Ah, the "I love old houses but hate the lack of storage" ordeal...we can relate. We have an old 1920's tudor. We've expanded into our basement for more living space. We have storage on the upper beams of our garage. We, luckily, have attic space on the second and third level that offers additional storage room. Closets are small. Our roof was a complete tear off, unfortunately. Fortunately, we were able to expand an existing closet when the roof was redone, as it was previously dormered out. We expanded it into a walk in closet, which was cheap enough to do as they were already removing the entire roof. Keep furniture to scale. Overloading rooms with more furniture to add storage space is only going to make your rooms look more cramped. For that reason, I do not have a storage caddy above my toilet, especially considering my very small full bath. I would inset a new cabinet before I added a caddy, but that's just my taste and I always think caddy's appear like an afterthought. Just my opinion. My best advice if you are thinking of knocking walls out, get advice from an architect before doing so. There's nothing worse than walking into an old home with character where you can tell it doesn't have the proper "flow" to it due to bad choices and people trying to make it into something it's not. The worst is seeing a contemporary style decorating in a period home, and we've seen plenty of those in our home searches. We go through our closets annually and send any clothing we haven't worn in the past year to goodwill. Same thing with items in the house. Periodic decluttering is absolutely necessary, and the donations each year are a nice tax write off. Spring cleaning is a nice time to declutter annually. Craigslist is a nice way to advertise items for "free" if you want to get rid of them curbside, fast. Anything I've posted has been claimed within a few hours.

I didnt come back earlier to clarify my comments and respond, bcs I wasnÂt making myself that clear, I didn't think I could do it well enough to get you to understand me, and I honestly thought it was best just to let it die. But since this has been revived, IÂll try. IÂve come off looking like a completely different kind of snob than I am. HereÂs one thing in my own life that makes me think "who you know" influences you in ways one doesnÂt think about. I didnÂt join a sorority in collegeÂit never OCCURRED to me. Why not? Bcs I didnÂt know anyone whoÂd ever been part of one. However, kids I went to school with, didÂand in fact, assumed everyone would. Bcs in their circle, it was something the grownups around them had done. So in that way, I learned that the attitudes, jobs, leisure activites, interests, hobbies, etc., are influenced by who youÂre around as a kid. I think lots of people experience something like this, and that influences why they pick a certain neighborhoodÂthey want to influence what sort of circle their kids are surrounded by. My first point is that the people mentioned who pick their neighborhood according to the income level and perceived "type of people" who live there, are approaching neighborhoods as an* aggregate.* That fact that inside a crummy neighborhood there are great people is beside the point. They're picking a neighborhood, not individuals. When I was a kid, I lived in a town w/ 3 levels of housing: crummy, medium, and rich. It was a small townÂ1,500 peopleÂso I knew the people who lived in each type of housingÂI went to school w/ their kids, delivered their paper, heard about their activities outside their homes (clubs, work, arrests, manners or lack of, spending patterns, etc.) I was a kid, so I didnÂt know ALL the details, but I knew the broad strokes of many peoples lives. The actual people that I knew who lived in the crummy housing were often (not always, but often): - badly organized (as evidenced by their front lawns, side lawns, and garages, as well as by their work history, which I knew), - not particularly visionary in terms of where they wanted to go w/ (as evidenced by their choice of profession, attention to educationÂhigh school, training, or even collegeÂwhich was known to me, bcs the people were known to me) - not particularly reliable (as evidenced by their work history and spending patterns) - more likely to have unstable personal relationships or tempers (in fact, though I mentioned stealing, I probably shouldnÂt have--the biggest reason I wouldnÂt hire someone from the crummy housing in my hometown is that most of the ones I knew anything about were unreliable, sloppy, and inconsiderateÂtheyÂd leave the paint can on the lawn, or be more likely to spill it all over the grass, or something, bcs they donÂt think itÂs a problem. And yes, the workers from the crummy housing in my home town were the ones most likely to get arrested for pilfering or stealing or fighting or driving drunkÂwe read the arrest records and conviction records in the newspaper. The ones from the non-crummy housing didnÂt have these problems.) These things existed in the medium and rich housing as well, but not as often, and not as severe. Or not as publicly, so I didnÂt notice it. I had some really good friends in the crummy housing (who were also someof the things above, but my friends nonetheless), but there were plenty of kids from the crummy housing that I avoided. (and I avoided the rich kids, too, bcs they were mean) So while on an individual basis, I was happy to be friends w/ specific kids who lived in crummy housing, I wouldnÂt have chosen to surround myself with all the families in that income level. Which is what you do when you live in a neighborhood. So I felt early on thatÂespecially at the extreme lower endÂwhere you live can often be a reflection of what you are like. The housing is not what makes someone badly organized or not visionary about their own life; but it can be the RESULT of being badly organized, not reliable, or whatever. (not must, *can*--and if you're from a crummy neighborhood and having vision about your life, you're part of proving my point--are you going to STAY in that neighborhood?) When a person picks a neighborhood, they have to take it (at first) as a whole. ThatÂs how neighborhoods are experienced. And many of us could agree that it doesnÂt take that many unpleasant people to make a neighborhood tough to live in. In the very low end of housing, the chances of getting such people increases. It was only in the crummy housing of my hometown and my college town that I EVER heard anyone yell swear wordsÂat their own 4-year-old!!!--across the lawn (I sometimes swear in certain circles, but only once have I ever sworn in public, and IÂm still mortified by itÂscreaming the F word in front of little kids and tons of adults on a subway platform is not something I admire, and I donÂt need to apologize for it; and I donÂt want my kids to spent time in the home of an adult who would do that, I donÂt care how nice their kids are, and IÂd worry about how their kids would act, esp. since those particular kids, weÂd just met). If I know about a contractor who lives in crummy housing, and I know he does great work, IÂll hire him no matter where he livesÂthatÂs treating an individual like the specific individual. But if I DONÂT know anything about him, and he lives in crummy housing, IÂm gonna be real cautious. Because IÂll be afraid that the things that put him in crummy housing, could also make him a crummy contractor. ThatÂs treating an individual like a member of a group, trueÂbut itÂs only because I donÂt know anything about him. But if someone is buying a house and picks a neighborhood because they think a certain type of people is likely to live there, thatÂs treating a group like a group. They donÂt have time to consider all the individuals as individuals. And, theyÂre NOT EVALUATING individuals; theyÂre evaluating an aggregate experience. What happens for folks Carina talked about, who want to move into ever-richer neighborhoods, is that they take this idea and apply it at all levels. Unfort., I donÂt think it works in the middle. Once you get beyond the lower levels, it stops applying. In fact, the place IÂm REALLY a snob is at the top: you might get me to live in a poorer neighborhood than IÂd like (and IÂd be extra alert to which neighbors in that neighborhood I wanted to spend any time with). But you could NOT get me to live in Chappaqua, NY, or any other highly affluent neighborhood. I hear things that happen there that are worse than any "swearing on the lawn" or "ridiculing college graduates" or even "getting arrested for stealing your arch-enemy's battery to get even." Plus, my early prejudice is that while poor kids might be less visionary and harder to live around, rich kids are MEAN. Oh, IÂve liked *some* rich kids from my home town, now that theyÂre grown up (and IÂm grown up). As for the idea that where you live might send a message to your boss, I know this to be true at the higher levels. I have an uncle who got a job as a CFO of a national company here in NYC; when he moved here to take that job, he looked very carefully at which neighborhood he picked, because he knew his business peers would too. In the middle levels of housing, and of socio-economic standing, I donÂt think these things apply. (and so I shouldn't have expressed worry about a GC who lived in a lower-middle-class neighborhood; it's the lowest-income neighborhood that would worry me) But I can understand the logic of people who think they do. I don't agree w/ them, but I understand how they get there. THAT was what I was trying to say. That my experiences at the extreme edges leads me to understand what logic they're applying to the situation. Also, not wanting to live in a certain income level doesnÂt mean you have CONTEMPT for the folks in that neighborhoodÂit just means you want to live somewhere else. IÂve probably just dug myself in deeper and made you all think IÂm much more of a snob than I am. But I tried.

