Caroline, I'm so tickled! What an honor!

I'm going to go browse through your pics, and come back and praise you for all the great stuff you did!

Re: my triangular closet: The flashlight container finally fell off the wall; it was up with double-stick foam. I intend to go ahead and drill holes in the wall, and also in a small piece of wood to go on the inside of the soft-ish plastic to keep it from tearing under the stress. But I keep having other things that are more important--or that *seem* more important.

And I need to "weed" it as well. I have a cleaning lady, and she keeps asking for new products before using up the ones we have. I finally put my foot down and told DH (who interacts w/ her most) to tell her she has to use them up, even if it's not the greatest clean. I spent money on those!

OK, here we go--I took the liberty of downloading some of them.

For those of you who click through the album, it's in backwards order. I got all confused and thought they were removing the door instead of installing it!

Here we go:

Caroline Sees Her Opportunity

The before: a corner of the room that's not used, and is blocked by furniture.

"Wouldn't it be nice," she thinks, "if that dead corner on the left could become storage? Something tidily hidden." She remembers her GardenWeb/Houzz friend TalleySue, and says, "I know she'd point out that if it were her, she'd probably just stack stuff back there anyway, so I might as well have it be more functional and thought-out. And more finished-looking.
"That wall's got an odd proportion anyway; it could become a bit of an architectural element. Maybe a closet, with a door, etc.
"But how can I do that?" she wondered. "Wait--I have a smart and handy husband! He can help me make this happen!"

The dogs agreed; this space needed something. They voted to be the space fillers, but Caroline pointed out that they wouldn't hold much, and they wouldn't stay put. They saw her point--reluctantly.

So Caroline started planning. What would go in that closet?

Well, the vacuum--duh! "But since I'm planning from scratch," she said to her husband, "and I can pick what goes in there, maybe there's some hard-to-store thing that I can invent a special storage place for."

Her husband thought for a moment and then said, "Those darned table leaves--they're not flat and they're not stackable, and we sure don't want them dinged. Let's make the closet wide enough to fit them. Maybe they can go high up. Those upper shelves are much good for anything you use often anyway."

Caroline thought that sounded good, but wasn't completely sold. "We can't stack them!" she averred.

"So we'll make 2 shelves," he said.

How would they plan it out, so they could know everything would fit? They decided to use painter's masking tape, and got to work.

Her husband held up the table leaves to be sure Caroline's initial measurements were good. "Take the picture already, I feel kinda stupid," he said, "And the blood is draining out of my arms."

Caroline wanted to make a vertical cubby of sorts for the upright vac, so she dragged that in to see that it would fit.

And the flag pole ought to go in here too, she decided.

Now it was time to frame it in! And while they were at it, Caroline and her DH decided to change the archway between the rooms as well and cover up that wooden header. Fortunately, they had supervision for this project.

The dogs still thought this ought to be useful for them. They suggested a dog house--far better to be in the dog house inside than out! Unfortunately for them, Caroline out-argued them.

Now it's time to add all the organizing details! Start from the top--those shelves for the table leaves.

DH and Caroline decide to use old-fashioned cleats to hold those shelves. Why? They're super low-profile and very strong.

here they are:

Look how high up that top cleat is! That means the shelf will be above the door frame--will the rigid table leaf be able to clear the door frame (and the ceiling!) as it makes the turn?

Yes! ("Oh, ye of little faith! I had a plan," thinks Caroline.)

The closet is deep enough that Caroline was able to leave enough room in front to slide the table leaf in front of the shelf and tip it into position.

And look at this: When you step back a little, you can't see that top shelf at all.

Now it's time for the lower shelf--it installs just as perfectly.

The next organizer to install? The closet-system shelves, which will hang off a rail attached snugly below the bottom cleat.

(notice that there is a little room to stash something on that upside-down table leaf--though it's probably a good idea not to put too much there.)

Notice that blue tape--that's for the broom organizer.

And here are the shelves themselves with the broom organizer in place.

Talley Sue Expresses Admiration!

Caroline, thanks so much for sharing with us! What a lovely, lovely job. Such a bonus to your house. I remember you talking about your brainstorm of putting the table leaves there (I attributed it to your DH in my story, but I think it was your idea, no?), and I see that it's every bit as smart a move as it had seemed at the time. You should swagger around a little bit when you talk about it, or when you get them out to use them.

