The Boy in the Cupboard Under the Stairs

One thing our home is majorly lacking is storage. We have a large unfinished basement that is great for storage. But as far as storage on the main floor goes, well there is none.

David came up with a solution to our storage needs on the first floor. He had this idea to install drawers into a wall in our living room. The area below the stairs landing has a little cupboard space that is accessible in the basement. The plan was to cut a hole in the drywall so that we could access the cupboard from the living room.

Before

This idea seemed quite innovative and practical, but building drawers that would fit perfectly in the wall would be a difficult tasks. So instead of building drawers, David found a small dresser that was only $7 at Second Chance that he planned to insert into the wall. I wasn't sure how this would pan out, but David was confident.

Dresser from Second Chance.

Outline for the hole.

I came over one day to find David sitting in the cupboard with a hole in the wall. (Side note: Coming home to randoms holes in the wall will be a reoccurring theme of this blog).

I give you the boy in the cupboard under the stairs.

He cut a hole in the wall in to match the dimensions of the dresser. David attached wooden legs to the bottom of the dresser so that it would sit high enough and be level. Then he propped the dresser up in the cupboard so that it would be flush with the wall and screwed it into the laths (horizontal strips of wood nailed to studs, found in old homes) and at the bottom.

Inside view where the dresser is attached to the laths.

It actually worked! David added metal drywall corner beads to the edges of the drywall around the dresser to reinforce the wall and protect it from chipping or cracking. Then he plastered over the metal to blend it in with drywall.

Before drywall repairs.

I think it was a bit challenging for David to get the drawers to match up perfectly with the wall, but after some maneuvering it turned out pretty darn good. And now we have some storage in our living room without taking up more space!

Perfect fit.

These drawers are great for hats, gloves, scarves and even Stevie's doggie food.

Storage drawers!

Here's what the drawers look like today next to the exposed brick wall and with the wall painted. We also upgraded the hardware for a more modern look.

Drawers today!