Organization & Cleaning, Products we Love

How to get More Usable Space in Your Closet

November 14, 2016November 14, 2016 by Kelly Dedeaux

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #WinterizeYourClosets #CollectiveBias

As y’all probably know by now, our family’s going to be growing quite a bit soon. Although we don’t have any official announcement for the adoption yet, it’s getting closer and then we’ll be a family of NINE! That means a LOT of stuff needing to be organized, from clothes and shoes to toilet paper and umbrellas. While our closets have a lot of space in them, especially our under stairs, it’s not very usable. So what did we do to make room for our soon-to-be large family? Read on and I’ll tell you how to get more usable space in your closet for any size your family may be!

I was so glad to find the Rubbermaid Storage Planner from Lowes, which meant we could take the time AT HOME, at our own convenience to design our under stairs closet. We couldn’t wait to use the Rubbermaid® FastTrack® system to take this large space that couldn’t be utilized well, and turn it into a great organized spot! Here’s what the closet looked like before…

…and with all the stuff taken out, you can see how much POTENTIAL storage space there is!

We took the measurements and sat down at the computer, building up the shelving system that worked best in our space, and designed how WE wanted. We could visually see on the computer how it would look with certain combinations of shelving and drawers, adjusting it until we got exactly what we wanted. If we hadn’t done this first, we would’ve gotten the edges in one of the images below – but building it visually first allowed us to see if wouldn’t fit in our space. Once we were ready, we printed off the list of items we needed for our system, then went to Lowes and grabbed it all!

Just for reference, the FastTrack system is best for closets like your laundry, linen, pantry or mudroom. They have the Rubbermaid® HomeFree Series™ that’s best for bedroom closets. Be sure to grab whichever is best for YOUR closet. The FastTrack® is super easy to install, and hubby had it done in just a couple hours. Once the rails are up along the top (really fast), you just add the upright bars, then stick on your brackets and shelves as you see fit.

Since you may be storing heaving items on it, you can trust that this shelving system has superior stength, and gives you safe, study storage for things like heavy food containers, soaps, even those heavy trash bag boxes! The fully steel rail and vertical system is adjustable so you can build it the way that works best for your own storage needs. They have varied shelving depths, from 12″-20″ deep, so you can work with spaces of all sizes and needs.

Now here’s what our under stair storage looks like…

Amazing difference, right? We’ve got more than double the stuff, plus plenty more room now that it’s actually USABLE space. Love it!!! Now to decide which closet we’ll do next as we prepare for our growing family 🙂

Table of Contents

Which closet would YOU like more usable space in?

This content may contain affiliate links. We earn a commission at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase. We may earn money, free services or complementary products from the companies mentioned in this post. All opinions are ours alone…