My DH rocks. And it's all his fault.

Really. I mean it. And I've been meaning to write this since... the beginning of the month - it's been sitting as a draft for that long, waiting on my pictures to come out of the digital camera. So, sit back a bit... it's story time.

Once upon a time, I moved into a house that had an L-shaped closet that went under the stairs. Off to the immediate right of the closet was a little niche, just big enough for a shoe shelf. So we put one there.

Then I started stitching, and I kept everything in a fabric bag that I perched on top of the shelf. Soon I had more than what could fit in the bag, so I made a bigger bag.

I outgrew that. So I bought a Rubbermaid tub. And some Unikeep binders (perfect for keeping charts in)... eventually, as with many hobbyists who become enamored and obsessed with their craft, that little niche where the shoe shelf was overflowed with stitching stash, and kept individuals from easily getting to the light switch.

I've been meaning to put something in the area of the L under the stairs. I knew that it was going to be hard to do when there's a slope that starts out 81 inches high and goes to 54 inches high in a 40 inch width. and only 16 inches deep. I found a solution at Target one day. DH looked at it and turned his nose up at it. It *was* pretty cheap.

So I kept looking.... and looking.... and looking. I designed something that would work, and DH started on it, but then he told me that it would be a shame to put something that's going to be that nice in the corner of the closet. I don't know when I'll see the cabinet that he's been building for almost a year, but in the meantime... I was still gathering stash, and I didn't know where I was going to put it all.

Finally I decided that I'm going to re-do the closet, come hell or high waters, when I returned from Sundance. I was tired of hunting and searching and having things fall to the side. DH went with me back to Target, looked at another solution I had found before heading out on our trip, and then said, "Let's go to The Container Store." So we did. I didn't find anything there I liked. So we went across the street to Organized Living. I was just about to give up and go with a wire basket system (which I didn't want anywhere near my easily snaggible fibers) when I found the wood components.

We went home and re-measured. We went back and bought components.

DH put things together while I went and picked the kids up from school, and made dinner. And at 8pm that night, I started organizing all the stash that I had to pull out of the closet. It was a bit daunting pulling it all out and laying it around the coffee table. After all, I don't think DH really had a full idea of how much stash that I have. I'm still not sure he does, although since he's home these days and occasionally reads this blog, he's probably going to go through the drawers and see what I have instead of continuing to read on about how much I appreciate this beautiful closet of mine. Yes, that picture is an actual view of my closet taken a few days back... it's a little more organized now, but I still have that Rubbermaid sitting there, stuffed full of overdye and silk threads.

I spent the next 5 days organizing, and ordered a couple of things to continue helping with the organization efforts - such as File-A-Floss boxes. And some more UniKeep binders. Finally, I have a stash closet. Actually, it's more like a stash niche, and DH is happy to keep it that way. He seems to think that it needs a sign, or something to indicated that it's my niche. I don't think it needs anything to indicate that it's mine - it's pretty obvious from the contents that it's mine.

Heck, if it weren't for DH, I wouldn't have such a lovely closet - I would have a solution where the sides of the drawers aren't half as high as the fronting, and therefore I couldn't keep as much in them. I would have lost space to things sitting on the floor - as it is, I've got about 5 inches on the floor so that I can tuck things underneath if I need to, and I'm considering putting in one more shelf (above the drawers) so that I can tuck the silks on top of the drawers and then other things can go on that shelf. So... it's all his fault and I couldn't be happier about it.

I've stashed my framing supplies in there too - mat boards, and foamcore, and a couple of spare frames that I have for future use. I'm still waiting on the last couple of File-A-Floss boxes, and then I can finish organizing the rest of the area where flosses are kept. The top shelf is the perfect place for an extra set of highlighters and my tiny serger - you can see from the pic that it's a significant slope under the stairs, but it's still tall enough for me to stand up in easily even if I stand where the middle of the drawers are.

The next shelf down has my charts all safely tucked in labeled UniKeep binders, under that are more charts and reference materials - including my CATS 2003 binder which now houses some reference materials about finishing, and all my notes from the VS Dragonfly Lace class I took last year. The bottom two shelves are my silks (in the file-a-floss boxes) and my DMC. The bottom two drawers holds all my fabrics (sorry for the blur in the pic), while the top two have my Q-Snaps, various tools, some kitted up projects and the WIP bags.

We're still thinking about whether or not there is going to be a cork board in there on the opposite blank wall for hanging things, but I think I'd rather frame and hang things on the walls directly instead of pinning them to corkboard. Besides, and DH agrees with this, it would be a shame to hang anything large and pretty in there - no one would get to see it unless I told them to go in there. I think that that's the perfect place for the small things that we can't find a good place for. Maybe I'll hang 'Because Nice Matters' in there since I moved my desk from the kitchen into the living room and the kids desk needs to go upstairs now. Every morning when I go in there to retrieve my shoes to head to work, I grin at my organized stash.

DH also keeps joking that during the next GTG that happens to be at our house, he's going to make jokes about the stitchers being in the closet, since he's sure that they're going to be going in and out of there to see how it's all set up. For a while there, the bad pun in the house was telling our closest friends that his wife was in the closet... until they made the connection that all my stash lives in there. It's such a nice uncluttered space now...

... so I'll happily be 'in the closet' for a while.