Thank you all! Is it OK to store skiis "flat?" I usually see them standing up. Does it matter in the long run? I cold put some dowels across the studs in the garage & slid them in standing up, then some hooks for the boot bags beside the skiis. I'm thinking of getting the heavy duty shelving I got for my basement for the breezeway & garage and putting laundry baskets on the shelves. A basket for each sport - tennis basket, baseball basket, etc. I could even have a basket for cleats. I keep all cleats until my youngest son grows out of them so I have A LOT of cleats not currently being used, that they will use in the near future (baseball, soccer, fooball, track). I spent about $200 for this sytem in the basement and it's worked GREAT for almost a year. I think it's time to spend some $$ for the garage and breezeway.

Your inspiration photos seem to solve your needs. A long bench, with drawer or basket storage below and a double hook (possible a shelf) beneath each window, would give you a lot of storage. You may even have room to add a tall, pull out cabinet at each end or you could modify the closet to have a pull out as well as hanging area. You could add ceiling height, deep cabinets over your washer and dryer and a countertop for folding. If you must have a hamper, as in your pictures, buy a decorative one and store it under your window. After that, just add a rug and it would look great.

Sorry but traditional vinyl products have problems meeting acoustic ratings. And BTW the "72" is normal (badly written, old fashioned, can be made extinct in court, but completely normal). The PROBLEM is vinyl does NOT like 'underpad' or underlayment. I would estimate 97-99% of all vinyls on the market do NOT allow underlayment. And the underlayment is what gives you the acoustic rating. Even with some assumptions, the 8" concrete slab is worth 45dB on a good day. If there is drywall as a finish on the ceilings you can pump that number up to about 50 dB. That's it. That's all. Now imagine that vinyl offers 0 dB. Yep. That makes the math pretty easy. Zero dB + 50 dB = 50 dB. Pretty sad isn't it? All the hype about vinyl hides the facts about it - it is not a good choice when acoustic ratings are required. A decent 15mm laminate (about the same price as the vinyl) with a high-end underlay (1/2" cork; 5mm Quietwalk; etc) can easily get you a MUCH better rating. In fact, the 12mm cork rates as 22 dB all by itself. The math is even easier now. Fifty dB + 22 dB = 72 dB. Done. Done. And done. So the moral of the story is: do not look at vinyl in a situation that MUST HAVE acoustic ratings....the cost is impossible to justify just for temporary rental flooring. And yes. Vinyl still has the same 7 year life-span in a rental as laminate. There is no getting around it. And short term renters are the WORST! You have to assume DOZENS OF TIMES that "stupid" rented your apartment.

One additional plus of wearing liner socks is the benefit of layering for foot warmth, which is the value of the trapped warm air. I rarely do this anymore due to not being able to find good liner socks and also the thick wood-blend socks are pretty good and come in a wide variety of styles. I have a ton. But I will say that modern boots with synthetic linings do not breathe and tend to create a clammy feeling instead of warmth for my feet, so I tend to go with layered natural fiber socks and heavy leather boots for warmth. Not particularly stylish. When I want winter style and warmth, I go for stylish leather boots treated to be waterproof, and wear cotton/lycra blend tights and then thin wool liner socks. Here's a good link to an array of modern liner socks, and other "liners" such as gloves, etc. Liners are also good in wet conditions because then the polyester can provide some dampness protection and the ability to keep you warm when damp, which is NOT a feature of cotton, although silk and wool, (particularly wool) are the best for this. But if wool makes you itch, poly is the modern solution. Campmor liner socks, etc.