There's A Light in the Attic....

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There's A Light in the Attic...

and all our junk.


Although our house is somewhat spacious, it lacks in storage...or maybe we have too much junk. I guess being lovers of antiques and DIY you tend to acquire more things because you really don't know when you are going to need something for your next project on your list, or it's a good deal today and you will need it. What does everyone else do with their junk?? I love LOVE the idea of minimalist living.  Less is more...yep, I like it in theory then I walk into an antique store, or even a stroll through Target and I have stuff in hand ready to bring home because I have a great idea! Some of you might be reading this and thinking..."she lives in Missouri, what about your basement??"  Which is an obvious thought and not wrong at all to assume I have this amazing store house of decor and all the things my kids need ready in the basement. It would be ideal. However....half of our basement is finished and the other half is workshop/laundry/rec room. It's truly a lovely space. We tossed down carpet tiles a few years back and it's a game changer in an unfinished space. Check your Re-Store for them if you are considering what to do with your basement floors.  We are off track now...back to my junk. It's not in the bedrooms, although there is junk in there...it's not creatively stored through out the house...nope. Like the title suggests, it's in the attic. Except when we bought this house 11 years ago there was NO attic access!! Our house has 4 bedrooms, 2 on the main floor and 2 on the 2nd floor. Not long after we moved in we punched a hole through the upstairs closet to install an antenna for our TV (no cable TV here!). We were amazed at all the space that was open in the attic...but no real way to use it with out going through the closet which is NOT ideal! Well, after many years of junk in closets and me being creative with organizing baby clothes and kids clothes and rotating things in and out and rooms filled with everyone's everything we decided we need to come up with a solution....we cut a hole in the wall in the stairway! Is it easy to get in and out of?? Not especially, but it works. I don't have to get in and out of it all the time and the kids helped organize the space so if I need something small they can hop in there and grab it easy enough with out any troubles, plus they like going in there.   Let's check out some photos and I'll walk you through how we did this!! 

First things first, location is KEY! We found the highest point we could put a door into the attic. To the left of this opening is ducting and the back wall of the closet so this is as far as we could go. Any lower and it wasn't possible for me to get into the attic space. We also decided to use a large picture for our door and frame it in so we made the door the size of the picture frame.


Once the hole is cut we cut pieces of plywood to make a floor in the attic.  This was tricky because we had to maneuver these long boards up the stairs and into the hole with all the other walls in the stairway to contend with. 




This space goes beyond the closet and to the left along the side of the bedroom so there is a TON of space up here!! 



We used trim and painted it black, Ty is on the other side making adjustments to the hinges so it's in there tight. We don't want the summer heat or the winter cold to come through.



The picture his hung on hinges that will hold the picture open after a certain point and when you close it the picture will spring shut. 


Finished. 
(this was done before our floors were redone)


In addition to everything else Ty ran some wiring through the space and put in 3 lights and a switch with an electrical outlet which proved to be super valuable in this space!!


Now we have a space for our junk that was sitting empty! No wasted space!! 

For size reference we have a steamer trunk, our 8' Christmas Tree and 6 tubs of Christmas decor, a antique vanity and about 20 tubs of kids clothes, 10 boxes of homeschool materials, 5 tubs of misc. decorations and so so much more stuff. We hang art we aren't currently using on the back wall of the closet and we have our left over flooring stored in here as well.

Do you have unused space in your house?

Location: Kansas City, MO, USA

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