Closet Space

We had none.  There is a closet in the master bedroom.  And a tiny one in the hallway between the bedroom and the bathroom.  There used to be a doorway there.  There is a closet in one of the upstairs bedrooms.  That was it.  6 people.  3 closets. 

There was no closet in the sun room.  It's our main entrance.  The front door opens into the living room, and is no where near the driveway.  We use the back door, through the sun room, into the kitchen. 

The sun room was added onto the house a number of years ago.  It's the length of the kitchen, about 12 feet, but only 6 feet wide.  It has huge windows all along the outside and back walls.  There's a small wood stove at the back.  The inside wall has a big hole cut into the wall over the kitchen counters, presumably to let more light into the kitchen.  The kitchen entrance is about three feet wide.  It was a clutter trap.  Between my plant stands, boots, shoes, mitts, gloves, hats, helmets, bridles, coats...  There was stuff everywhere.

This was before we moved in.  When we first got here.  It didn't stay that clean for long.  We took down that coat rack and put a book shelf in it's place- the shoe shelf.  Shoes and helmets.  We put hooks for the kids under neath that weird kitchen window.  The kids grew and everything was drooping on the floor.  We used bins for hats and gloves and mitts.  It was a pain.  And it was cluttered.  All the time.

Last winter my parents built a closet in their cabin out of rough cut 1X3s.  They're cheap- $0.83 here.  Then Dad helped us build a closet for the sun room.

It blocks part of that weird kitchen window, but you can see through it, so it still lets the light in.  Helmets up on top.  Everyone got their own bin for hats and mitts and stuff on the shelf.  Storage space underneath for horse meds, bridles, work gloves, hats, etc.  I was in the midst of sorting that stuff when I snapped this picture.  It's still cluttered, but it's organized clutter.  That just left the shoes and boots to organize.

The boys and I built a bench for the plant stands.  Perfect.  It lifts the plant stands up so the bottom shelves get the sunlight they need.  Lots of space underneath for boots and shoes.  Most days now you can even walk through without stumbling over everything, or knocking everything off the shelves.  Awesome.

Armed with my new found closet building expertise, we also decided to tackle the older boys' room.

It's kind of short, due to the slanted ceiling, but it works.  Storage space up top for sleeping bags, back packs, and other cadets paraphernalia.

Closet space.  Bliss.