The idea of creating a vertical division to have tall things (like a vacuum) one side and shelves on the other makes such sense--and it really shows up in your arrangement.

You really did carefully plan everything, and that masking tape trick is DA BOMB! Brilliant. Really. (Did you truly get it right on the first try, or did you have to move them around?)

The adjustable shelving is going to be a plus for you--if it were in my house, I probably wouldn't ever get around to moving them unless I *had* to for some reason, but I'd always be glad I could.

You've got the heavy--and large--things down low, which is sensible; who wants to bend over to pick up little things?

When did you finish it--you were talking about those table leaves a while ago, weren't you? And if you finished it a while ago, does it still look this neat? ;)

OK, because I can't ever leave well enough alone, here are some ideas if you ever want to tweak it.

Shelf spacing; You know I love to have shelves spaced as tightly as possible. You did a great job here for the most part.
That space where the Swiffer refills are looks really big. I'm guessing it's spaced like that because of the brown box there. You *could* move that down beside the shopvac, probably, which might make it possible to fit a second shelf in there. But maybe you don't want to risk whatever's in the plastic bag (decorations?) on the floor. If that's the case, you could consider adding one short shelf in between those two long shelves. The Swiffer refills could slide in side by side on a shelf that's spaced down from the DVD shelf JUST far enough to hold them--almost like cubbyholes. Since they're in the box, you can slide it right out, and you don't need headroom to be able to access them.

So that's one shelf you could add, if you wanted to expand.
You could probably fit yet another short shelf in there if you rearranged the Milwaukee tool box (lay it on its side, and place an added shelf above it; then set the red tool box on it? again, the tightly-spaced-shelves-as-cubbyholes concept). You probably do want some headroom for the red toolbox, though, so you can flip it open to get tools without moving it. But you can tuck the short paint cans behind it, and the bigger paint cans can go on their own shelf, very closely spaced, because you'll probably just pull them straight out when you need it.

You could add hooks on the back wall and hang some stuff there, in the gaps around the vacuum (might look cluttered; maybe that' snot your style), and if you leave the shelves spaced like this, you could put up a sticky hook behind the yellow broom to hang the whisk-broom set on.

Your other unexploited opportunity would be back-of-the-door pockets or hooks--but those can be annoying, because they swing around.

I love that you can roll the vacuum straight in. So cool!

Oh, and another thought—the stuff that sits in that handy space on the table leaf: I might put them in some sort of container, so that when I need to get the leaf out, I can handle them in fewer hand motions. Bcs I'm lazy.

Talley Sue, you are so wonderful! Thank you so much for moving the photos around and writing the story. And you nailed it! - Except that mess of jammed-in furniture and clouds of blue and white veiling over the windows belonged to the former owners. They couldn't even open the front door...but they had a lot of seating for the two of them.

I'm working on the Tiny Pic you suggested.

This shows the closet a few weeks ago (there are still green leaves on the tree ). You can't see the very top shelf except its bottom. I switched out the old brown shelving (recycled from shelves found in the basement ) for new, white vinyl coated shelves as soon as I could get to town.

The top shelf holds Table Leaf #2 with all our old board games sitting on it. We seldom use them, but don't want to get rid of them either.

The second shelf has Table Leaf #1 and several extra tablecloths stored on it. I've moved the replacement mop heads (new and in their original packaging ) to the spot just to the left end of the leaf. I have extra bulbs for the living room's fixtures to the right end. They will get a container, too.

The third shelf down has all the DVDs of the original '60s-'70s Dark Shadows programs, the Harry Potter and Twilight collections, various other spooky films, and my Christmas DVDs. This is probably a temporary home for them but it's working perfectly now.

The fourth shelf has more "stuff" on it now, but the white bag is covering the Cuisinart food processor. I can actually use it now; it's at the perfect level for me to grab the handle and carry it 12 feet into the kitchen. No more rooting around in a cramped bottom cabinet. The accessory box with all its blades now lives on the shelf above, partially blocking some of the DVDs. The box behind the food processor is a Pampered Chef mandolin, brand new and $3 at a thrift shop.

I'm hoping to make room for the Kitchen Aid mixer, too.

The packaged thermometer is now mounted on a wall where it belongs and the plastic container of screws, bits, and pieces has moved to the basement.

You can see the long painters' pole, which I use to lower and raise bird feeders from the tree when I'm refilling them, has moved to the right side of the closet along with the flag pole. It is displayed right outside the front door so this is ultra convenient.

