the people under the stairs

Because my house was built over 130 years ago, it has only two closets.  Luckily I have a decent-sized basement with tons of built-in shelves, and a china cabinet in the dining room.  But even with those few extra storage options, I am still always searching for novel space-saving ideas.  One of my favorite solutions is using stairs and staircases for storage. The staircase in my own home feels like an enormous amount of empty/unused space and I've been researching ways to utilize it more effectively.

One of my favorite ideas is this stair/drawer how-to on Apartment Therapy.  The risers on our steps are going to need repair or replacement in the next few years, and I definitely plan on doing this project to create some pull-out drawers for seasonal items like scarves and gloves, or paperwork and books!


Another great option is to use the space under the staircase itself.  There are a wide range of gorgeous ideas on this Remodelista post.  For my own home, I prefer the design using drawers or doors that hide the stored items (in a room as small as my living room, displaying items on shelves could end up looking very cluttered); but I do love this too:

 



















Lord knows I have enough books, music and wine around to make a lovely display like this one!

This Dornob.com post also has a ton of fascinating design (and engineering!) ideas for cabinets, pull-out drawers and bookshelves!  I'm eternally on the hunt for new/aesthetically intriguing ways to showcase my book collection, and the shelving schemes shown here are really great.

And finally, this DIY Life post has step-by-step instructions on three clever projects to turn "dead stair space" into brilliant storage zones!