Farms and reds?

You said that there is a closet directly below this opening? Do you mean on a different level? What is behind that 3.5 feet of wall that is directly below the opening? Is that empty space behind that wall? If so, why could you not knock out the wall and make a full closet out of it? It can't be a load bearing wall. Instead of installing complicated pull out anything, you might have empty and unused space behind that wall that you can open up and have easy use of. I am having a hard time envisioning this space and it's placement. It looks like there is a staircase to the side. So this is built like a large rectangular box that projects from the lower level up into the upper level with a full closet on the lower level and this truncated closet on the upper level? Essentially, it is two closets stacked on top on one another with the upper of them being partly closed off across the front to create this deep, short space? Do you have any idea what it was used for or built for in the first place? Do I see an electrical outlet in there? My daughter's house has something similar to this in one wall of one bedroom. It seems that it was built to hold an old fashioned TV. Did this maybe hold some old fashioned stereo equipment? If you don't want to open it up ,just put some sliding doors on it and accept it's limitations. But, I think that you have a closet space that is half way closed off that you could open up to to a full closet. A full closet area right there would be as useful and accessible as any other full closet. Leaving it like that is wasted space for you since you are not filing it with electronic equipment. Not only is the space wasted, but it is presenting to you as a problem that you are trying to live around. Once you have the space fully opened up, there are any number of things that you could do with it.....use it as a closet, put a desk of some kind in there, fill it with built in bookshelves............... Change it to something that works and that uses the full space. Instead of altering your life around it's inconvenience ...... alter the space instead. You can spend a lot of time, money, and energy trying to apply all manner of convoluted shelving and still be left with an awkward situation.

Hi Cc. Yes, I posted this 2 years ago, bought the paint (Origami White), and STILL haven't painted! Shameful. Anyway, I had made reference to Huntington White appearing a little too yellow, not the Origami. I chose Origami because I couldn't detect any noticeable tints. If you search "origami white" in Discussions, you should see a discussion with a photo of Origami White walls.

@everdebz @Maureen I took the shelves down and am SO thankful for your advice. I hadn't even thought about removing things. I was just continuing to add, and couldn't figure out why it never felt right. The sconces are coming down today too, and we're going to patch those spots. Two big pieces will anchor the wall now, and it feels so much less busy. Thank you for giving me some insight and a new direction. Yay for Houzz message boards!