Once the living room is really finished, and any paint scuffs are touched up, the paints and floor finishes will move to the paint storage area in the basement. I will probably add another half shelf in this spot, too, and make a dedicated spot for my purse.

On the wall to the right of the vacuum I've pounded in nails to hold a 36" level and a wooden yard stick. The dustpan and wisk broom are now on a nail on the wall facing the front of the vac - (there are only about 5" from the front of the vac to the wall)Another nail that holds a couple fly swatters.

I don't know what I did to the photo, but you have to click on it to see the full length.

Your right about the reasons for adding the closet. There were three major reasons; and about 279 less major ones.

First and foremost is that I crave for things to be balanced, centered, in pairs...and there's not one thing in this old house that is centered or level or matched to any other thing.

This room is only 11 feet and 10 inches wide. They put in one large south facing window and made it as off center as possible. There is 19" of wall space from the room's corner to the right side of the window frame. There were several feet of wall space from the other corner to the left to the window frame.

For some strange reason, or happy accident, they did center one light on the window, and the other on the door. They did not have matching lights, though.

I do have matching lights now! Along with new windows, trim and baseboards, and a ton of other improvements.

When I started planning the closet, I measured out from the left side of the window frame 19" and ran a strip of painters' tape from floor to ceiling. That was going to be where the outside closet wall would end. Exactly! That took care of "balanced" and "centered.

The window is now in a faux alcove with 19" of wall space to its left, and 19" of wall space to its right. The outside dimensions of the closet are 47 1/2" wide and 28 1/4" deep. The carpenter wanted to make it a few inches wider so he could add trim all around the inside of the door. I said "No." It was far more important to me to have the window centered than to have wide trim on both sides of the door's interior. The inside trim cannot be seen; the window can.

The trim inside the closet door matches the new window trim. On the left side it's about 3" wide; the right side had to trimmed down to just over an inch wide wide.

It is clean, dry, and serviceable; it seals off the edges of the drywall and the gaps between the door frame and drywall. It's finished and practical - and who's going to be able to get inside the closet to see it anyway?

BEFORE - the not-centered weird window...

[IMG][http://i68.tinypic.com/2wc2u78.jpg/IMG]

The front door is steel; the closet door is wood. At some times of the day they appear to be the same color. At other times one will seem darker. That does not bother me. The floor looks odd because of the lighting. The large "patch" by the front door is where the flooring man removed cracked tiles and filled in with new oak strips. They simply don't have the 60+ years of patina the old floor has. I will have an area rug here when it's all finished.

The table won't stay here...it's moving to the three seasons porch once it becomes a four seasons porch. I will have either two wing-back chairs or a long upholstered bench with a narrow table in front of it to serve as a small breakfast nook. I had planned for a window seat, but that would involve moving the heating vent, and would be very permanent. I think I'll have the bench fill the entire width, with a library-type table in front of it. But that is months down the road.

I am so thankful for my holds-nearly-everything closet.

AFTER - A centered window, matching ceiling lights, 65-year-old oak floors brought to the surface, new paint - and a closet! ...

The Second and Third main reasons for adding the closet were:

(1) The two table leaves. I had been storing one under our bed, and as a bonafide FLY Lady; that's a no-no! LOL The other leaf was kept in the table, which made it far to long and cumbersome to be in either the kitchen or living room. They had to have a real home.

(2) The vacuum cleaner. What an ordeal it was. There was no possible place for it to be. We had it in the small mudroom. I had to park it either in front of the washer and dryer, or in front of the overflow pantry cabinet, or in the middle of the floor. If I needed to do laundry; I'd have to put it in front of the pantry cabinet. If I needed to get supplies out of the cabinet I'd have to move it by the sink. If I needed to use the sink I'd have to move it yet again.

Now it's very happy in its own designated parking spot.

Discovering there was just enough room to put Wes' small shop vac (a very useful tool, indeed ) under the last shelf was pure serendipity. He was always having to haul it up and down the basement stairs for me.

Here's a shot of part of the mud room. There's no room for a vacuum! Sam's kennel is next to where I'm standing. In the coldest part of winter I have to keep the small heater in the room. It's facing into our bedroom in this photo. Since taking this photo I have added a couple pictures above the sink, a towel holder, and a small rug.

