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One way to
create
more living space
in a home is to make the most of the storage areas you have. For
us, this meant purchasing floor-to-ceiling shelving units for
two corners in our basement that can never be finished because
they contain a furnace and the main water line.
Read on to see how we eliminated
a large corner of clutter in
our basement by making the most of these smaller storage areas.
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Our
first order of business was to move Christmas
decorations and home improvement supplies to the
unused space by our furnace.
To make
the most of this area, my husband and I purchased two
eight-feet-tall shelving units from Sam's Club and lined them up along one wall
(see photo 1A shown below).
We also stapled fabric to the rafters to separate the
storage area from the main living space (see photo 1B).
Photo 1A:
(click on
the above photo to view this space before the shelving units
were added)
Photo 1B:
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Totes
that contained childhood memories, gifts, and other items
were moved to the small space
behind our weight set that contained the main water line. To
hold the items, we purchased five more shelving units from
Sam's Club and left a walkway between the rows to allow for
easy access.
(Click on
the above photo to view this space before the shelving units
were added.)
The
photo below was taken from the deepest part of the storage
area and shows that shelving units were placed on both ends
to maximize the number of items this small space could hold.
(Click on
the above photo to view this space before the shelving units
were added.)
To
hide the shelves, we hung two large
pieces of fabric using a staple gun.
(click on
the above photo to view this space before the shelving units
were added)
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After
everything was moved from the corner of our basement to one
of the other two storage areas, we purchased
a carpet remnant, painted the walls, and bought foosball and
air hockey tables to create a gaming area for our family.
(Click on
the above photo to see what this space looked like when it was
used for storage.)
The
lessons learned during this organizing project were shared in
the January 2010 edition of my monthly newsletter, Time Out
For Digging Out. Click on the link below to open this issue
in a new window.
January 2010 Newsletter
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