Closet Under the Stairs Makeover

I bet you didn’t know there is a closet under the stairs.  Maybe you’ve been to my house and you do know. :)  Maybe you guessed there was… maybe I’ve mentioned it?  Anyway there is!  It’s right across from my laundry room and adjacent to the garage and den, so it’s the perfect space for storage.

It’s fairly large as far as closets go, but it’s not big enough for Harry Potter.  And it’s cut into the staircase so the back wall angles up and hits you in the head about three feet into the closet.  I tried to make it work for a while with some cabinets and shelving that I already had.  I basically stuffed every piece of organizing furniture in there and filled them up with fabric and supplies and then shut the door on it!  Here’s what I am talking about:

That’s a bad picture from 2010, but still you get the idea—it was a mess!  It has been through various stages of “makeover” and organization over the past few years.  At one point there was even a file cabinet in there!  But it wasn’t until we had to empty the closet to lay new flooring that I really decided what I needed to do with this space. 

We cleared it out and tore up the carpet.  Before the new floors went in I painted the walls a nice crisp white.  The trim and door also got a refresh.

Not much to look at yet.  So we added some shelving to the back of the closet to maximize storage space against that angled ceiling.  And I forgot to take a picture before I began stuffing things back in there again.  :(

Anyway, since then I have organized a bit more (not likely to last!) and cleaned up things for a reveal!  You can see the shelving design as well as the upper shelf over the hanging bar.  I use this closet now to store giftwrap, giftbags, boxes, yarn, silk flowers, polyfil and party supplies.  Since I got my cubby bookcase in the den, I have moved all the fabric out of here to those or to the filing cabinet in the garage. 

The hanging bar is useful for storing all my pretty tablecloths so they don’t get super wrinkled.  The top shelf is the shallowest since the angle in the ceiling cuts off the back.  It’s perfect for relatively flat things, so I use it to organize gift bags and boxes.  Christmas and Non-Christmas are separated so it’s easy to find what I need.  The second shelf holds more Christmas boxes on the left and the two pink ones on the right are filled with bows, tissue and tags.  The third shelf has party supplies and yarn.  And the rest of the stuff is on the floor.  The laundry hamper in front holds all of my giftwrap.  I am kind of a giftwrap junkie so I have a lot and this is the perfect way to store it all neatly.

It is so nice to be able to get into the closet now and find what I need easily.  The three levels of storage I had before were just not working because I had to pull everything out to get to the things in the back.  This room has a lot of floor space left and that’s important because this is the space that Michael uses to brew beer when he does that.  It’s cool, dark and can be closed off from the pets, so I let him make it smell all yeasty in here sometimes. :)

Anyway that brings us to the end our quick little tour of the closet under the stairs. :) Hope you enjoyed seeing a secret nook in our house!

New Couch Reveal!

I know you all have been sitting around with bated breath, waiting for the big reveal of our new couches… so without further adieu, I bring you the first of many updates of 2013!

I’m sure you remember me telling you that my mom was reupholstering our sad, tired couches as our Christmas gift this year.  Well right before Christmas they were delivered and I have been waiting to reveal the room until we got our new television hung on the wall.  That was accomplished last weekend (Thanks Mike and Nelson!) so here we are:

The couches are covered in a warm beige colored chenille type fabric.  I don’t know the exact name (wish I did!!) because we bought it at a wholesale fabric outlet.  But it’s a lovely color and very comfy!  The only thing we changed when reupholstering these bad boys was the dust ruffle.  We just left it off and I like how simple and open it feels without it.  Mama refinished the legs of the couches to match all the rest of our furniture.  Bombay Mahogany for the win. :) 

After I took down all of the Christmas décor, I had to decide how to redecorate the room around the new couches.  They are so plain in comparison to our old plaid couches that it was challenging to bring in some color and pattern without a big statement piece to go from.  I’m hoping to bring in more pattern and color with some new draperies.  I am still hunting for the right fabric for those.

I basically stole all of this from the den, where all my beautiful accessories have been gathering dust and being neglected since we are hardly ever in that room.  I stole the blue and green striped pillows which I think look awesome backed up with the brown floral ones from before.  And the teal throw was originally for the guest room but it goes with all the blue accessories in here.  The metal butterfly art on the wall between the windows is also from the guest room.  After Christmas came down, that spot was looking bare so I threw that up there and realized how nicely the blues and greens played in this room.

My antique trunk turned side table is sporting an ivory frame and a potted plant.  Here’s a close up of the couch detail and the pillows!

I still needed some more teal accessories to wrap up the color scheme so I repainted a couple of thrift store frames that were in the office.  I think they look nice but Michael says they are ugly. haha! :)  They might get relegated to the den later on…

The teal blue bird pillow is also stolen from the den (poor den is looking lonely) and it fits perfectly in my “butter chair”.  It’s called the butter chair because it is the color of sweet cream (or something related to butter) and it so soft it feels like butter… or you feel like butter sitting in it!  :)  And here is one gratuitous shot of the new TV mounted on the wall.  I had to move the gallery wall up to accommodate the height of the TV.  I am undecided what to do about the cords.  I haven’t had a chance to look at cord covers yet…  to be continued.

I will leave you with this parting glance at the new space and a before and after comparison of the old and newly refurbished couches. 

Love love love our new couches! 

Hopefully it won’t be long before I’m back with a reveal of the new draperies.  Stay tuned…