After clearing it out.

All the stuff:

It’s a very small and useless space but it’s there. Your walls seem to be different colors and you took the door off. Make it all shelving and paint the same color as the wall. I would use baskets on the shelves for your items and it would keep things organized. If the baskets are the same color too it would blend in with the wall

So, the door impeded access? If you do want to hide the closet, a curtain could serve as an alternate "door" that allows full access.

Wire shelving is not as practical as full shelves.

First step: purge your stuff and organize it into categories. That's the best way to figure out needed shelf spacing and containers. Second step: choose your storage system. I like see through containers (like the plastic drawers below) because "out of sight, out of mind" for me but the type of container you choose doesn't matter as long as it works for you and pleases your eye. All those linen closet "afters" on the Internet look great because there's uniformity in the elements (so much so that it's often unrealistic!).

If you go with opaque containers, consider labels.

That looks to be near your kitchen, due to its location that was a pantry not a linen closet. I have a similar one in my home. Ours had a few inches inside on each side so we widen the opening those few inches and reframed for a door. I would figure how to get a door put back on it. We painted the walls and the shelves white for a clean look. I would not use a curtain there, it would just be a dust collector and not modern and an open linen closet isn't very attractive

Cute little closet. I love color, but that isn't helping your closet any. A brighter white for the walls- and if you like color, consider painting or papering the shelves with your color.

Frosted glass door might be nice. If you can get some light in there that would be nice too.

If you are considering getting an 18" base cabinet, perhaps consider getting an 18" upper cabinet instead of having open shelves. Finish it like it's supposed to be built in cabinetry with a counter top and under cabinet lighting :)

To be fair, jck910, I used curtain to mean fabric which can be made to look very tailored with simple hidden hardware. Using a washable fabric wouldn't make this option a huge dust collector either. No clue of OP's budget so shared this idea as an easy enough and affordable option for OP.

I apologize for not noting your excellent suggestions earlier. I had a 30hr strong response to my 2nd Covid vaccine plus was busy painting the inside of the closet - 2 coats of primer plus a pale white finish.

Yes, I took the door off because I couldn't reach in very far and had to hold a flashlight while trying to dig out a set of sheets, or uncover the first aid kit.

It was all dark MDF board shelves, 2' deep when we bought the house and the cabinets in the photo weren't there originally. I don't think it was a pantry because they had built pantry shelves into the basement stairwall, and shelves in the unfinished portion of the basement. There is/was no other linen space nor cleaning supply storage space in the house. I put a baker's rack on the sunporch for cleaning supplies.

I can't imagine having to use this mini-closet for pantry space. 2' deep is longer than my arms, it's bad enough stacking bed linens, towels and bathroom supplies in there. Cleaning it out I found a vinyl red check table cloth I didn't remember having. It is now on the kitchen table so our 5yr granddaughter can paint and glue stuff after school.

I like the suggestion of putting in upper cabinets and lighting, but I wouldn't be able to open the doors all the way due to the framing at the entrance. I can't remove the framing because it is part of the weight bearing wall. Well, I suppose I could, if I paid someone to remove the adjoining walls and add appropriate load beams. The result could be another 3" in width, maybe room for a 20" custom door.

Any lighting would mean hiring an electrician, which is outside of my husband's idea of affordable. He already choked on the cost of a base cabinet, so that will come from my saved household budget extra.

Here are photos of when I removed the door, so you can see what the 2 adjoining house modules look like. I unscrewed the hinges of the door, then the entire door frame fell off in one piece. It wasn't even nailed on.

These are the upper corners. If you look closely you can see part of the adjoining house module. The total width of the finished wall is 9" with an air gap. There is some sort of soft press/cork/paper waste product insulation board that almost fills the space between the framing.

Maybe this plus my previous post will explain why I removed the door.

Take a 20" opening, subtract almost 2" for door frame, then the quarter inch or so needed to allow the door to close, plus the thickness of the door when it's open. Now imagine reaching past the 9" thick wall into the 2' deep and dark space.

I just want to be able to get to a set of sheets or tablecloth or find the spare shampoo or grab a box of tissue without dragging half a shelf of stuff onto the hallway floor.

The next owner can put a door back on it.

