Creative Storage Ideas For Every Room

If you live in a studio or one bedroom apartment, or just need storage in your interior spaces, we have some bold space making ideas. Before you start shoving boxes around, it might be a good idea to evaluate what you really do and don't need. If you haven't used an object in the last year (two at the most), you really don't need it. The extra set of dishes slated for your motor home -- when you can afford to buy a motor home -- are gathering dust and taking up valuable space today that should be reserved for things you really need. Hold a garage sale and get rid of the excess. Clinical studies suggest that lightening your load of belongings will actually make you feel less stressed.

The Living Room And Den

Living areas see a lot of action. By default, they become the final resting place for many of the essentials in life. If you have stacks of magazines on all the available flat surfaces in your family room, take heart. Getting organized with some sneaky storage is easier these days than it used to be. Many furniture manufacturers are making furnishings designed with a petite sensibility -- smaller, but also much more storage focused. You can find ottomans with onboard storage for blankets and pillows, and coffee tables that open to store DVDs, magazines and just about any other small items you care to collect.

It's a brand new storage focused world out there. As you replace worn out furnishings, look for new pieces that offer storage or do double duty (so you can get a two for one item that takes up a tiny footprint). We like chairs that stack inside drop leaf tables and ladders that can be folded into emergency seating in a pinch. Another couple of options are bench seats that can be used as storage chests and chairs and loveseats that convert to beds.

In The Bedroom

The bedroom is probably storage central if you have a small apartment. This means your chests, the space under the bed and even the area behind the door are crammed with items that can't be concealed anywhere else. You actually have the right idea: Using every inch of space is a good plan, but when you organize it right, you can get more stuff into those nooks. Over the door shelves or hooks can house everything from your ironing board to your shoe collection in the tiny space between the door and the wall. Instead of having everything back there fall over when you close the door, invest in a few utility pieces designed for that specific area. You'll be able to store more in the space and get at it more efficiently, too.

Other areas you might want to consider for storage are:

• The headboard - There are specialty headboards available that include their own storage cabinets, shelves or chests. Some also include lighting to leave room on nightstands where lamps would otherwise need to be placed. (For more headboard ideas, see Creative Ideas For DIY Headboards.)
• The bed - Lose the dust bunnies under the bed in favor of a platform bed with onboard drawers that nest under the mattress. You'll have somewhere to put your winter clothing where it won't get dusty, store shoes, linens, books and more. If you can’t afford a new bed frame, pick up a set of long, thin plastic boxes for the same function at a fraction of the cost. Simply slide them under the bed after filling with items you don’t need to access often.
• The vanity - Like the ottoman in the living area, vanity seating sometimes has a cavity for storage. It isn't large, but if you have a few unmentionables you don't want on display, chances are this is a spot where they'd be safe from prying eyes. Drawers in a vanity and seating can hold makeup, beauty products, jewelry, accessories and even small clothing items.
• The nightstand - If you're using small tables as bedside nightstands, trade them in for one or two small chests of drawers. They're great for things like jewelry, extra makeup, small clothing items and reading material. The extra few drawers will go a long way to clearing space around your room.

The Kitchen

Yes, there's a lot of stuff in the kitchen, and most kitchens across the land are groaning under the weight of all that glass, crockery and silverware. What should you do when your foodie fixation is outgrowing the space? Add modular shelving to the doors. Modular shelving will help you get small or odd shaped items off your shelves -- freeing up much more space than the actual size of the objects. Some of the biggest offenders are:

• Spices
• Pot lids
• Plastic storage containers
• Serving Platters
• Pitchers and vases
• Small appliances

You can actually find modular door and shelf storage that can help you organize, stack and stow all of these items in less space. Now, look around. Are your dishes on stacking wire shelves? These nifty shelves will allow you to double the number of dishes you can keep in one spot safely, recapturing the lost space at the top of your cabinets.

Another good option is to buy a few lazy Susans. These are actually just rotating shelves that mount on your existing shelves. They rotate items from the back to the front for easy access. If you've ever had to climb in your cabinet to find the jelly roll pan (or fondue pot), you'll appreciate a simple device that brings things front and center with a simple twist of the wrist.

The Bathroom

We love the idea of using bathrooms for storage because bathrooms are so under-utilized:

Spot Shelves - Consider the spot between the commode and the tub (or the cabinet and the built-ins). It's narrow, but probably undisturbed from floor to ceiling. There are special wall-mounted shelves (about the width of a CD) that can take advantage of that space to store items like: razors, extra soap, shampoo, face cloths, brushes and combs, etc. Leave pretty items on display, and place the others in decorative bowls or boxes.

Wire shelving - You can always go with more conventional choices like shower mounted wire storage, door mounted wire shelves or wall hooks.

Corner storage - If you have a larger bath with an unused corner, invest in a corner storage cabinet. They're not uncommon, and if you can't find one specifically designed for the bath, there's likely to be something available at your office supply store. It's a perfect spot for towels and other linens.

Add wall shelving - If you have wall space around your mirror or medicine chest, frame it with narrow wooden, metal or wicker shelves. This can create a finished look for only a few dollars -- and give you more valuable space for toiletries.

The Closets

You might think your closets are full to the max, but that's probably because your current shelving solution isn't optimized for your belongings. When you install modular shelving in your closets, you can customize it to your specific needs. If that means room for twenty purses, so be it. If you want your Kentucky Derby hats to have pride of place in a corner where they won't get crushed, you can design a storage solution that will protect your hats and still provide shallow shelves for purses and a floor to ceiling spot for your ironing board. It's that flexible. (For more information on organizing a linen closet, see How To Organize A Linen Closet).

You should also consider taking advantage of all that headroom in your closet. Wall shelves mounted eight inches from the ceiling can hold some valuable collections in what would otherwise be dead air.

The Walls

There has been a revolution in recent years to embrace open wall shelving. Whether you like the look or not, there's no denying that it offers lots of storage room. When you make your possessions part of your wall art, you transform your walls into useful storage. Yes, some items you'll want to store aren't exactly ready for prime time, but you can always put them in wicker baskets or decorative boxes. For the rest, it's amazing how many attractive items you probably have squirreled away. Why not put those serving platters, spare blankets and pretty terrycloth guest towels on display? Creating a collage of useful, attractive objects will put you back in touch with the reasons you wanted all that stuff to begin with -- and discourage you from indulging in future bouts of conspicuous consumption.

If you want to keep your wall shelving choices subtle, try installing shelves along stairways, above baseboards, over unsightly room features like heaters and plumbing fixtures, or over windows or doors. If you want to show them off, opt for mirrored or glass shelves. For a modern look that's visually arresting, try adding floating shelves to your room decor.

Adding storage around your home will inevitably require a certain amount of cleaning, moving, reorganizing and planning. Look around your home and find areas that are going unused, and install the best type of storage for that area. Use shelves on blank walls, racks in the kitchen, corner shelves in pantries and bathrooms and your bed itself in the bedroom.