The desperate search for storage space
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- February 4, 2025
- 664
It is not at all unusual when driving through most neighborhoods to see a small building sitting in the backyard. This building is usually called a shed and has become necessary for
most homeowners over the years.
Why? Because unless your house has a dry basement or a floored attic, modern houses have become very stingy with storage areas. This lack of storage space has become a real problem for many homeowners. New houses are often designed with an open floor plan, which gives the illusion of more space.
Some time ago Taller Half and I moved into a new place that had the open floor plan design, which we loved. That big, open space contained the living room, dining area, a very nice kitchen ... and not one closet! Each bedroom had a closet, and that was it.
Funny, we never noticed that lack until we moved in and began unpacking. Taller Half had to turn half the guest room closet into a place for the linens. For the coats, we got a decorative wall hanger he installed on the hallway wall. Thankfully, that hallway was rather wide, so we could use it.
When we began unpacking the kitchen things, we discovered those nice-looking cabinets had limited room for pots, pans, dishes and food stuff. That’s when Taller Half came up with a brilliant idea. In the laundry room right beside the kitchen, he installed a large bookcase with lots of shelves that served as a pantry. Next, he put up several big shelves over the washer and dryer. Then we could unpack the rest of the kitchen and the laundry.
After we thought we were finished unpacking, there were a half-dozen boxes still taking up space in the living room. What to do?
A couple of fairly shallow bookshelves were put in the hallway so we could store a few things there. But that was just a few. We still had too many boxes of “stuff” waiting to be unpacked. Taller Half picked up his keys and informed me we were going shed hunting.
After looking at all styles and sizes of sheds, we decided on one, which fortunately
was on sale. It still wasn’t cheap, but it was big enough and could be delivered the next day.
Once home we chose a spot in the yard for the shed and got it ready. The next morning the shed arrived, and we got busy moving the unpacked boxes out to their new home, but not before Taller Half put in lots of shelves to optimize the storage we desperately needed. Then began the unpacking.
Before long the shelves were full and we were tired, so the last couple of boxes were pushed to the shed’s back wall. The shed was almost full with just barely enough space left to hold my gardening tools. It took a lot of work, but our new shed was full.
We assured ourselves one day we would empty those two boxes at the rear of the shed. And they'll probably still be there when we move again, only to go unopened once again.