A place to hide stuff...

Every home has a junk room/drawer/closet/box...don't even try to tell me you don't have one. If you live in an old home, you know how strange some of the closet situations can be. Many people (back in the "day) had free-standing wardrobes, instead of closets. Well...let me tell you...this girl needs some closet space.

When we purchased our home, the guest bathroom had two "nooks" for storage. Both included built-in wood shelving and were exposed, with no door. We actually really liked the open storage and I had planned to make the bathroom a regular little pottery-barn style spa, complete with stacks of fresh, white hotel towels, bath salts and other luxurious bath-time items.

Then life happened. We realized we have lots of crap. Too much crap, in fact, to haul up to the attic; too much to hide under the bed; too much to find any true solution other than to make a closet.

So, my luxurious organizational dreams were crushed and replaced with two matching doors on the largest of the bathroom "nooks". Now, here is a photo of what it looked like before we added the doors...and here is what it looks like now. I am NOT going to post a photo of these doors open for fear that an avalanche will overpower me from the stacks of "crap" being stored. One of these days, I will organize this closet but until now, it is reserved as the junk closet; everyone has one, after all.

<Here is a photo of the "closet" before we added doors. You cannot see the shelving from this angle but, there are wood shelves mounted to the wall on both ends of the space. As you can see, this does not utilize the space to its full potential.

*Side note: We have also replaced the floor tile since purchasing our home. The tile we now have is much larger and is a lighter color. See more recent photo below.

So...in order to hide all the "stuff" the two of us had accumulated, we decided to add the doors and make an actual closet. My goal is to one day make this a wonderfully organized linen closet. For now though, it is a hiding place for all sorts of randomness.
In order to make the doors just the right size, and make them functional, we decided to go with a double-door set up. Chris found a deal on an accordion door, which is supposed to open on tracks. Instead of using the accordion feature, we decided to just put hinges on the outside of the frame and make two doors that open to the outside of the room. Chris added knobs and voila...an inexpensive and relatively easy fix for our storage conundrum. These could easily be removed at a later date, if we decide to revert back to the original set up or do something else with the space.

*Fair Warning: If you ever visit our home and decide to try to open this door, you will risk the possibility of being crushed by multiple falling objects. Open at your own risk.

We used the second "nook" in the bathroom as shelving for other stuff, including bath items for guests, towels, etc. It is not quite the Pottery Barn style luxury I had envisioned, but it is functional and doesn't look half bad. I am still trying to think of cute/creative ways to use this space so let me know if you have any ideas. This story is to be continued...