Hidden Storage, Reclaimed Space – Our 4 Top Tips

It’s easy to let possessions overrun the home. If we don’t take control, pretty soon they’re crowding us out and cramping our style. Reclaiming space isn’t so hard with these four top tips.

Switch and Swap

You don’t have to keep everything you own at home all the time. We all have things we can’t bear to part with, such as childhood memorabilia or items we’ve inherited. But those things often don’t have a place in our daily lives.

Some people gain the best of both worlds by renting a self-storage room or getting themselves one of the Self Storage Buildings that they can put in the backyard. The things that never get used are packed up and put into storage for safekeeping.

Self storage facilities are also brilliant for helping to free up space in other ways. Rotating clothing for instance, putting winter clothes in storage during summer and vice versa. You can also use it for children’s toys or bikes that are not currently being used.

Storing little used furniture is another idea. By putting a guest bed into self storage you could create a home office, play room or hobby room, but have the wherewithal to also quickly make a guest bedroom.

Double-duty Furnishings

Storage furniture can hide a multitude of clutter sins and still keep little things to hand. Items in regular use, like TV remotes or game consoles and phone chargers can be popped inside drawers in occasional tables, keeping surfaces blissfully clutter free.

Other furnishing items to look out for include lift-top foot stools (they make ideal perching places for children when you have guests), or toy chests that double as seating and look stylish in a bay window or at the foot of a bed. If you’re remodelling your kitchen to include a dining area, consider incorporating built-in bench seating that you could build storage into.

Upstairs, a handy place for spare duvets or throws is beneath the mattress of an ottoman bed. Otherwise choose a divan with drawers or sliding doors, or if you have a frame bed invest in an under-bed storage box on casters.

Find Underused Areas

Every house has space for a few more shelves. Underused areas include:

• Over and around doorways. Run a shelf above the door and narrow shelves down each side and you create a feature that looks like a recessed doorway. Great places for books or delicate collectibles. Windows can be given the same treatment. Marry the shelves up with matching blinds or internal shutters for a designer look.
• Install shelving in awkward areas under the stairs. No matter how small, a few shelves and hooks will allow for much more storage in the same space, and make things easier to find too.
• If you have good flooring in the kitchen, consider removing kickboards beneath cabinets and replacing them with lift-up doors. You can free up lots of space for quite large, flatter items this way.

Shelves fit in anywhere around the house, and are versatile enough to match any style of decor.

Storage Ideas for Children‘s Rooms

Children tend to have dozens of possessions – and also the smallest bedrooms. Clever storage helps keep everything neat and tidy:

• Raised beds free up floor space where you could install a desk or chest of drawers.
• Figure out the type of toy your child has most of and organise storage accordingly. Lots of small collections like building bricks or superhero figures? Transparent tubs on low shelves make them easy to find and reach. Larger items could be stored in a chest or closet set aside for the purpose.
• Choose a desk with a hutch on top, or install shelves above an ordinary desk to hold homework, craft supplies or models.
• Pin some kind of bulletin board on the wall to display art work from school, awards or certificates, or photos. Magnetic whiteboards that kids can also draw on work well.

All around the house there are storage opportunities when you know where to look. Maybe even a saltbox storage shed for the garden too – every little helps! Create space by moving out the things you don’t use, then use clever but practical display and storage ideas to keep items at home looking their best.