Your budget will define this project scope. My suggestions are inexpensive DIY fixes.

Closet lights might be appreciated: GW battery operated closet lights on Amazon - pack of 2 for $10.

I find drawers to offer the most practical storage so perhaps stacked storage drawers would work for you and be simpler than new shelves? They come in all price points. Inexpensive plastic ones can be painted or papered to suit your taste. Wheels can be removed. Just need to ensure the drawers fit for your purposes.

Again, if you do want to hide this closet, fabric might be an option. If you have an Ikea nearby, they have inexpensive curtain wire. Not sure the closet offers enough space to install hardware from the inside though.

Pic of a designer's curtain closet doors in Architectural Digest. Rather than use enough fabric to gather like a curtain, I'd use just enough to make it taut like a panel curtain (second pic). Matching the wall to the curtain would increase its chances of being unobtrusive.

I bought some motion sensor lights for our clothes closets, but found that when I took them down to change batteries I couldn't get them to stick back onto their velcro base. Next time I'm in town I'll look around again for something with a better attachment.

The closet is a more neutral color now, no more bright yellow.

I found a kitchen drawer base unit that will fit and matches our kitchen cabinets. I hope to get it by next week. For now I'm repainting the shelves white until I can work out something better for the upper section.

Sounds like a plan. The most important thing is that it function for you. Form can always be tweaked later but unusable or ineffectual storage can be a daily frustration.

For the upper section, plan to use only the front 12" for active storage. Put empty (or full) cardboard boxes in the way back of each shelf, leaving the front 12" open. You can order perfect size cardboard boxes online from various suppliers. If bigger budget, order clear plastic boxes to fit instead of cardboard.

For the lighting, there are non-velcro stick-on LED light bars that run about $10 each. Rechargable batteries will reduce the annoying expense of replacing the batteries every few months. Or you can use a plug in sconce-type light fixture with an extension cord if there's an outlet nearby. Plug the light in only when needed. Or run wire mold to the closet for a new fixture when you have the budget.

There are offset hinges that will allow a door to open more fully. Check ADA suppliers because they are often used to convert existing doors to open wider for wheelchair access. Google "offset door hinges for wheelchair access" and "offset door hinges for cabinets".

I think I have some 12" boxes to use for the back half of each shelf for a trial run. My concern is how often I'll need to get to what's in the boxes.

This is my only storage space for kitchen and bathroom linens as well as sheets and things like shampoo, sunscreen, bug repellant, etc. Cleaned out my stash and discovered I need to buy all new summer chemicals for adults and children. I do have enough bandaids, but no antiseptic. Our daughter and outdoorsy 5yr old granddaughter live in our basement apartment, so the last 2 items get used a lot.

I looked at wire shelving, appealing because I can see the bottom of what's in back. But I couldn't find any in the 23"-24" range. Shorter and I lose storage, longer won't fit.

Could you store the sheets in the bedrooms?

I am already doing that for the beds in regular use. But the 2' square shelves fill up quickly with kitchen and bath towels, washcloths, dishrags, cleaning rags, tablecloths and bathmats. The bathrooms are small with just enough room for everyday medicines and grooming supplies. The kitchen cabinets are full of cooking and serving gear. I have a 4'x8' walk-in pantry for human, pet food. Even it does triple duty with the A/C return and an alcove for the vacuum, shampooer, broom, mop, etc.

The fact that our ceiling height is only 7'6" limits storage everywhere. That's why most of the cleaning chemicals are stored on the sunporch and supplies such as lightbulbs and batteries are in the garage.

I really am using every inch of storage in this house and have a monthly routine of finding things to sell, donate or give away to try to make more room.

Needless to say, I buy only what I absolutely need. For Thanksgiving I made cloth napkins from one of the old tablecloths. I don't buy paper napkins, so that's one less thing to store. Paper towels are purchased 1 roll at a time, mostly I use cloth rags I've hemmed myself. The best are the old premium show horse feed sacks I got from my sister.

Okay, I apologize for being so repititious in my posts. I guess I'm looking for a creative, maybe even miraculous suggestion on how to make this little closet function a lot better than it has for the last 7 years.

It is tempting to give up on it and put a full size storage cabinet on the sun porch. It would be easy to fill it with puzzles and games, which are now stacked in a corner of the dining room.

