Closet Conundrum

If you're familiar with old houses and buildings, then you're definitely familiar with quirky rooms and nooks in those houses. Our townhouse was built in the 1930's and it retains a lot of its original features. I'm pretty positive the floor is original; it just has been overzealously polished year after year after year. The bathroom could've been a real gem if it was maintained. The original black and white tiling is still there, but sadly, you can see the ghost of the likely once-awesome wall faucet on the backsplash above the new sink now. However, I'm not here to talk about all the pretty on-the-surface stuff. I'm here to talk about the nitty gritty of living:

Closet space.

Our closets make me laugh. It's not so much there's a lack of space, it's more of "who snorted crack then designed the layout of these closets?" I guess, the better way to describe it is the overabundance of wasted, hard to use space.

The one on the left is in the second bedroom, AKA my studio, and will be used for my fabric and odds and ends. It's like an optical illusion. Looks like a good sized closet, with shelves and hooks on the walls.

No.

In fact, if you stood inside, you had just enough room to stretch out one elbow without bumping a wall. You can, however, stand facing a wall and stretch your arms out as far as you can go, and I can close the door on you without hurting you. It's one long, narrow closet with five short shelves on one end. I have no idea how to utilize this closet at all. All that wasted space between the door and the shelves. You couldn't put a set of shelves against one wall because then, there's no way you can move around it to reach the end of the closet.

The second closet is in the master bedroom. Clearly, it's positioned right above the stairs as evidenced by the weird configuration. A little bump up shelf, then an incline, vertical wall, then a wide shelf that fits two rows of folded up clothing, then a random shelf up top and the icing? A closet rod right there, in front of you, waiting for you to smash your forehead into it as you bend over to search through your multiple rows of clothing.

Note: I'm such a wonderful girlfriend that I conceded the closet to Guitar Boy for his use with the exception that I get to hang my dresses and blazers in there. 

The problems: One, Guitar Boy needs easy access and visibility for his clothes. There's no folding and stacking for him. He likes things as effortless as possible, and this closet does not enable effortlessness. Two, there is no way in hell he'll ever be kind to my hanging clothes as he finds his stuff in that closet. 


What... the... hell?

This is a conundrum I need to figure out, pronto. Did you struggle with making your closet space work? Have you figured out a genius solution? Are you so magical that you know exactly what I can do to turn our crazy closets into something useful? Talk about it in the comments below.