I Figured Out The Storage Closet Layout (With A Sink!)

After reading all of your comments yesterday, and then standing in the storage room and contemplating the options, I decided to actually clear out the debris covering the floor and seeing with my own eyes, in the room, just how much space Matt’s wheelchairs would take up in the room. Until now, I had only been using measurements I had written down after measuring each wheelchair, but there’s nothing quite like seeing the real thing. So I folded everything on each wheelchair as compact as they would go (foot rests and such), and then wheeled them in here and lined them up.

They took up less space than what I had figured going off of my previous measurements. That was very good news! It looks like the two wheelchairs will take up just a little more space than the length of the bathtub. So you can envision the bathtub gone, and the wheelchairs moved over into that space. But again, they won’t quite fit in that space. They’ll need a few extra inches (i.e., where that partial wall is on this end of the bathtub) in order to fit against the wall to the right.

But that is completely doable! I was planning on taking that wall down anyway because it’s 4.5 inches thick, and those are precious inches of wasted space once the bathtub is removed. In fact, those 4.5 inches are all that I need to get those wheelchairs lined up against that wall. On the other side of that partial wall is where the cabinet and shelves used to be. The width of that space is 29.5 inches.

So I went in search of a utility sink that would fit into that space, and I found this one on Amazon (affiliate link). It’s 24 inches wide.

So once I free up the 4.5 inches that the wall is taking up, plus the additional few inches left once I place a 24-inch utility sink into that 29.5-inch-wide space, that will give me plenty of room for the two wheelchairs! And then I can build shelves around them to fit.

Also, this wall is currently 34 inches wide, and I won’t need a separator between the sink and the wheelchair storage to be that wide. Matt’s wheelchairs are only 24 inches wide, and I would like the separator to be 24 inches wide. So that will open the floor space up ten inches, which will make the room feel so much bigger and roomier.

With the sink in that corner (which is really the most convenient space for it), that will leave me this entire wall for uninterrupted adjustable shelving.

I have a plan! It feels good to have a solid plan. No more guesswork. No more making it up as I go along. Now I can move forward with a plan I know will work.

By the way, thank you for all of your suggestions yesterday! They really did help me get out of the mental rut I had gotten myself stuck in. And until yesterday, I had never even heard of a floor mop sink. I didn’t even know those existed! I came very close to opting for a floor mop sink instead of a utility sink. This is the one I was considering yesterday.

But as I thought through all of the things I envision myself using this sink for, I decided a utility sink would be better for me. But I’m so glad to know about mop sinks! Even if I don’t ever have a place for one, I just like knowing what’s out there and available. I might know someone who will need one in the future, and now I can pass that info along.