From what you've now shared, I'm wondering if perhaps you're expecting too much from this closet. Let's face it, most of us have too much stuff and it's easy to forget that things should be stored where they are used. My suggestion would be to really reassess your storage needs and pare down your stuff.

For example, how many cleaning chemicals do you really need? (I store mine in a bucket in my kitchen sink cabinet.) And a shampooer? How often do you use that and is it truly essential?

How many kitchen cloths make sense for you and your family? If you do laundry once a week, don't have more than a week and a half's worth. Do you have a drawer in the kitchen where you can store kitchen linens? Or perhaps room on a shelf in your walk-in pantry to store them.

Bathroom linens. You mention bathmats. How many bath mats do you need? Two. One for use and a second when the first is in the laundry. (How many bathrooms do you have?) Two bath towels per person. Etc. Shampoo. Does everyone have their own kind or can one kind suit all?

A 4' x 8' walk in pantry sounds ginormous to me but I know that they're not always efficient because there can be wasted space in the middle. But still, it's a fair amount of space and could be configured efficiently, I'm sure.

Lightbulbs and batteries do make sense in a garage.

A lot of storage needs depend not only on the number of people living in the home but on our shopping and laundry habits. For example, if you live in a remote area and shop once a month for supplies, then yes, your storage needs will be different than a city dweller who lives blocks away from three grocery stores. If laundry is done every two weeks, then yes, you need space to store a lot of linens and clothes.

That said, sometimes additional storage like a cabinet IS needed and then you find the best spot for it in your house.

But before you buy a storage piece, see if you can find The Fast and Furious 5 Step Organizing Solution by Susan C. Pinsky at your library. I found her simple method of organizing revolutionary. You might appreciate her tips as well.

Can you add storage in your bathrooms or kitchen? If you need storage or organization ideas for your kitchen and bathrooms, we can probably help you with that. Sometimes, we think we've exhausted every storage possibility but a fresh eye comes along and suggests a helpful tweak.

ETA: Years ago, I hired an organizer to help me with my office. It helped. Temporarily. Felt like magic at the time but my lack of follow at keeping up the "system" showed me that there really is no "one size fits all" solution.

Ikea and others make full pull-out systems

I hadn't considered a barn door closure. It could be done. I'd need to cut into the narrow wall section to move the hallway lightswitch and the door bell. There's about 6' of wall between til the first bedroom. Maybe I could get a light inside the linen closet at the same time.

As for drawers, I plan to buy an 18" wide 3 drawer base cabinet to replace the smaller one. I have budget for that, even found one in stock at Lowes with the same wood finish as our kitchen cabinets.

Bathroom storage? Both bathrooms are 40sqft and I've already added cabinets above the toilets. We have surface mounted medicine cabinets because the type of framing didn't allow for recessed. The direction the doors open eliminate any additional wall storage. I have thought about putting a shelf above the door to store TP and tissues, but I'm not sure if they'd fit in the 5.5" space if I used a half inch thick shelf.

Great if you can move the light switch and door bell. I think this little room can definitely be a useful place for things you want at your fingertips, but your idea of something on the sun porch is a good one. Have you considered a vintage armoire for games and linens? I'm picturing something that wouldn't look utilitarian.

No, I had not thought about an armoire. I'll check around locally, we have plenty of shops that big city tourists keep in business.

What about a Lazy Susan. Not sure why they decided Susan was lazy, since she had to put on lipstick, girdle and high heeled shoes to cook dinner for Jack. Haha, I don't really know the history behind the invention, but it could work on your shelves or in the corners.

Pull-down shelving that also pulls forward. You could attach an extender handle, so you don't have to reach into the closet so far. Kind of pricey from what I could tell, though. Just looking for miracles!

Two stacked base cabinets would bring it to 44-48 inches high. Then add a countertop and a clear plastic bin on nice basket on top for lightweight things.

BTW, if you have beds that aren't slept in regularly, you can just put the sheets on anyway. Or open all the currently folded extra sheets to fit on top of the bed, smooth them out, and cover with the usual blankets or coverlet.

