Underutilized Nook
OK, folks – here is the nook I was referring to from this post. Prior to the renovation, there were three shelves in this nook covered with 50 years worth of paint, paint and oh, more paint. On a whim and against better judgement, I asked the contractor to tear the shelves off. I just couldn’t stand looking at all the globbed up paint! In hindsight, I could have asked him to put in NEW shelving, but I didn’t. I can be quite dumb sometimes…
Anyway, almost two years later, this is it. It’s a good sized nook and it’s not really doing anything right now – a WASTE. I put those two white boxes there (they house miscellaneous stuff, mostly) because I’ve yet to find a good home for them.
I consider this area of the apartment my arts and crafts space. Our old dining table that we got from Craigslist is serving as the craft table and is currently piled with…stuff – fabric, thread, zippers, buttons, doilies, etc. I didn’t clean it off and stage the pic because let’s be real…this is how it is. I need to show the real deal so any ideas that you guys come up with works with my real life, not anything staged and impossible to keep up with.
Here are some more pics from different angles. Have at it, people. I need help figuring out how to maximize this nook!
That’s Mona the dress form. She holds my most used scarves and will soon hold my most used belts. You can see the living room with the TV to the left…
Opposite angle – see the front door to the right. Yes, that is another pile of fabric in the hallway – those have not been laundered yet, that’s why they are by the doorway. Yes, I need a good place for all my fabrics. I have an allotted spot in one of the bookcases (not shown), but it’s all full up. Ugh…
Empty wall – I’d like to put up some wall cabinet storage here, or a HUGE mirror…any ideas?
Nothing especially brilliant comes to mind but here are my ideas:
- Just put back some shelves and use it for open storage
-Put back some shelves and cover it with two custom doors, shaped to the outline of the niche opening, that swing open sort of french-door style. That way you have closed storage so you can get really messy in there if need be.
-Cover the interior of the niche with cut-to-size cork, a french memo board or something similar so that you can have structured display for
things like fabric swatches or beads and buttons in small bags, etc.
As for the wall…Hmmm…Would the mirror be for aesthetic purposes or would it have a practical purpose as well? I might compromise the reflection/storage dilemma by placing a low, small bookcase on that wall and a large mirror above it.