Whether it's toilet paper or fancy handbags being corralled, these five rooms all benefit from having storage above the door. In something like a bathroom, the shelves keep back-up supplies ready but out of the way physically and visually. In many instances, as with the bookshelves in the first image, the extension of storage over a door becomes an interesting design element. And when it comes to closets, a little extra space always seems to help.
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(Images: 1. Hus & Hem via Katy Elliott 2. Kristina for Apartment Therapy 3. via The Estate of Things 4. The Martha Blog 5. Evocations and Illuminations)
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I love this idea and wish I could use it! My cottage ceiling height is too low with just a couple of inches above door trim. However, I have narrow shelves surrounding the dining room which is charming.
This is a great idea. My brother has an older house with a conventional door to the upstairs, in other words a closed stairwell. There is a shelf above the door in that space over the stairs. He uses it for collectibles that need to be kept out of reach of darling but destructive toddlers.
I love this. I have shelves like this above my bathroom door and they're great space savers.
The owners of #4 clearly don't live in earthquake country.
We did this in our Brooklyn apt. The ceilings are so high, it seemed such a waste of space. So my husband built a deep shelf over the door in the bedroom. We can fit 6 of those big plastic totes up there.
Cool post! I live in a small farm house in the US midwest and while my ceilings are low, I can definitely find spaces in my house to do this. Great idea & very charming (to me).
one word: dusting
I did this in the small, oddly shaped hallway in our old apartment. The space wasn't usable for anything else, and it looked great.
I love the built in look of #1 and #3. The others a practical, but look a little messy?
We get it... displaying your books in a rainbow is in...
I would love to implement this idea! But, I have to agree with Slangevar, that earthquakes do dictate how much I put on the wall, and where.
Oh my bathroom needs that shelf above the door.
This post sent me to the bath to stare at the space above the door.
I love the towels and paper idea, as our linen closet is tiny and badly designed.
No worries about the Hayward fault (blocks away) or dusting!
I like the idea alot but how do you reach said shelves? The idea of navigating a ladder through our tiny rental would mean moving half the furniture....
Foldup stools! e.g. http://www.chalet.net.au/images/fullsize/easy-fold-step-stool-276.3f6.jpg
I have done this in my apartment for the last 20 years. The shelf above teh door in my kitchen holds all my plastic wrap, aluminum foil, storage bags, garbage bags, etc., and boxes of cereal and cat food. In my bathroom, I have a white coated wire shelf, where I keep my towels. I don't have a linen closet, so that's their home. In both rooms, I just have to go up on tippy-toe to reach them.
These look good, but, at 5'1" tall, I'm inclined to only use for books or purely decorative items as cannot reach things otherwise!