I looked online, found a 24"diameter full circle single shelf, $100 if wood, $72 if polymer shelf ( is on sale for $40). Need to by the bolted spindle separately for $27.

I'm hesistant to spend that much per shelf, besides folding towels and tablecloths so they won't hangover in the corners sounds challenging.

I'm a firm believer in 'there's always more than one way to achieve a goal' and there's rarely "one perfect" way. I keep the extra TP in a vanity drawer (safe from the forgetful who don't close the lid before flushing) which means my makeup is in a makeup bag on my bathroom counter. Not a magazine-worthy bathroom but it functions for me.

Some ideas:

-Grooming products can be stored in a basket, bin, bag, whatever container in each person's room. The con of this method is the back and forth of said container. Water drips, etc. Not ideal for every household but it can work for some family members.

-Bath towels hung behind bedroom doors

-Behind the door bathroom storage - can be as simple as clear plastic shoe storage to Elfa baskets

The key to functional storage is often simplifying what we have, e.g. one product for everyone, the same towel in different colours, etc. Always easier to store items neatly when they're all the same size. (That's the trick in those "after" organizing photo shoots. Rows and rows of the same item. Not always realistic.)

You might want to check out Apartment Therapy for small bathroom storage ideas.

AT - best bathroom storage ideas

AT - 60 ideas for small bathrooms

Here's their Organize and Storage section. Loads of articles and products featured. The small home tours are particularly inspiring.

The doors are up against a wall in both bathrooms, so the avaiiable space is only 2".

I had forgotten about Apartment Therapy. I used to follow them diligently. I'll check them out, find some new ideas. Thank you for the reminder.

Two inches is plenty deep to hold a myriad of bathroom products: bandages boxes, dental floss, toothpaste, sunscreen, deodorant, razors, hairbrushes, hair clips, etc. And so what if the door doesn't open fully?

You're welcome for the AT rec. They've got a lot of great content on the site, especially the older stuff. Now, it's very much product-promotion centric but still helpful.

Agree, AT has definitely changed over the last few years but there are still gems from time to time.

You may consider using the lids of copy paper boxes to act as "pull-out" drawers in a sense. I have them in my cabinets in the utility room and can pull out a lid to get to my soap-making supplies or backstock pantry items. I put them in the freezer first to kill off any potential nasties. They can be covered with peel and stick wallpaper from HD or Lowes to make them pretty.

Ahh, another creative solution - an over the door shoe holder. I have one on the bedroom door for socks and shoes. I can cut a hole out for the bathrobe hook.

Hubby likes the idea of buying an armoire or old dresser to put on the sunporch to put most of the stuff in so we can move the games to the small closet. Being in the hall, it'll be handy for our 5yr old granddaughter to pick out something to do while her mom's at work.

tartanmeup, I apologize if I seemed to ignore your longer post about paring down. Our internet is an on and off again thing combined with my aging pc means that some posts arrive late.

Yes, I live in a rural area. For example, we left at 10am yest morning with our granddaughter, shopped at Target, late lunch, refuel car, then got back home just before her dad arrived after work to pick her up.

Yes. I use the shampooer, about once a month.

Cleaning chemicals: laundry pre-treatment, pine-sol, eco-friendly surface cleaner, oil for wood cutting boards, gallon jugs of vinegar and bleach.

We keep batteries in the house since the summer heat resulted in throwing out a half package of AAAs a few years back.

Linens: 2 bathrooms, 2 towels per person, extra hand towels for when grnddaughter gets one muddy, or uses it on one of our pets, or takes them to her outdoor play kitchen. She's an independent 5yr old and not a neatnik.

Bath mats are a total of 4.

Paper products are an issue for us. For some reason our one local market still has an aisle of nearly empty shelves. Even the Target we went to yesterday is still limiting purchases. So I try to keep 2 packs on hand, buying just one at a time. I don't buy the mega-packs because of my storage issues. Paper towels are bought 1 roll at a time. They are only used for messes that I choose to put the towel in the trash, like when a cat brings in his prize catch.

I'm reluctant to reduce the quantity of dishrags and kitchen towels. I've been changing them everyday since I read an article about how they harbor clostridia, salmonella, e-coli, etc. I cut up some of the larger old feed sacks and hemmed them to use for daily scrubbing. Surfaces get dirty and gritty fast when that's what surrounds you and you have no mud room.

