Closet Solutions for old houses that were built without storage places.

Houses built in the 1800’s have lots of character to them.  You know, like drafty walls, single pained windows that let in lots of cold or heat, cold floors, creaky stairs, funny shaped layouts, no closets…  character indeed.  But they also can have wide woodwork, tall windows, wood floors, lofty ceilings, and architectural design you don’t find in todays new homes.  Insulation can be added, layouts can be reworked, windows replaced, stairs and floors nailed down tightly, and furnaces installed.

Back in the 1800’s the idea of building a closet into a room hadn’t really been invented yet I guess.  Maybe because they didn’t have stuff to store?  Or they didn’t have time to craft so they didn’t need to hoard a small mountain of crafty goodness?  The clothes they owned were the ones on their backs and the set of Sunday-go-to-meeting set hanging on a peg behind the bedroom door?  They preferred the look of an armiore to a built-in closet?

Whatever the reason old houses just do not come with an abundance of storage space.  At least mine didn’t.  Which causes the need for some creativity to come up with closet solutions!

Lockers.

 Oh what wonderful awesomeness.  They are metal, industrial, cute, fun, and they hold ‘stuff’.  And they have a door that you can close to hide the ‘stuff’ inside!  What is not to love about old lockers?  You can buy new lockers too – if I were building a house I would incorporate a string of new lockers somewhere simply because I love the look. Some sources for new lockers can be found here and here.  Or just do a google search!

I would most likely buy new ones in white.  And I’m sure they would all end up full of ‘stuff’.  This set of red lockers is in my work room.  It houses mainly school things, the girls craft paints, a collection of old kids books, and some of the crafty things the girls have made.

This set of lockers is in our still-in-progress laundry room.  It keeps our jackets, coats, and boots hidden from view.  One door contains our swim towels and suits.  Another door is home to my plethora of bags that we grab when packing to stay at Grandma’s or need to haul stuff somewhere.

No, they aren’t always this neat and tidy with the doors all closed properly.  For some reason my girls don’t like to take the time to hang things properly so the door can be closed.  No idea where they would get a trait like that 😉  At least I have the lockers to put the stuff in and close the doors though – before we found these we had a shelf with pegs under it here – it wasn’t pretty at all.

My husband built me this mammoth cupboard years ago and I used it in my sewing room for a long time, storing fabric and crafts.  And a few of my larger kitchen items like my crock pot, and a few canned goods.  We moved it to the kitchen a few years ago and now it holds all kitchen stuff.

The cupboard has now been painted white for a few years.  It’s been an awesome help in a kitchen that is sadly lacking in storage space.

This hutch was my Mom’s, and she passed it on to me years ago.  It has been a wonderful addition to this closet-less house!  It is filled to bursting with craft supplies and fabric and anything else I can stuff into it.  You can see more of my sewing/craft/school/computer room here.  Just be warned!  There are some ‘real life’ photos in that post!  Some before cleaning and after cleaning shots 😀

After my business took off I replaced the hutch with an old armoire that used to house a tv – those big mammoth, heavy, awkward, orange oak tv cabinets you can find for next to nothing now that everyone has gone flat screen and mounted their tvs to the wall 😀

I painted it with milk paint and you can see more about that here and here.  I’ve actually added two of these armoires to my work room.  Much needed storage space for fabric and crafting supplies.  I’ve also added an island to the room and I never see this much of the floor anymore!!  Yes I need more space for the business – still praying about the rigth direction to go on that one.

We do have closets in the bedrooms in our house – because my wonderful husband added them when remodeling the rooms.  Both bedrooms occupied by our girls boast pretty large closets.  Takes a lot of space from the room but it was worth it.  Our bedroom has a small closet that we added.  We make it work but I do dream of someday having a house with lots and lots of closet space.  For now, I’ll just keep trying to be creative – and not hoard too much ‘stuff’.

Do you have lots of closets or do you have creative storage space?

Jill

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