Hi Marie,

I bought some box like shelf things at Wal-Mart that screw together. They are 11 1/2 inches deep, 12 inches wide and 31 1/4 inches tall. They have small plastic brackets that screw to the wall to stabilize them.There is three compartments to each unit. I have four of them two on top of each other in my office closet for my stained glass and other mosaic things. They are very strong. I think they were about twelve dollars each. I do not know who deep your closet shelf is. It looks like they would stick out an inch over the edge of my shelf if I put one up there. Mine on sitting on the floor.

Bi-Mart has wonderful folding shelves for 29.99 that would also fit nicely on a closet shelf. They are even pretty. You might need to add a bracket to be sure they would not tip off. I have one on top of my desk for a hutch. I NEED to use every space I can get in this little house. It measures
11 1/2 deep by 27 1/2 wide by 37 3/4 tall.Three shelves. They look much nicer than the box shelves and would be great for books or blankets or??? Mine is holding my printer scanner and speakers a lamp and a few nick knacks I just can't live without.

Chris

My shelves are 11 1/4" deep. I found the site below which has 10" cubes that I could build on top of the shelf. But would shirts, etc. be able to be folded into a 10" wide section?

I love drawers and have various drawer systems around the house. I just don't think I can justify more drawers because I really don't have anything to put into them (at least until I actually start a hobby) and then I'd want to have the drawers next to me. I've been eyeing one at Costco just for that purpose.

Cube:

http://www.robertham.com/cgi-bin/displays.cgi?category=plastic_grid_panel

Marie,
I have those in my closet. Mine are made of metal, maybe chromed something or other but metal. I do not like them. They want to fall apart all the time. I spent a few hours wiring all the joints together to try to keep them tight and they still come loose. ARGH The plastic end thingies just do not hold the panels together like you would need.

I think a quarter inch overhang would be ok as long as you used an L bracket to a stud in the wall about center if you used the three shelf piece.

I removed the bottom shelf on mine to get my monitor to fit.
{{!gwi}}

I have another cupboard in our bedroom, an old jelly cupboard, that holds folded sweaters and it is only 11 inches wide on the inside and no leeway because of the doors have to close. These shelves do go on sale soon because Bi-Mart tries to close them out for the summer and then brings them back in the winter. I did get the shelf for my desk at Staples. There are four other shelves just the same only lighter in my studio, from Bi-Mart.LOL Can you tell I like these shelves. They also fold up if you have a change of plan or you can stack them on top of each other in a spot with more room.

Chris

I don't want to screw anything into the walls. Also I have a fear of a bookcase that is barely sitting on the shelf falling off and I know dh would be saying that as well.

Since you've warned me about the cubes, I have been searching for other options. I found some hanging sweater bags that would hang on the rod. I've had these in the past and they ended up falling off. Perhaps now they make a better quality. I put my sweaters in a chest of drawers or hang some of them up so I don't need the bags. Am I being ridiculous to think that clothes that hang shouldn't touch or go past the bottom shelf?

Of course you are not being ridiculous. It would drive me crazy, having them slosh along the shelf, and did once when we had two rods and a few of my husbands long shirts hung below the top of the bottom rod. They were always in the way.

I SWEAR you will hate those cubes. I am making them work for now. Someday I will get something different and yard sale mine to some unsuspecting sole. LOL

I suppose you could build a shelf system ,custon that woud just fit your closet shelf.It would not be hard. Eye Roll I just rebuilt my shelf system in the outside pantry and ended up with an extra three feet of shelf in less floor space by going upwards where there were not shelves before.A total of 64 feet of shelf. LOTS :^))) Now I can put my exercise equipment in there and have my own little work out room with my little boom box and a view of the mountains while I work. Just need hubby to help me get it on the truck to get it to the house from the shop. Hahahah I can work on it but I can't lift it.

Taking my tired self off to shower and bed. I just finished this project tonight except for the fine tuning of organization. LOL

Chris

Our guinea-pig cage is made out of METAL versions of those grids--it seems to hold together quite well. I haven't tried them for a shelf at all, but I have a huge rectangle w/ a roof and sides. We don't have any guinea pigs being dropped on the floor (it sits on top of a shelving unit, and a panel or two hangs out in the open air)

I think you've be OK setting a bookcase on top of the shelf. If you'd feel better w/ something not so top heavy, you might consider these sorts of *wooden* cubes--they'd have the advantage of being flexible enough to be useful in any future rental place, should you move.

You could get ones with internal shelves, doors, sometimes even drawers etc.

You could use "Command" adhesive to hold them together, so they don't shift, perhaps. They're nice and flat-sided, flat-bottomed. Some of them come w/ ways to attach them to one another, so they don't slide around, etc.

this one's a pre-configured set; you can often buy them in individual cubes.

These are only white or black melamine; Target has them in some nice finishes. Also in white, w/ theneat knobs. You can search on "Closits" and on "EZ cube"

Here's the link for the main page w/ the individual cubes
http://www.organize-everything.com/cubstorsys.html

Here's one from Staples--you can leave the feet off.

Foremost Hold'ems Modular Cube system

They're usually about $30 per open cube, $40 w/ drawers or doors. They're usually 15" square or 14" square.

You might try a search at Froogle.com on "modular storage" or modular cube storage

Here is a link that might be useful: Modular cubes, 5-piece set.

Thank you for those links. They gave me an idea for use in my living room. I had written about stands for my speakers which I have been rethinking. I have a big screen TV in the center of the wall and those modular pieces would look nice on both sides which is 48" each, holding the stereo equipment and speakers.

Back to the closet. I now have some good ideas so that when I go into the closet and clean it out "again", I will be able to then decide what I will need to make it look nice.

I cleaned my closet yesterday and threw out only 4 sweaters. Anyways, I realized that my winter clothes fit on the top rack without it bothering me. I remember now that I originally had put dh's clothes on the top rack and they are much longer than mine. At least dh said this morning that he easily found the shirt he wanted to wear.