Adding a Storage Closet Under Our Stairs

Our builder made a little indent underneath our stairs on our main floor. It was pretty useless, so when we first moved in, I added shelves. In the process of adding shelves we figured out there was nothing underneath our stairs. I knew I wanted to do something with the space because, with the little amount of storage we have in this house, every extra bit counts!

Under Stairs Storage Closet | Framing

We had a contractor come out and frame underneath the stairs, put in some insulation, and do the drywall as well. They even framed out for a little door, which the contractor custom built. We couldn't find a door that was the right size. Because the space had the stairs on one side and the HVAC unit on the other, it didn’t allow for a full sized door. I had the contractor do everything up to mudding so that I had a blank canvas to do what I wanted to with the space.

Under Stairs Storage Closet | Flooring and Painting

First, I added flooring using some really inexpensive tiles from Amazon. I put down an adhesive and then started installing the tiles. Install was pretty simple because the tiles were so thin and easy to cut. I then added baseboards and a pegboard to the large wall in this closet because it was the storage closet for our bike stuff and my tools at the time. Then I primed everything and painted using First Star by Sherman Williams, like the rest of our house.

There was an outlet on the outside of this closet. I did a bunch of research and I figured out how to pull it to the other side of the wall so that it would be inside the closet. The first time I did it, I messed it up. I’m really transparent about making mistakes because I always learn something new from my mistakes. I have an amazing community on TikTok and had a few reach out and tell me what I did wrong and then helped me fix it so that it was safe and functional.

I added some more pegboard, some drawers and a shelf because that space served as my tool closet before I built my workbenches. I tried to utilize the space in this closet as much as humanly possible, so added a lot of little shelves and lots of pegboard underneath so I could hang and put stuff on top of the shelves. I then painted all of the pegboards so that it was the same color as the wall.

Under Stairs Storage Closet | Organizing and Final Look

I got a bunch of pegboard hooks and started hanging of my tools, paint supplies, my clamps, anything and everything I could to get it off the floor. I took my time doing this, and went back and forth a few times with placement of some things because I wanted it all to fit perfectly and to make the most sense for me and how I use my tools. I also made labels for the drawers with my Cricut so that supplies would be easily accessible. We hung our bike trailer up in here, as well as my daughter's scooter and our helmets, the bike pump and my workbench table.

For lighting, I got motion sensor lights from Amazon. They're magnetic and rechargeable, so pretty easy to use. I put two on the ceiling and four on the shelves, and all together they create a lot of light.

Here is the finished product, our little storage closet under the stairs. There's a lot of space in here and I was able to store so many things!

Under Stairs Storage Closet | Shop

I have everything linked here. If you've been following along for a while, you're probably wondering what I'm doing with this space now that all of my tools are in my workbenches that are stored at my parent’s house. This room has turned into a kind of catch all for a little of everything, but I have big plans for it.  Stay tuned for what’s coming next with this closet sometime in December/January.