iasheff: I'm easily amused. And it keeps me from unleashing my powerful and creative mind on the general public. You should be glad for that. And I've been out--a lot. Seen just about all I care to see, thanks. Although, I do think the color coordination is a good idea. Just not seasonal. More to match my moods. The hot pink is for my expansive, conquer the dirt (rather than the dirty world out there) mood. Black is for when thoughts turn murderous and/or my humor gets in full gear. White is for the pure spacious consciousness of realizing oneness; reflected in my intention to merely "chop wood, carry water." I'm sure you'll think of some more. Don't laugh too much. This is the kind of thinking that, harnessed to some New Age capitalist energy could make a real splash in the marketplace! Don't try to steal this and market it, though. I'm still sufficiently in touch to come after you with an intellectual property legal eagle who assumes an adversarial stance at the breakfast table with his three year-old. So, leave me to my minor forms of amusement.

I needed storage for those, the vacum cleaner, and cleaning supplies. They were all in the basement, except the vacum, and I tended not to go get them. Now we need the basement area for something else. We had 2 white bookcase cabinets with glass doors in the upper part for display. We bought 2 narrow pax wardrobes with solid doors from Ikea, and placed them between the bookcases. They all just fit on the wall of the breakfast area off the kitchen. The bookcases are white, and we bought the wardrobes in a contrasting oak finish. The vacum sits on the floor of one of the new cabinets, with cleaning supplies on the 5 shelves above, and the bucket, mop, and broom hang from "command" hooks in the other, with 5 shelves above holding sodas. I have found already (we just did this 3 weeks ago) that I am much more likely to get out the mop instead of cleaning with a paper towel, and I always know where the vacum is, instead of looking for it in some corner near where I last vacummed.

I like the idea of dropping down into the toespace area. Get a large stainless steel foodservice pan (used in buffets, etc.) which is about 3 inches deep and has a collar to cover the edges of the rough hole. Cut a hole into the floor of the closet the size and shape of the perimeter of the lower part of the foodservice pan. (Mount this puppy into the floor of the closet front to back or side to side whatever direction you want the broom to go.) The inevitable fluff, sand, dust won't descend into the toespace, it will accumulate inside the pan and you can either vacuum it out or just lift the pan out to empty it. I just bought a long, thin pan that is about 20 inches long for $30+ here in St. Paul.

The most inexpensive, flexible, and sturdy way I have found to store my mops brooms and dustpans is this: Many brooms, mops and dustpans have some kind of hole going through the end of the handle. Take a thick loop of ribbon and tie it through the hole. Arrange command hooks on a wall at whatever height, distance, or layout you want, and hang the mops and brooms on one hook each. The sturdy command hooks can certainly hold the weight. It is inexpensive and a major plus for someone like me who cannot use a drill to save her life. I live for stick-on fixes. This also allows you to stash anywhere - at the top of a stairwell, behind a fridge, inside a closet with the most flexible configuration possible.