Today, we’re continuing looking at ways to make room to support multi-generational living. This post will focus on storage.
When Dad moved in, we emptied out the room that used to be our office/playroom. We were able to downsize our clutter, make a new desk area in the hall, and move the toys upstairs.
The only problem? Bryan and I used the closet in that room for hanging our clothes. You see, our house is old. Very old. Before closets that were actually used for hanging things up were invented old.
The closet in our room runs the whole length of our room, which is awesome. Unfortunately, it’s under the slanted part of our roof, and is maybe four feet high. It’s not overly functional as a clothes closet.
To combat this, we began to think creatively, and outside of the box. We decided to make a temporary closet area in our bedroom. We weren’t sure exactly where we wanted it, so we decided not to frame it in yet.
You can see our solution in the above picture. It may not be beautiful to look at, but it works!
When adding an additional person to your household, function is important. It’s okay to do something temporarily to solve a problem.
We’re still not sure that we’ll leave the closet area here. But until we figure out what we want to do, our clothes aren’t stuffed into a dresser, or thrown on a chair.
Other ways we made room for storage since Dad moved in:
*Making room in the basement for Dad’s tubs. (And being willing to go down there and fetch something if/when needed).
*Making room in kitchen & bathroom cupboards for Dad’s things
*Turning an old counter/cupboard unit into a homeschool supply cupboard that looks nice in the dining room (since our homeschool supplies were in the office/playroom before…)
As I’ve mentioned before, small steps can make a big difference. Getting the tubs of overflow stuff out of Dad’s room and into the basement gave him much more room to walk around and enjoy his space.
How are you making room for storage in your multi-generational house? I’d love to hear your ideas!
