i would just build a little box around it. from there, you can attach floating shelves at the side.

hard to draw on here, so I hope you see what I mean. on the shelves, you could do shoes or put baskets on them that hold smaller items.

or try something like this if there is room to come forward once you box it in:

I have no idea how to build a box around it and u have tried googling my situation but no luck. May have to hire a handyman

Unless you have plans to redo the shelves in your closet there is pretty much nothing you can do but just box it off flush to your current closet cabinet with a little door so can still be able to service that air duct if need be..

I want to box off the duct and then utilize the rest of the space

Adding a set of doors to the closet will solve the biggest visual problem. Look at places like The Container Store for a narrow set of plastic boxes which could hold socks and underwear in the space in front of the ductwork.

IMO there is no need to access this duct anymore than any other duct work in a home. get a handy man, a simple job done in a day and carry on . Just out of my curiosity could you show the whole closet.

Duct boxed in or not, I can’t see how you have much decent useable space.

Noticed that both rods are not filled and neither are the open shelves. Can you move all the shirts to the top, and fold up any sweaters and place on shelving.

- You can also edit by the season, so you have more room and place in a bin under the bed for example. I used to use one of my kid‘s closets as they were never full.

- In the newly created lower space, remove rod and look for a black storage with baskets.

- Visually, if duct bothered you, it would be easy to add brackets on the wall and use a swinging board painted black with a handle added horizontally to match what is on the drawers

@Christopher Stark what did you end up doing here? We have a similar situation...