Now that I completely boasted about all the fabulous drawer space in my kitchen I have an awesome idea for those of you that may be  lacking in the drawer department. At a recent client’s house I couldn’t help but notice the fabulous card catalog sitting so lovely in her kitchen. She said she stored her flatware in the drawers because she only has one drawer in her kitchen. A few drawers were used as her “junk drawer” as well to hold batteries and such. Now all she needs are a few cute labels to top it off.

I would give up my drawers any day because I just love this card catalog! Absolutely gorgeous!

*Don’t forget if you have a creative organizing idea you use in your home you can now submit your idea to be featured here!*

Problem area #1 Kitchen with no pantry.

Problem area #2 Coat closet with stuff shoved in it. Don’t use it for coats just weird useless space.

Solution: Create a pantry under the stairs!

Of course this solution would work better if the closet where next to the kitchen. Whether you use this space for a pantry or not, this layout is great. Building in shelves closer to the front and getting rid of that angled dead space in the back allows for easier access. On the side wall you can install shelving on the bottom and as the wall starts to angle cut wood shelves to the appropriate size and hang with brackets. The closet could then store, games, toys, crafts, you name it!

Related Posts:

Stairway Storage

How to Build: Under Stair Pullout Shelves

[photo: Better Homes & Gardens Magazine Nov. 2008]

I always joke with my husband that we should retire in an Airstream. When the kids are all grown up I would love to downsize to the bare minimum. I don’t know, perhaps a loft in the city would be more our style though. Then again with an RV you have a back yard that goes on for miles, literally.

I came across this post at Apartment Therapy about a modified garbage truck turned RV. Now this is cool. After a little looking around I found out it’s not actually a garbage truck but it sure does turn heads. There is a company called Unicat that makes these custom all terrain vehicles. Here are a few pictures of the Unimog…

From the looks of it you can do some serious off-roading in this thing and live pretty comfortably while doing so. And just look how neat and organized that kitchen is!

After coming across my stairway storage post I had a reader inquire if I knew where to find plans for building the pull out shelving option. Well, it just so happens that my 1977 copy of Storage Projects You Can Build just so happens to have the instructions for all of the projects in the book.

If you click on the photo above it should enlarge enough so that you can read it. If anyone has a problem with this feel free to email me and I can type up the instructions for you.

J.P. I hope this option works wonderfully for you in your new studio. Please send pictures if you get this built in. We would all love to see!

Last week’s stair storage ideas reminded me of another common under used “potentially fabulous” space in the home. Knee walls! In our next home we would really like to have all of the bedrooms downstairs and have one room upstairs for an office. All of the houses we looked at have the “bonus room” with the knee walls.

This space is a lot like the staircase in that you could build in storage and have it recessed into the wall, much like this home office.

If you are lacking closet space which most of these types of rooms do, you can build in cabinets and drawers to use as a wardrobe.

In this kid’s room kitchen cabinets are repurposed and built into the wall. This is beautiful and provides plenty of storage. By using glass drawer fronts you can see the contents and add a little color to the space. Hanging clothes in them wouldn’t work for long but for babies and toddlers, not a bad idea. What a great idea for a home office as well.

If we do end up with an office that has knee walls I would probably line our two desks along one wall and use the other wall for storage. I could fit a couple of bookshelves along the wall but I just love the “built in” look. The only con to a built in is that it is a more permanent option.

Do you have a knee wall in your room(s)? I would love to see how you use this space in your home or office. Feel free to send links in the comment sections or email me pictures of your spaces and I will feature them here. Thanks so much for all of your ideas!

[photos from top to bottom: 1,2) Taunton Home’s New Built-Ins Idea Book 3,4) Better Homes & Gardens