitcases/Halloween decorations/out of season clothes that are supposed to go up to the attic, but it’s 110 degrees up there right now? The clothes that one of your daughter’s friends left the last time she was over? The stuff that your daughter doesn’t want any more, but you need to go through it to make sure that none of it is yours? You need to have a just closet for Things in Transit, unless you want to stack them all up by the back door – or find them piled in YOUR bedroom.

Some design magazine would take this spot, mount all the bolts of fabric on the wall and put a clever little desk in there. You’d find it to be too claustrophobic, and within two days, people would have that desk piled with Things in Transit again.