Many homeowners in America today face the same challenge – too much stuff, and not enough room! With the relatively low prices we enjoy today for things like furniture, computers, clothes, and television it’s easy to watch all of the space in your home slowly disappear. If you feel this way, don’t worry! There are solutions. For one thing, if you look at your home in terms of cubic feet instead of square feet, you’ll realize that there is abundant underutilized storage space. Being creative is the key to finding a place for everything.
Go up!
If your closets are full of seldom used items, such as holiday decor, add a shelf around the room right under the ceiling for them. If you are worried about aesthetics, dress up the boxes with cheap contact paper, or simply wrap them with brown butcher paper and put pretty decorative labels on them.
Stacking bookcases gives you floor-to-ceiling room for books and all manner of other small items. Remember to screw the bookcases to the wall to keep them from tumbling down on top of you or curious kids.
Use Your Doors
There are shelves & hooks for multiple uses designed to hang on your doors. The bedroom door is a great place to hang a shoe rack, and the bathroom door is perfect for a hanging shelf for toiletries, towels, etc. Pantry doors are also a great place to hang shelving to hold small items. Cabinet doors can hold spice racks or magnetic knife holders. Use magazine holders on the inside of kitchen and bathroom doors to hold cutting boards, hair dryers, plastic bags and wraps.
Lift Your Bed
Bed lifters are relatively cheap, and create a magnitude of under-bed space for storing longer items such as wrapping paper, or bulky items such as winter clothes. You can rescue old dresser drawers, add inexpensive wheels, and roll your stored items under or out easily.
Maximize Your Closet
We all need more closet space. Using clothes hanger extenders allows you to hang clothes vertically instead of horizontally, freeing up more space. Hang a flat fabric shoe holder on your back of your closet door or on one of your closet walls to hold socks. Closet shoe holders hang right on the rod and are not just good for shoes. They also work well for small purses, makeup bags, and winter scarves.
Utilize Nooks and Crannies
The space behind your door is large enough to stash a folding table, or hang a fabric shoe holder. The space over your doors is great for adding a shelf to hold items such as bathroom tissue or shoe boxes. Store flat items behind your clothes against the wall in your closet or under your dresser. Use removable hooks to hang utensils on cabinets or refrigerators.
There is often more usable storage space in your home than you realize, but sometimes your house itself simply won’t be enough. If you’ve already tried all of these method and you still need more room, you might want to consider working with someone like North Star Mini Storage or a similar company to rent a storage unit. Whatever your situation is, remember that with a little research and a little hard work you’ll be able to make it work.
