You do not buy a home because you like being cramped. Going through the process of shopping, , and moving is too arduous for that. Now that you are the master of your domain, you want to spread out in that domain!
This is where the problems arise. As you start to unpack, you may find your home fitting fewer of your things comfortably than you thought it might. What can you say, you just accumulate a lot of stuff!
You are in need of solutions, and quick. How can you find storage room in places that do not add clutter to your main living areas? How can you get the debris we all have in our homes hidden away so it is out of sight when guests visit?
If you have asked yourselves these questions, you are in luck. We have compiled this handy guide just for you. Read on to discover home storage solutions you may have never considered.
8 Unexpected Ways to Find Storage Room in Your House
We could have suggested the fixes you already know, like a storage chest in your living room. We decided not to go that route with these tips. We wanted to find the hidden gems, the things you have not even thought to consider.
Consider these eight suggestions your orientation in storage sleuthing. Once you have mastered them, you will be prepared to hunt for little storage nooks and crannies all over your house. Your decorating and cleaning games will never be the same again.
Your journey begins now.
1. Buy or Create a Storage Bed
This is a two-fold suggestion. The way you interpret it depends on your fondness for DIY projects.
There is an easy way, which is buying a storage bed. There is no shame in doing it this way! A storage bed is one of the most functional solutions to the storage problem there is.
Some homeowners may not be satisfied with this solution. To those homeowners, we offer the suggestion of making a storage bed yourself.
This can look a couple of different ways. First, you could find ways to modify an existing bed.
Many beds have a bit of space underneath them, but few of them have the amount of space that is really helpful for storage. To modify these beds, you just need to add a boost.
There are several ways to raise your bed, including wood blocks and prefabricated bed risers. It is your choice how you want to make the modifications. Consider the design aesthetic of your bedroom, and get risers that match it.
The most ambitious option for creating a storage bed is creating an entire bed frame yourself. This is time-consuming, so you might need a . But the feeling of sleeping on a bed you made, from the sheets to the frame, is unlike any other.
2. Get Rid of the Things You Need to Store
How you create storage space? Eliminate the things you need to store!
We know, it sounds simple, and also crazy. You would not be looking for extra storage if you had not carefully considered the things you want to keep, right? Think again.
You may want to triple check your methods for evaluating what needs storing and what can go. In Japanese decluttering expert Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, she suggests you use a simple criterion for evaluating the stuff in your life.
That criterion? Keep only what sparks joy. But just because this tactic is simple does not make it easy.
The definition of joy varies from person to person. For some, it may mean cutting out most things they have had for longer than a specific period of time. For others, joy may relate to their core values.
The beauty of this method is that you define joy for yourself. We dare you to try it. If you do it before searching for storage space, you just may find yourself in need of less room than you thought.
3. Open up Your Home with a Kitchen Diner
So far, our suggestions have been fairly easy to accomplish, depending on how ambitious you got in your bed-making. This suggestion is even more ambitious than that. It involves a remodel.
What is a kitchen diner? It is a combination of your kitchen, your dining room, and your living room. By tearing down the walls between these rooms and combining them into one common area, you can create an airier feel to your whole house.
This will also open up the spaces your walls were occupying. You can place furniture in those central spaces, which frees up the space the furniture was occupying for storage. It is the perfect domino effect!
4. Use Your Vertical Space
This tip is the opposite of the last one. No major construction required. It just involves a change of mindset.
Stop thinking of your storage in terms of the items that line the bottoms of your walls. Instead, look just above those pieces. Do you see all that space for storage?
As long as you do not have walls filled with art, mirrors, or other decoration, vertical storage is an elegant solution to the storage problem. It can take the form of installing floating shelves or simply buying taller pieces of furniture, as opposed to wider ones. Why not bring that china up to eye level?
5. Install Knee-Wall Storage
Knee-wall storage will turn your house into real spy’s lair. Here is how it works. You build your furniture into the wall.
That’s it! Simple, right? It requires some handiness, but once you have completed a knee-wall dresser, the space you will save will more than make up for the time it takes to make the dresser.
Knee-wall storage really is the ultimate combination of form and function. Your home will immediately have tons of extra space with furniture built into the walls. And the way it looks will make you the envy of everyone who visits you.
6. Try Off-Site Storage
Perhaps you are at your wit’s end. You have searched high and low for space in your house, and you just can’t find it anywhere. It might be time for more extreme measures.
That is right, we are talking about off-site storage. If you have items that you rarely access but need to keep for various reasons, the right size storage unit can be a gift from the gods.
Some of these units take the form of pole buildings. These frameless structures are so convenient and inexpensive that many people build their own. You can learn more about pole buildings to find out if they are the right option for you.
7. Build a Shed for Your Trash Cans
“Cover my trash cans? They occupy barely any space in the first place” It may seem that way, but there are trash storage factors you might be overlooking.
The trash can shed works on a similar principle to the creation of a kitchen diner. Yes, your trash cans are likely hidden away already. But by building a small storage area for them outside, you free up the space they occupy in your house.
Often, your trash cans live in a place that is relatively out of the way already. These include places like the pantry and under the kitchen sink. But these places are also prime real estate for storing miscellaneous items that do not fit in other areas.
Most everyone has cleaning supplies they use once, do not find further use for, but can’t bear to throw away. Or they need a place to put their plastic bags or nonperishable foods. These spaces, formerly occupied by trash cans, can provide homes to these items and free up the spaces they previously occupied.
8. Convert Your Walls to Built-In Bookcases
The built-in bookcase is the fancy cousin of the knee-wall dresser. We consider it a slightly different beast because the purpose is display rather than hiding.
This final item on our list is another craft project, and it works best with design styles that are a little cozier. But books are sneakily bulky in the room they take up, and building your own bookshelves right into the walls is a great way to solve that problem while making a space Sherlock Holmes would love.
Solve Your Storage Problems
Finding storage room in your home is a tricky problem, but as you can see, there are solutions. Whether you are lazy or industrious, crafty or simply a declutterer, finding space for extra storage is attainable. Some solutions involve a change of mindset, while others require the resources for a full-on remodel.
Storage is not the only problem that comes with owning a home. If you need help with the other aspects of homeownership, check out our .
