Idea's for converting space under stairs?

Question

Looking for any creative or interesting ideas (or anyone who has experience) of creating storage space under a stairwell (links to photos or website would be great too). Basically I have a simple stair case that is against a wall that goes from the ground up to the top (no twist, right angles etc). Looking to tidy up the area instead of having lots of misc' boxes.

Potential Idea's for things I am looking to store would be:
* Shoes (lots of them)
* Vacuum Cleaner, Brooms, Mop, (ie anything that has a long handle)
* Wine rack
* Ironing board
* Candles

Even if you have words of advice or personal experiences of "what not to do", I'd love to hear from you.

Cheers

Answer 1

here's what i did with our basement stairs and seems to work great for our needs: for the bottom 4 stairs i made drawers, each the height of one step (about 7.5 inch) and they were made so that they all came out in width so that they formed a straight vertical line --the bottom drawer was 40" wide, next up was 31"wide, next up was 22" wide , next up was 13" wide. each drawer was 32 " deep. the straight vertical line they formed was 33" high,and at this point i put a door that was 33" on the drawer side and sloped up at an angle along the stair line to a point where it was 63" high. the door was about 36" wide. Iput in another door to fill the remainder of the space (about 36"). behind the 2 doors are shelves. in the bottom drawer, i put rounded slots and keep bottles of wine and liquor (seems to keep them at a perfect temp.) the next drawer is divided with partitions and contains photo albums, utility bills, xmas and birthday wrapping paper, utility bills and other misc. The 2 top drawers contain shoes and gloves, mittens, scarves, toques, etc. (the shoes are about 90% my girlfriends)! in the sloped door closet, we keep the vacuum cleaner and winter boots on the floor and on the upper shelf we keep some preserves and dry goods (mostly dog food, cat food, and kitty litter). In the bigger closet we keep winter wear,skates, and skis, and on the upper shelves there are games, videos (old family movies and stuff we hardly ever watch), tennis racquets, and a couple of boxes of who knows what (which never get opened to my knowledge).
PS: I keep the liquor drawer locked.

Answer 2

I can just see how I would use the space if I had it--
I would put my desk there with my computer,a phone, a lamp and my paper shredder beside it.
On the wall behind it I would put shelves from as high as possible down. I would buy wicker storage baskets to store all kinds of things in.
Any space left over I would hang family photos
And before I started all the above I would paint the area a deep bright color such as cranberry red. Happy decorating, I envy you.

Answer 3

Thank you all for your answers, greatly appreciated. The solution we went with was to divide it into 4 sections, we needed the extra storage (already have a study/work spaace and no kids).

Section 1: Triangle section at bottom of the stairs. Used for my shoes.
Section 2 & 3: Section has 3 shelves. Used for various storage items (wine, tools, blender, candles, etc)
Section 4. Section 4 is a large open spaced area with a shelf at the top. Was meant to be for broom, vacuum cleaner etc but is storage for wife's shoes and the shelf is for sports items, such as tennis rackets.

All sections have doors.

Answer 4

DO you have kids? My dad made a really cool play house for me under our stairs. He painted it and carpeted it , and installed a light with a switch, and even cut out a window in the side complete with homemade wooden shutters. It was our favorite place to play...even though it was small. I think he did this because the door was pretty short anyway. It was soooo cute and I havent even thought of it in years.
I know this didnt answer your question, but it reminded me of happy memories. Thanks.

Answer 5

All I can really say is to put shelves in it. And put the stuff you use rarely towards the back. If it is not sheetrocked you can use the space between the studs for more shelving.