LOL, LOVE the story TalleySue... "Take the picture already, I feel kinda stupid." The story might make this my favorite thread of all time :)

Caroline, I love what you did and the way you did it. Thanks for sharing your thought process too, that's really neat. Until you mentioned centering the window, I hadn't noticed, but it makes a huge difference in how the room feels.

We had a walk-through from entry to family room, which had double doors that opened like your front door did- leaving that dead space behind when the door is opened. It was very inconvenient. The previous owners took the doors off the hinges and put them overhead in the garage. Since it's a tract house, I often wonder how many other people did that same thing. DH and I ended up removing the door frame altogether-- but I digress, it IS weird to have a door open in a location like that close to a wall- putting a closet there looks natural. If I were to come to your house to visit, it would never dawn on me that this feature wasn't original to the house.

I also love how the dogs turn up in so many of the pictures :)

I think that little alcove looks really nice! And I'm so with you on the inside trim--who cares? And I'm still just in awe of those table leaves and their shelves.

And I'd been wondering about that line of tape that traveled away from the closet along the wall under the window. Is that for your bench? I think that bench would look nice, as would a simple grouping of chairs.

Re: the cuisinart and mixer: Those are both semi-tall, so putting them on the same shelf might be a smart idea--the mixer is probably heavy, so you want it a little lower, so you can lift with your legs. Think about moving all of those to that shelf w/ the paint cans on it. Then you can absolutely add another wide shelf in there.

I'd want to hang the whisk broom set so that I didn't have to pick them up in order to get a hammer out of the tool box. (Did I mention, I'm lazy? Plus, I like to have my hands free of stuff, and having to deal with holding the hammer and closing the lid AND holding the whisk brook set...that's 3 hands. And I hate setting stuff down in a temporary spot, only to pick it up and move it back. Like I said, lazy...)

I think it's a real luxury to have a shopvac within easy reach!

What an incredible project! Caroline, you are very blessed to have a DH willing to take this on. Excellent carpentry. Lovely paint and stain. The charm of the new alcove, the efficient design of the closet, and the updated arch between the rooms is an impressive transformation. You could even put two or three heavy-duty Command Hooks on the inside of the door to hang coats, umbrellas, etc. It is amazing how much those hooks can handle. Thanks Talley for creating a photo journal of the project and writing a great narrative to boot. You're right, Caroline's new closet is da bomb!

Thank you, Cup of Kindness...

Actually, DH did not do the carpentry; he did pay for it though! We had a wonderful carpenter step in to finish the work after the first contractor disappeared to Ohio for four months - leaving us with holes in the walls, broken wall plaster, untrimmed windows (inside and out), siding torn off the outside all around the windows, no baseboards, and all sort of grief. Snow was falling and I had open holes to the outside.

"Scott," or "Great Scott" as I call him, stepped in and finished the windows - inside and out - closet, baseboards, and trim...everything. He hung the new front and closet doors and put up the cleats for the top two shelves.

When I first painted the living room "Key Lime Pie" green, I painted the entire room, including the invisible closet area. Contractor #1 framed in the closet before he disappeared. I should have painted the interior white at that time, but no-ooooo, I want everything to be extra difficult so I didn't think to paint the inside of the closet white until after Great Scott had enclosed and drywalled it. But I did get it painted, three coats, inside walls and ceiling.

DH installed the hanging rail and uprights for the wire shelving and helped with all the daily clean up. He also helped me patch and fill all the damaged areas around both windows and hung the 114" wide blind on the big window.

Talley Sue...I searched and re-read the evolution of your triangular closet. I will be getting a small brass plaque engraved and attached to one of the visible walls of my closet. I haven't worked out the exact wording yet, but it will read something like "In honor of the inspiration of time and space coordinator extraordinaire, Talley Sue NYC."

You've asked several questions in the above responses and I've been trying to take photos to go with the answers. Christmas prep keeps interfering, but I will get them answered.

1. ...another thought—the stuff that sits in that handy space
on the table leaf: I might put them in some sort of container...

I haven't had time to go to town (45 minute drive, one-way ) to get a dedicated container, but I did measure the space. I can fit a box from 5 1/2" to 6 1/2" wide by moving the leaf down to the left until it almost touches the other wall. The box can be 15" to 17" long. For a temporary "Quick-and-Dirty" solution I'm using one of the cardboard boxes that hold 12 suet cakes for my wild birds. The box is 5 1/4" wide and about 16" long.

