10 storage solutions that your house needs right now
Human beings have insatiable wants. And to fulfill these wants, you require storage space. Irrespective of your living place, you will always face a shortage of space to stash your things because, either you are the epitome of disorganization or your place is tight. Whichever it might be, don’t let it hold you back from having a clutter-free house. Let’s go through 10 storage solutions that your house needs right now. P.S. – some of them are DIY!
1. Fix shelves around the perimeter
The perimeter of your room is the least sought after place when it comes to additional storage space. Think about it, inches and inches of plain wall before your eyes reach the ceiling. Now imagine, floating shelves matching in colour with your walls, hanging nicely above your bedroom door and adding dashes of colour and cheerfulness to your comfort place. Stash things that you don’t use frequently, but cannot put away for a long time either. All you need is a small stool to stand up on and build these beauties along the perimeter of your room. Style check. Storage check.
2. Repurpose old crates and boxes
Yes, any kind of crates and containers will do as long as you promise to give them a brush up. If you have crates with holders, use them to stock your ties or socks. Slide them under your coffee table and there you have living room storage space. Clean up drawers; stack them side by side to make a bookshelf instead. Slide a few linens to keep them covered, or leave them open to bring a lil’ dazzle to the room. Use large baskets or containers to hold practically everything you need. They camouflage well and solve the space issue!
3. Line up your walls
If you have plain walls, the best way to jazz them up is by stacking your storage facilities on it. Use thin horizontally parallel shelves to create space for vases and books. Use sleek and slim holders to put your magazines on display in your living room. On a space big enough to fit magazine holders, you can stack your foils and kitchen wraps to grab them easily while cooking. Neat and tiny shelves call out to the dressing room and can arrange themselves to hold your fragile cosmetics. Lesser clutter on the floor and more usage of the walls!
4. Label everything
A good move to keep your house arranged is to label everything so that it looks fit in with the others. Install a couple of thin shelves in your kitchen and stack your dry spices and cooking ingredients on them in containers. Label them according to your convenience, avoid the hassle of packaging bits on your floor and have it all in one place. You could do the same with your laundry baskets – one for clean and one for dirty. Spare yourself the trouble of sorting out the clothes. If you have a small home garden, you could use labeling for your pretty little plants as well.
5. Maximize the bed space
The bulkiest piece of furniture in your room is the bed, sprawled out in all its glory and taking you so much of valuable space. Well, you can still put it to use by transforming it into a storage bed. If there’s comfortable space under the bed, slide in something underneath, like your suitcases and travel bags. You could fit roll-in or pull-out drawers to fit into the size of your bed if you don’t like the idea of keeping your stuff on the floor. Use risers to boost bed height, if there is not much usable space. Don’t forget to add sectioned headboards to store small accessories like chargers and bedtime books.
6. Don’t underestimate drawer organizers
Throwing your things into drawers to make a pile is one thing that you must never do, irrespective of how tempted you are. Drawers can hold a lot of stuff if you use them correctly, that is, with drawer organizers. Get a set of organizers for your office and dressing room. Fill out the spaces with thumbtacks, clippers, scissors, tape and all of your tiny office supplies. Fix a couple in your dresser drawers and all of your pins, hair ties, brushes in there. Clutter-free drawers are oddly satisfying, and your small junk will never be out of place. Win-win.
7. And hooks.
Never, I repeat, never underestimate the power of hooks. They can be used anywhere and everywhere. Fix a panel on your bathroom and you can hang your dirty clothes or towels in there. Put a rack of hooks on the side of your room and hang your slippers and shoes. Hooks in the inside of your kitchen cabinets will hold up ladles and measuring spoons. Hooks on your kitchen cabinet will hold pans pots. Add a few hooks to the back of your close; your purses and belts are sorted. If you have a green thumb, attach some hooks to your balcony wall and suspend little greens from it.
8. Don’t leave out the nooks.
Nooks are the weird corners or spaces in your house, where you cannot seem to fit anything or turn it into something less empty. Well, if you cannot fit in anything, what better than to make it your storage unit? If you have a random spacing on the wall in your kitchen, a shelf with your most essential dishes or ingredients will fill it up. A room built in at an awkward angle? Put in a window and a small couch to make it your reading space or seat by the window. The couch will bring in-built cabinets, or you could slide containers under it. If nothing works, put in shelves and a door to make a full-fledged storeroom.
9. Hide and Seek works well
As much as you would like everything out in the open, it could lead to a mess sometimes. If there is a lot out in the house and you are unable to navigate your way through the place, consider using dual furniture or strategies to hide your stuff. Plant your dustbins inside cabinets under the sink. Carve out boxes behind paintings and stash your keys. Go for sliding mirrors to cover your big wardrobe. Attach a pegboard behind your dressing mirror to hold the accessories. Buy stools that have containers inside. Use bendable tables; attach your fold-out ironing board to a spare drawer and the list keeps going.
10. Plan out beforehand.
If you’re moving into a new place or facing extreme shortage of storage space, hacks can be an easy way out of this. But, it is possible that your home will end up looking like a culmination of swift hacks. Hence, plan out your storage space in advance. Ideally, it is best to do before you move into a new place, although you can always improvise and make it work. Just because the tricks look easy, it does not mean you will cram all of them inside the house. Choose what fits your home and room type. Think it through before investing your resources in any kind of DIY or additional storage space solution.
Final Thoughts!
There is nothing more than a well-kept house that soothes a visitor. Even after you have designated storage areas for all your items, it is not necessary that your house is neat and tidy. You have to put in the effort to manage and clean it up from time to time. Go DIY or hire someone, but make sure you get the work done without any haste or disinterest. More than your storage facility, it is your organizational skills that will help you convert a chaotic, messy house to an immaculate and fresh home.
