Look for Nooks & Alcoves

We had an oddly-placed entryway in the middle of our home across from our living room (and off of the never-ending hallway). We kept the existing door and sidelight window there, but decided to take advantage of the space by filling one wall with bookshelves. All of our homeschooling books, materials, games, puzzles, building toys, puppets, and tons of books are stored in here. The other wall holds 2 feltboards that we hung up for the kids. A set of cubes for shared toys. A lamp and some floor pillows turned it into a great little space for reading or playing. We even decorated it with our teddy bear collection and some reproduction old game boards. I used a tension rod and some sheers to kind close off the area when the kids want to use it as their club house or perform a puppet show. But, I also use a tie-back to pull the sheers off to the side when I want it to look nice - then it looks like I intentionally decorated it this way. What was once a large empty corner now looks like a cozy little space - almost like a little room that's just slightly set apart from the rest of the house. A special place for the kids. You can use a tension rod and sheers (or opaque curtains) to section off areas for closets or storage too.