Hiding Out in the Open

My house was built in 1922 - I think it gives it a ton of charm.  It also means that closets were miniature - just like the stairs.  And 90 years later, we in general are bigger as are our wardrobes.  Many people just say we have become slaves to consumerism and fast food.  I am not here to change those things (although I am celebrating 5 months of being "sober" from McDonalds!) - but to offer what I found to be a creative alternative to shrinking your wardrobe.


First, I am my mothers child, I do not feel the need to hoard or hold onto things.  If I haven't wore it or used in 6-8 months, it is sold, donated, or thrown away.  That said, I still have more clothes than fit in my tiny closet.

Now, you have the traditional shoes under the bed, out-of-season clothes in the attic, etc.  This solves part of the problem - but here in the south, the only thing that I truly can store is my bathing suits or heavy sweaters.  Weather can swing too much in given week during any time of the year.  Between this and travel to different regions - I needed to be able to access the majority of my clothes without having to crawl into my attic.

So... I hide them out in the open.  With a smaller bedroom, I didn't want it walled up with cabinets or more wood furniture - it would just make it seem even smaller.  Then it hit me - I would used shelving and my clothe boxes.

After some measuring, I realized my boxes would fit perfectly on the wall behind  my door.  Now that the measuring was done, it was off to Lowe's to see what they had.  $80 and some metal cutting later (by a helpful Lowe's employee), I left with everything need to put up my wall shelves.

In less than 30 minutes these shelves were up!  I love that they are partially hidden by the door - but not all the way - after all - the boxes are really nice.  I found that jeans, workout clothes, socks, shirt, scarves - just about anything fits into these boxes.  They are really easy to grab down and then put back up.

Since the shelves are adjustable, if I need to update the room, I can just get new boxes and adjust as needed.  Excellence use of a corner, right?