I believe every closet has a job to do, and every closet can do it fabulously. I hope this one inspires you to make the most of closet space.

Make the Most of Closet Space

You probably don’t spend as much time as I do thinking about closets, which is a problem if you have that one closet with weird angles, or that’s in a room you don’t use much, or even an awkward pantry that doesn’t seem to ever stay organized.

This little closet was in the back of a room-turned-pantry, so it felt very left out. It had gone through a few lives, from in-law suite closet, to dressing room, to toy-and-photo storage. It is a little too deep to be just a regular walk-in closet, but not really wide enough to have shelving on two sides. The shelving here was old, sticky, and starting to rust, definitely at the end of its useful life.

Remember, SORT and Succeed starts with defining your project simply, in five words or less. Step 1, the written goal of this project, was “create an appliance closet.”

I always try to use what you already own first. In this case, a bookcase that was cluttering up another room was the perfect size.

Nothing perks up a room–er, closet–like a new coat of paint. Easy peasy, since it was leftover from the room paint job.

Custom, adjustable shelves are always the way to go. But since the bookcase was doing its job so nicely, and it had no other place to go anyway, we let it stay.

ProTip: Group things by height to maximize the shelf space, all the way to the ceiling.

Remember  this closet is a tad deeper than normal? This is about 36″ square, which leaves us plenty of room for the ironing board and the vacuum, out of the way but easy to reach.

If you are a foodie or a kitchen gadget fiend, you’d probably like one of these appliance closets for yourself. Let me know if this gives you some ideas for your own organizing projects.

We’ve done so many closet transformations over the years. Please use this blog’s “search” field to look for other closet ideas to inspire you. Or you can click on the “Closet Organizing & Storage Organizing” Category over on the right to scroll through tons of great ideas to organizes closets and cabinets.

Are you still trying to figure out how to get started on your projects? SORT and Succeed’s Step 1 is the easiest: to define your project in writing in five words or less, like we did here. Learn more in the SORT and Succeed free online mini course.