I've always loved this one...and yes it is pricey! Google it and you can find it elsewhere for a little bit cheaper. As I recall, there was some sight that had it in white, black and this distressed color. I never bought it cause I've not had the right bathroom for it. The one I did buy came from Lowe's and it matches the vanity I bought there. It was substantially cheaper then the one I linked, but I've just always loved this one. I will try to find a link to the one I bought.....I'm not sure it's on line. HTH, pup Here is a link that might be useful: Cottage valet

Our 2-storey hosue was built in 1976 and it has sufficient closets. Upstairs, there's a walk-in the master bedroom and each of the other 3 bedrooms have closets; two hallway closets and a bathroom closet. (The bathroom closet haa a laundy chute in the floor.) Downstaris, the fireplace in the family room is flanked by two book-cases, floor to ceiling. There is only a pantry in the kitchen, but there are plenty of kitchen cabinets. But you know, you can never have too much closet. LOL !!! We've filled all our closet space except for the spare bedroom. Its closet is partly filled with storage items such as things from my mother's estate. Oh, and lets not talk about the mess in the garage. I've installed an 8' x 12' shed out back for storage of outdoor stuff. That's filled with a snowblower, wheelbarrow, extra furniture, and storage boxes. Sigh, I need a bigger shed. I do know what you mean about minimal storage space. I and my sister was raised in a small 4 room farm house: kitchen, front room, and two bedrooms - NO closets. It did have 2 porches. The rear porch was partly enclosed and that is were much of the overflow was stored. The fron porch was open. In winter, you'd find a stack of firewood in the corner, s shovel, and muddy boots. How did we manage? We did not have a lot of stuff. Clothes were folded and placed in chest-of-drawers. Shirts were hung from a bracket placed over the bedroom door. My sister and I shared a tiny bedroom. I had a chest of drawers behind the door; she had a row of pegs on the wall. In the kitchen, a row of hanging pegs were on the wall. Coats, outer wear, and aprons hung there. A wash basin, pitcher pump, and water bucket completed the kitchen appointments. It was cramped, but we managed because we had very little. It was like camping out all the time! It was an austere existence. Today, I have an engineering library and reference materials that would fill half of one of those bedrooms.