April 12, 2014: IKEA Shopping Trip

A closet, a pantry, and under-cabinet lighting. Who would think these improvements could be so exciting. But they represent major PROGRESS and that makes me smile!

Today we visited Ikea on a mission to get ideas for the crazy, weird, geometrically strange closet in the guest room and the pantry. Both of these storage areas are still on our “to do” list and we have been struggling with deciding exactly the best way to build them out to create functional storage solutions.

This closet is especially challenging because both the right and left ends of the closet have angled walls that don’t lend themselves to easy installations. Additionally, the back wall of the closet rises vertically for 60 inches before sloping inward where the curved roof line of the dome begins. How to create hanging storage has been the biggest hurdle because of the shape of the closet. We could install a shelf with a hang-bar on the back wall, but it would have to be installed so low due to the sloping back wall, that it would seriously limit what we could hang. And the sloping back wall would also mean that no additional shelving could be added above the 60 inch height. In fact that is how we originally configured this closet with the utilitarian wire shelving prior to the home renovations which started in 2008. This bedroom was part of phase one, so the wire shelving was removed back then and we’ve had no ability to hand anything in this closet since that time.

We think (fingers crossed) that we found the answer at Ikea today. The Stolmen closet system uses floor to ceiling vertical poles to which horizontal hanging bars are attached. Other storage pieces that attach to the poles are available as well. We are opting for a two-drawer low chest that will be at floor level between the vertical poles. We didn’t purchase all the pieces available, only the vertical supports, a horizontal hanging bar, two hang hooks, and the two-drawer chest unit.

Stolmen System

This is a multi-functional guest room. In addition to the bed and chest of drawers, we have a desk in there with our desktop computer and printer and scanner. The closet will hold my dining room linens and some other decorative items, as well as serving as hanging space for our overnight guests.