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Armoires: Creative Storage To Fit Your Needs by Kathie Kull
The armoire, a time-honored piece of furniture most typically used for hanging and storing clothes. Well not any more, these wonderful pieces can be customized and adapted for many different purposes.
Lets start by first looking at some examples of possible uses:
- Compact center for casual entertaining
- Crazy for crafts – extra storage
- Green thumb – no outside storage
Adapting the armoire: 
Casual Entertaining – Hidden Away:
- Reposition middle shelf closer to top of cabinet for storage of glasses and serving pieces.
- Purchase a slotted rack, available at home improvement stores. Screw rack to underside of shelf for extra stemware storage.
- Kitchen shelf with build in towel holder attached to back of cabinet provides more storage on shelf and a place for hanging paper towels or hand towels.
- On inside of doors attach single hooks or wire hanging baskets for storage of bar tools, napkins, coasters or recipe cards.
- Pull out tray can be used for mixing drinks or placing patters of hors d’oeuvres.
- Remove bottom cabinet door add a ready-made wine rack or create your own dividers. You now have a place to show off your collection.
A Computer Armoire Becomes A Craft Center:
- Labeled glass jars or plastic containers filled with small items such as buttons, thread, and fasteners can be neatly stored on shelves that are already in place.
- Stand-up organizers or wire baskets keep magazines, patterns and other reference books neatly organized. Store these on shelves inside or on top of armoire.
- Paper towel holders attached to inside of doors become the perfect solution for keeping spools of ribbon within reach and organized.
- Attach hooks to inside of door for frequently used items such as scissors, rulers and rolls of tape.
- On opposite door attach metal squares and magnetic clips for holding calendars, cards or notes.
- Turn the pullout draw normally used for a keyboard into an out of the way storage for rolls of wrapping or drawing paper. Note: It’s a good idea to have a lip on the end of the draw; this prevents items from falling out. If the draw does not already have one you can add one yourself by attaching a small piece of trim molding.
- Shelves below hold plastic containers filled with fabric, paints, brushes and stencils.
- Fit side drawers with individual trays – normally used for silverware- for keeping stamps, floral wire, wire cutters and glue sticks neat and in one place.
Indoor Garden Shed:
- Remove shelves; attach a pegboard cut to fit to back of cabinet. Loop-style hooks keep hand trowels and weeders right where you need them.
- Reposition a shelf toward top of cabinet for storing extra pots. Attach a paper towel holder underneath for easy clean up.
- Cover another shelf with galvanized metal – can be purchased and cut to size at home improvement centers- and you’ve got a durable surface for potting plants.
- Place metal bins underneath shelf, which can be used for holding potting soil.
- Draws on bottom of cabinet are perfect for holding garden books, magazines, hats, kneepads or extra garden gloves.
- Depending on how many drawers you have, remove one and place fabric lined baskets into the open slot for bulbs or seed packets.
Make Laundry Day A Little More Enjoyable:
- Place detergent and bleach bottles on shelves. They are then organized and out of sight when not in use.
- Wicker or wire baskets are wonderful for organizing spray bottles, stain removers, fabric softener etc. These baskets can be placed on shelves when not be used or carry the entire basket to washer when needed.
- On the inside of the doors mount screws or small hanging wire baskets for lint rollers, box of dryer sheets or the iron.
- Remove shelves from below and use open space for storing folded drying rack or fabric bins for sorting clothes.
Before buying an armoire, you’ll first need to decide what its purpose will be. Then make a written list of items that will be housed inside. From there you’ll be able to determine things like how many shelves, drawers or open space your going to need.
Unfinished pieces are generally less expensive and can be finished in a number of ways to fit your current décor. This is when you can become really creative; some ideas for finishing include staining, painting, stenciling, decoupage or a combination of these for a real custom look. Use your imagination, have fun and enjoy your new added workspace.
One final note; as most of the backs are thin particleboard, you will need to reinforce them by attaching nailing cleats to the back on the outside. This gives you a place to attach pegboards, shelves and rack. These cleats can be found at home improvements stores along with the adhesive needed to attach them to the back of your piece.
The information for this article was found in Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Magazine - Simply Perfect Storage - Early Spring 2005 - written by Kathie Kull
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