No worries, Kathleen. My post about paring down was simply a suggestion. Trying to share ideas that might be helpful based on my experience. As you've outlined, you probably have pared down your cleaning products to your essentials. Also, with a 5-yr old in the house, you probably can't store cleaning products just anywhere.

I don't know how much useable storage you have in each room (closed bathroom vanities? kitchen drawers? bedroom closets?) but I highly recommend storing linens in the rooms they'll be used. The linen closet then stores extra bathroom and kitchen products. Also, could your 4' x 8' pantry storage be optimized? That sounds like a fair amount of space. How is it configured?

Your post prompted me to leaf through the organizing book I recommended upthread. In the kitchen decluttering chapter, she mentions "space hogs", those serving platters that take up a lot of room but aren't used as frequently as we wish. Her book has a few examples of things like that for every room she tackles.

Stuff in a house seems to multiply regardless of our best intentions to simplify while our space is always finite. Sometimes, we have to be ruthless with our stuff or really think outside the box to find solutions that improve our day to day.

One quick observation. Take a close look at the cabinet drawer base you are looking at. The cabinet frame takes up a lot of room and may leave very little usable drawer space. Check stacking drawers on A*zon. This is an example. Target also has options.

Good luck - you are on the right track.

The drawer base in the photo is a leftover from the original kitchen. Never have figures out why the drawers don't go all the way to the back of the cabinet, they're only 8" deep. My current plan is to buy a real drawer base, probably 18" wide since the framed opening is barely 21", with drawers that are not so skimpy. I'm hoping the 6" extra width and depth will allow me to use one drawer for cleaning, dusting and dishrags, none of which stack neatly. Wiping surfaces with disinfectant so frequently this last year has led to an increase in the quantity of rags I keep on hand.

I have some of the plastic drawer units maggieq suggested. One holds my sewing notions snd slides perfectly under my sewing table. One is at our granddaughter's virtual school desk for crayons, markers, coloring books, art paper, etc. I gave a doublewide drawer unit to our daughter which last I saw was being used as a bedside table and art supply storage. The standard width is no wider than what I have and the doublewide won't fit through the door frame; I tried several years ago.

For now, I will keep painting the dark brown shelves, they need a couple coats of primer.

If it's not raining next week I should be able to take our pickup to Lowes to get the new base drawer cabinet.

I have no miracle solution for you Kathleen but potentially an inexpensive solution for a door. I had a small closet in the basement that would not fit a standard door. Instead I put a pull down blind ( not a roller blind but a window shade blind that folds like an accordian). When using the closet the blind just pushed up to the header into a 2 inch space and when I wanted to hide stuff I just pulled it down. that way it took up no width in the otherwise teeny opening. also, i might actually put in another shelf or two. I know this has the potential to eat up vertical space but it allows you to sort better so that in the 2 foot depth , on the there is only 2 sets of sheets, for example. Not a mixture of things you have to pull out to sort through to find out what it is.

The idea of more shelves makes sense. I'll do some measuring when I start getting it put back together.

A single wall cellular blind might work for that space. With the rising price of wood, even an extra long one would be cheaper than a barn door with it's hardware plus the cost of moving a light switch and doorbell.

Hi Kathleen. Just wondering if you finished your closet project and how you solved the issue

Just finished painting the last shelf today, it'll go in tomorrow.

After dealing with the aftermath of a raccoon attacking our spare roosters (2 birds in freezer, 1 a total loss), Hubby agreed to some storage changes. He filled an under-bed storage bin with his CPAP supplies and I purged an old quilt. Now the bed linens are on a closet shelf. I repurposed a rectangular storage basket to hold the bottles of peroxide, sunscreen, shampoo, laundry pre-treatment, etc. It will go on the old baker's rack on the sun porch with my cleaning supplies.

Because of the rooster vs raccoon event, I missed my day to go into town to purchase a wider drawer cabinet. We did make the rounds of the local flea markets hoping to find something I could repaint, but didn't find so much as an old bedside table.

I still haven't decided on a door, curtain or blind. That fix may have to wait until I happen to see something in just the right size.

Updated pics probably Monday, maybe Sunday evening.