do you have a need or want for those shallow shelves? stuff you'd want to put on them? is that panel box facing the hallway or your room?

you could put a 'frame' cover over the 'shelves' and use them for jewelry. put a pic in the 'frame' or a mirror.

Actually I don't need any more shelves. It just seems like I should put something there while I have the chance. Hmmmmm! I need to think about this some more.

I'm not sure what your would do with the space if you just walled it up. You'd definitely LOSE any option of using it.

Many books are about 7" deep. Even the big books can be stood up, if you make a couple of taller shelves near the top and the bottom. I like adjustable shelves, but fixed ones are good in most instances.

Other than books, you'd have a place to put DVDs, CDs, display vases or shells or whatever.

Like Steph says, you could put a hinged shutter or whatever over the 7" deep shelves. I'd still open them to the hallway. Goodness, can you imagine just how much bathroom toiletries, t-paper, first aid supplies, cold meds, etc, etc, that such a shallow "closet" could hold? Fantastic.

You ask should you turn it to the bedroom or to the hall. I would definitely turn it TOWARD THE HALL. Why? Because that would give you the option in the future to place a piece of furniture in your bedroom in front of that spot. I am all for making the bedroom as peaceful and uncluttered as possible.

Also, about the breaker box/electrical panel. Ours is within 3 feet of the kitchen sink, and I hate it. You have TWO OPTIONS with that breaker box:
1. Build a cover for it. Yes, I saw it done in the TV show on HGTV INCOME PROPERTY. It was in a basement apartment.

2. Turn it around to face into the hallway also. And then again, cover it over with a decorative hinged panel/frame.
This is what we are going to do with our kitchen breaker box. I cannot totally remove it, so when we redo the kitchen I must leave a short stub of wall to contain it when we knock down that wall and take in the back porch. The electrician and I talked about doing this, and then a small subpanel that is in the old back porch will be integrated with the main breaker box. All of this will be done when we have a weatherhead put in. Currently, the power line comes into the house and is attached to the edge of the roof, which I do not feel is a safe arrangement. So the electrical company will take care of this issue, turn the kitchen breaker box 180 degrees in the wall to face the opposite direction, and I will be able to put a nice plate rack and dish cabinet on the wall stub left near the sink.

I do not know how much that it will cost to simply TURN THE BREAKER BOX AROUND, since my project encompasses a bit more work than that. I call this box in the kitchen the "main" box, but actually there is the big one on the exterior of the house about 2 feet away from this box. So this portion of the project could be done independent of anything else.
But I'd not want it to be a DIY project, even though my DH is a mechanical engineer and quite capable.

If I had that in my bedroom, I would build a jewelry organizer into it, with a hinged mirror covering it. I wanted to do that in my closet, but the studs weren't centered right.

At our last house we had a regular kitchen cabinet door over the electric panel. It was in our master bedroom too. I never paid much attention to it. Course it was behind the door. LOL

Loretta which door is it? can you post a pic of your room again and point out the door?

yrs ago in a house we had the breaker box on the inside of an exterior wall in the kitchen. We hung one of the X's photos over it (he's a photographer). Our kitchen table sat in front of it.

ML, interesting that you thought about rotating your box 180 degrees. i also thought about that, but was not sure about the cost vs gained useable space.

With 7" we can still open the panel box, and also I can still remove the dresser from my closet if I ever need to. The closet door is to the right outside of the picture. If I do the shelves, they will be flush in the hall and protrude into the bedroom.

Here is a pic. It is the door on the right. The panel is on the short piece of wall between the doors.
{{!gwi}}

View from hallway - 1st door on left

{{!gwi}}

Loretta, I get the picture now. Heck, you could even put a corner cupboard in that spot in your bedroom. And the spot in the hallway where the door is now can have the thinner type of shutters used as doors, fixed louvers. You would not have to protrude into your bedroom very far if any. A medicine cabinet fits into a 4 inch deep wall space, and such a storage area would provide a lot of space for pharmaceuticals and beauty products. Use as your guide enough depth to store t-paper rolls!

Putting the shutters flush with the hall wallboard will give part of the depth. I think leaving the woodwork of the present doorway but changing the door stop location will make a difference. We bought two pair of fixed louver JeldWen bifold shutter doors and used them for our closets. In your case, one pair would work in this doorway. But they make thinner shutters too.

Loretta,

After seeing the last picture I think I would go with the hall storage area too. Especially since it is close to your bath. I agree you could get so much stuff in there.

Chris

oh yes I wouldnt put shelves on the bedroom side, that little corner is a great spot for a piece of furniture. I'm not sure if I'd do it on the hall side either, but I love your hallway colour and your lovely floor! me, I think I'd cover it over

Hi, Loretta, I vote for shelves in the hallway--I love built-in storage of any kind. And, if you keep the door frame, the rooms can be returned to original floor plan, if the need ever arises. Might be a selling point if ever you decide you want to move to Hawaii, or France, or ...Ohio.