For now it's holding the rain gauge (normally stays on the front deck but has to come inside for winter ), an extension cord for the two snowmen that are suppose to go on the front steps (it normally lives in the large "electrical stuff" Rubbermaid container in the basement ) two strips of the oak flooring boards to use to match colors, paint chips for the living room and hallway, and the spare "specialty bulbs" (halogen and LED ) that fit in the LR ceiling fan, front porch light, desk lamp, etc. It also holds the remote control for portable Penguin air conditioner, which will be sold now that I have central A/C! The large portable unit does not have a place to attach the remote and it was always "misplaced." Now it has a dedicated home until I find a way to attach it to the Penquin and get them both out of the house!

It is much nicer having these items all in the one box. It's easy to pull the box down and take out what I need.

The door stopper wedge and the ceiling fan/light remote stay on the edge of the lower shelf. I use them often and can reach them very easily. I put a few more DVDs to fill in the back of this shelf. This way the wedge and remote cannot "migrate" and get lost.

Can you tell we've cut pieces of thin "pressed board" to use as shelf liners on the wire shelves. They are less than 1/4" thick and are easy to cut to size on the table saw. They help items slide in and out and keep smaller items from falling through the wires. I know companies sell acrylic liners, but these very inexpensive home made liners are working fine. We have a few more to cut. I've put them on nearly every shelf in every closet in the house.

[IMG][http://i64.tinypic.com/3148avs.jpg/IMG]

<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=3148avs" target="_blank"><img src="http://i64.tinypic.com/3148avs.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>

<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Caroline94535/media/LR%20Closet/Closet%20for%20KTers/DSC06572%20640x480_zpsqtmjvt1d.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/Caroline94535/LR%20Closet/Closet%20for%20KTers/DSC06572%20640x480_zpsqtmjvt1d.jpg" border="0" alt="Containment box photo DSC06572 640x480_zpsqtmjvt1d.jpg"/></a>

Well, I'm back to figuring out photos. This should link to the photo showing the containment box. You can see I also moved the Mandoline box to the top shelf edge. I seldom use it, but I do want to keep it near the kitchen.

Caroline: such a compliment! It makes me feel good, to
think that sharing my closet story was helpful!

You labeled the front edges of your shelves!

• I haven't had time to...get a
  dedicated container, but I did measure the space.

Of course you did!

I think what you’ve got works fine! Maybe you should just keep
it. I once spray-painted some cardboard boxes that were the perfect shape, just
to cover the “Tide” logo.

If you can't find something, you might be able to make it out of
foam-board or Bainbridge / matt board.

• It also holds the remote
  control for portable ... air conditioner… does not have a place to attach
  the remote ... Now it has a dedicated home until I find a way to attach it
  to the Penquin

Stick-on Velcro? That’s how I deal with storing the cord for our
portable air conditioner--I wrap the cord around the unit and stick the plug
head to the unit via a strip of stick-on Velcro on the back of the plug head.
Though I also want to put a cord clip on the unit to keep the cord from
slipping down.

• The door stopper wedge
  and the ceiling fan/light remote stay on the edge of the lower shelf. I
  use them often and can reach them very easily. I put a few more DVDs to
  fill in the back of this shelf. This way the wedge and remote cannot
  "migrate" and get lost.

These all make such sense! Some stuff just needs to be where you
can get to it. And I've done that "store stuff behind it so it can't slide
back" think. I actually once did it with empty boxes!

Watch for whether you find yourself saying, “I’ll cut that w/
the mandolin—oh, never mind, I can’t reach it easily.” That’ll be your cue to
shift it. But if you’re tall, or if you find it a snap to get it down anyway,
you’re golden. (I’m short, and I’m lazy; so I’d have to put it just a bit lower
to justify its existence, bcs otherwise I’d never use it.)

Maybe fabric bins to hold the tablecloths? Make your own (so you
can get the dimension you want)?
http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2014/04/fabric-storage-basket-with-handles.html

I like your “pressed board” shelf liners! I think they’re much
better than the plastic ones. Stiffer, tougher, smoother…

I love the sound of Great Scott! Glad you could find him
to rescue you.

This is a fabulous thread! And Great Scott, what a godsend! Thanks Talley and Caroline for taking the rest of us along for the ride.

Yes, fabulous thread! So glad I found it :)