Hey GWers! Saw this cool storage idea in the Chicago Tribune this weekend, and had to share it here! I didn't see the picture in the on-line version, but it's pretty well described in the article. He turned 2 steps to his backdoor, from his kitchen, into hidden storage. The front step is 7"deep storage, and the second step is 14" of storage (the article in the newspaper was longer than the online version, with a bit more detail.) Pretty great idea! Here is a link that might be useful: Making mini-storage binsout of steps

We don't have one in our current house - it's another flight of stairs, and then crawl space. As there's another 900 or so square feet of crawl space, the under stair area isn't used. In our last house, we drywalled it in, and it was a lower ceiling height area of the office on one side, and the workshop on the other side. In the house before that, it was a little wine cellar, as I recall. However, my favorite under stair space was in the house where I grew up. It was originally storage, and then my mother turned it into a cozy little kid place. She put a light in there, carpeted it, pillows all over, and hung pictures. I spent quite a lot of time reading in there. There was also a curtain hanging in front, so it was very cozy. The walls weren't finished or anything (stud walls), so there were places to stash stuff. Best use of crawl space I've ever had!

@Lori I think the darker color would look good also. Not sure where you're located, but all white in my climate will collect a lot of dirt and possibly mildew or grow mold. RE: a door, why not go to a good building supply or commercial hardware place (not a big box) and get some ideas. There are a lot of commercial hinges that support very heavy doors. I'm sure there is an application for what you need.

We had a similar space in our split level house - a U shape, if you include the area under the lower stairs. Under the lower stairs, I stored things that didn't need ready access - the big box with the artificial Christmas tree, and smaller empty boxes. The space under the landing was 8' x 8'. I had 2 short bookcases. One was used mostly for house paint, stain, etc (which can't go in the garage or furnace room); the other was larger containers of cleaning supplies and miscellaneous stuff. The rest of that space was used for bulk things: golf clubs, power washer, and window screens in the winter; 2 large tubs (stacked) full of off season clothes and Christmas decorations. Your space isn't as big - in our house, it was under the foyer - but still sufficient for some big tubs of blankets. Inside the door, I had a bookcase on one side (shorter than the angled ceiling) that had textbooks and DVDs, a card table and folding chairs, and the vacuum cleaner.