Storage solutions for these alcoves?

[YourHandInMyHand]

I have 2 alcoves in my living room that I'd like to use as best as possible for storage. I only have a small living room and am thinking of going back to child minding so want something that looks tidy but has optimum storage.

I'd looked at the expedit range from Ikea but they seem to leave a gap width wise that I can't help feeling is a waste space wise. Has anyone seen anything that fits the widths, or can think of a way to use that extra bit of width but still looks nice?

The alcoves are ...

A: width 100 cm,
B: width 89 cm

Max height of 165cm in both alcoves.

If you really want to maximise the space, your best bet is to get a joiner in to build you something. Cupboards (or even drawers) at the bottom, with bookcases above is always a good bet. Trouble with most off-the-peg bookcases is that they tend to have a common unit, of which everything else is a multiple... Expedit is around 40 cm, 80 cm 160 etc... Besta is 60, 120 cm.

Built in for sure the best way I have 2 cupboards in little odd gaps and they are like the tardis.

Don't think I can afford built it. :-/ Wish I could but doesn't seem likely.

whoops, obviously I mean built in not it.

I am thinking of buying one of these for each alcove, and cutting the horizontal pieces downto size so they are the right width for each alcove.

www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/40047675/

Should be fairly straightforward and cheap.

A friend bought shelves and fitted it themselves. It was quite straightforward, just worked out how many they wanted in the space and attached the brackets to the walls (ie the back wall or sides of the alcove).

You could buy shelves that are the width of your alcove spaces (or, cut some down if necessary, as you mentioned cutting above). You can then decide how much space you want between each shelf, how many shelves you want. You could have boxes (nice ones, if you like ) underneath the shelves on the floor, to act as 'pull out' storage. You can get basic shelves with brackets quite cheaply in DIY stores, and nice boxes are very easy to come by (I like Wilkinson's in particular!).

Ime the thing with alcoves is maximising the space, the only problem with the Expedit type systems is you lose space because of the thick wooden dividers, of which you would probably have at least 3 total guesswork within your alcoves.

PS I mention the lost space with Expedit as we had a very similar storage unit from Habitat which was quite large, but then realised once it was in use that we couldn't get nearly as much on it as we would have expected due to the thick wooden dividers taking up so much space. We now have a different shelving unit with standard shelves and it is much more flexible for our needs and for storage purposes.

Plain shelves across the full width of the alcoves may well be a good idea actually! Why did I not think of that!?!

Thanks, sometimes asking others really helps.

If you can buy the boxes you will use for storage first then you know how high to put the shelves.

Good thinking friski. What would I do without mumsnet!?

Thanks everyone.