Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Shelves up the sides of my kids' long narrow closets, instead of across the back.

The closets hold so much more this way.

Can you post a pic of something similar? Thanks

I tried to find a pic online but no luck. I had no idea that this is such a novel concept

I will try to describe it:

We have lived in several houses where the kids' room closets are those long narrow ones with the bifold double doors. The closets are around 2 ft deep (or less) and about 6 ft long. There is usually a recess on either side of the door about 1 foot deep, give or take a few inches. We go to Home Depot and get 1x2s cut the depth of that recess for the shelf brackets, and wooden shelving cut the widthxdepth of the shelving, two-three shelves per side of the closet and two 1x2s per shelf. My husband screws the 1x2s on the front lip of the recess and the back wall of the closet, then screws a shelf to each pair of brackets. The bottom shelf is placed a few inches higher than one of those fold out cloth toy bins (like you put in the cubbies), the second shelf is placed high enough for the plastic toy bins to fit on shelf #1. When the kids get a little older and can reach higher, we add a third shelf.

This arrangement allows us to store most of their toys off to the sides of the closet and at a height accesible to them, and keeps the center of the closet clear for bigger toys and a cubby shelf.

I came up with the idea of mounting shelves up the side of the closet after getting frustrated about the wasted space back there after putting cubbies across the back of the closet.

Doing it this way really maximizes space in a narrow closet.

NP here. My last house had shelves like this. It was built in 1967 and I bought it in 1995. One of the two previous owners had done this. It looked similar to this (best picture is the AFTER photo at the end, but the full page might give you a better idea of what it looked like and how to do this yourself):
http://www.allthingsthrifty.com/2012/10/guest-post-how-to-build-your-own-custom.html

Anonymous wrote:In a small, narrow entry hallway - hung - on side of wall behind the door - hooks for kid jackets/backpacks at kid level, narrow shelf for sunglasses, etc with key hooks underneath, and hooks above to hang adult purses, bags, etc.

Helps so much with the clutter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Custom drawer inserts in the kitchen. I love having a happy place for stuff. Plus it keeps my spatulas and whisks from having sexytime when I need them for baking.

cracked me up! thanks for the much needed chuckle!

Anonymous wrote:Custom drawer inserts in the kitchen. I love having a happy place for stuff. Plus it keeps my spatulas and whisks from having sexytime when I need them for baking.

Anonymous wrote:Custom drawer inserts in the kitchen. I love having a happy place for stuff. Plus it keeps my spatulas and whisks from having sexytime when I need them for baking.