odd shaped closets

[serenetabbie]

We have pretty large walk in closets under the eves of our cape cod's roof upstairs. They are shaped like triangles. You walk in on the tall side, obviously, and the roof slopes down to the back, so there is only one wall that is the same size as the inside of the house. They are the only storage besides the basement. The smallest one is the size of DS's old room in our little 600 sq ft house! I have plastic totes and paper boxes lined up at the back where the roof slopes down, for storage, but would like to have more space to hold toys and the clothes we are currently using. Each closet has a looonnnggg metal pole that sags in the middle, and pegs (and/or nails! I plan to pull these out & reuse them somewhere else) along one wall. Does anyone have the same type of closets and what did you do to use the space better? I am on a tight budget, but I do have some scrap wood and a hammer (and nails once I pry them out of the walls ). TIA!

[srain]

We have a closet just like that in our bedroom. Even the "tall" side is not quite tall enough for my husband to stand up straight in, though, so along the tall side, we only have a row of hooks for storing bags, my husband's sole suit, etc. until the very end, where we have a short pole installed for my long dresses/ suits (I'm short, so I can step further into the middle of the closet without hitting my head). On the low side, we have a pole for hanging shirts, and a long set of three shelves that we keep folded clothes on (but could also be used to store boxes of toys).

I actually wanted to turn ours into my daughter's room- it has a window, and a lot of floor space, and she doesn't need the headroom! But my husband objected, in case CPS came knocking.

[DTmama1]

I'd love an answer to that one too. We have a Cape Cod as well and one big closet btn our room and our daughter's. Right now we just have a chest of drawers and a set of short rubbermaid drawers against the wall on one side and three of the cheap closet organizer shelves from KMart on the other side. The middle is completely wasted space at the moment since it is too long for a rod, so all the clothes are stored in the small downstairs closets.
Melody

[Justmee]

We haev a storeroom. It doesn't slope, but it has an area about 3 feet high & 2 feet deep, and the rest is pretty normal sized.

You can build cubbies into one of the long walls, like bookshelves but little sqares you remember from elementary school. You can use the cubbies to store folded clothes, books, toys, sheets, towels, etc. I would maybe make 1 row for each person or whatever. On the other wall we have rubbermaid type containers for longer term storage (baby clothes, winter coats, etc). We also have a baby dresser in there stuffed w/ baby stuff since we don't have room for the dresser in our apartment.

We use the low area for stuff that is akward to store, like the baby swing. You could also use it for toy rotations or what not.

What types of things do you store? Is it long term or daily use? Our storeroom is up 2 flights, so it's not where I would keep my t-shirts, but it's not exacty inaccesable.

[serenetabbie]

Thanks for the replies!

srain, when I was a baby/toddler my room was in the closet off my parent's room! I think it would be ok as long as you didn't lock her in there or anything nutty A lot of houses around here have walk through rooms where the last room could be a closet.

Rach- We each have our own closet. I use the kid's to store clothes & shoes in boxes labeled with the size & season (we are lucky to get a lot of hand-me-downs) along the lowest point. DD's closet also holds some left over baby stuff I have not been able to part with just yet. Both kids have their larger toys and items they do not play with frequently in there. My closet holds all the wrapping paper, christmas/birthday gifts (I shop all year for these, and need someplace dry & moderate to store them), a box seasonal clothes, my craft stuff, extra blankets and a box of personal keepsake sort of things. DH's has his dresser, a box of personal items, the vacuum, the luggage, a box for his seasonal items and some of his dad's stuff.
I think the cubbies are a great idea. Since they are in the closet, maybe I will just use some milk crates for now!

Did anyone ever use those poles that are suspended from chains? Any suggestions for how to best mount a pole on the slanted roof?

One day, I hope to claim part of DD's closet (the biggest one) for the bathroom and put a real closet in there!

[rainyday]

We have this too. You enter on the high side, right? and the low side is directly opposite the door? That's the way ours is. It's probably five or six feet deep from closet door to floor at bottom of triangle where the roof meets the floor.

What we have is bifold doors on our closet. Then, about 2.5 feet back (just deep enough to fit clothes on hangers with a few inches extra) we have another wall. The part in front of the wall has a rod going straight across parallel to the doors from the wall on the left to the wall on the right. The shelf above doesn't hold much because of the slant, but the rod is fine. We've got a lower rod in part, with shelves above too.

Then we have a sliding door (but the door wouldn't be necessary, we don't always close ours) in the wall behind the clothes. We have to push clothes to one side or the other to reach the door, but that's OK because we store stuff we don't need very often back there. That's where the suitcases, maternity clothes, outgrown baby clothes, and similar things go.

Did that description make sense? I love it because we have tons of storage that way, with a normal closet in the front. Then we have this low little storage room behind. I can't stand up straight back there, but I can walk around hunched over.

[serenetabbie]

Yes, our closets sound the same. That sounds like a great idea, the doors behind the clothes! Did your closets come that way or did you build them? If you installed them, were they very hard to put in such an awkwardly shaped space?

Our closets are pretty big, I am not sure of the closet floor's sq footage... but I put a 8X5 area rug in mine (one of the smaller ones) and there is still room the rug does not cover.

[SleeplessMommy]

Our former house was a cape cod. In the front of one room (where there could have been a closet, but was a vertical wall instead) I made a hole with the sawzall, and had a contractor sheetrock it, making a 60" wide small closet. We put the headboard of the bed into that closet/opening. : With dual reading lights! Hard to explain but it worked.

At the other end of the room, was an 8' long narrow closet. We had the roof raised, put in a pocket door, put in skylights, and made a very nice bathroom. : : : A new entrance and a pair of pocket doors might improve access for you.

For the remaining tiny-but-deep upstairs closet, I put 4 large casters (IKEA) on an appropriately sized plywood board. We placed boxes/crates on that board, and were able to access them easily by sliding it out.

[rainyday]

Serenetabbie, the closets were there when we bought the house. If you want pictures, PM me your email address, and I'll send you some. They look like they'd be pretty easy to build. They're just studs with drywall or knotty pine panelling on the clothes side of the closet with doorways in them.