Large homes and apartments are continually rising in price, and it’s making it harder and harder to find living accommodations that have an abundance of storage space. According to a survey of over 1,000 Americans, a whopping 67 percent said lack of storage was one of the top things they find annoying with a new property. Homes that are too small were also a concern for 52 percent of survey respondents.
When you’re living in a modest apartment or a small house, you might have a problem finding enough room for your belongings. Consider the following storage solutions to improve the storage situation in your home.
1. Hide Under the Stairs
The space under your home’s stairs can be an elegant storage space. You can call in contractors to create a closet for non-essential items you don’t use too often. Alternatively, you can hang floating shelves on the underside of the steps. Or you could install shelves perpendicular to the steps for a modern-looking storage area. Finally, you can acquire many plastic bins and stack them under the stairs for a modular storage approach.
2. Try Entryway Shelving
A lot of small homes and apartments don’t have space for a coat closet near your main door. Instead of putting a closet or a drawer next to your door, why not install shelves on the walls? Companies such as Shelving Depot provide commercial-grade storage solutions you can employ to have an easily accessible place for you to drop off hats and other items.
3. Shelving Dividers
If your home or apartment has an open floor plan, you can be thinking about building dividers to create distinct areas around your living accommodations. Why not make the most out of these dividers by turning them into functional shelving? Instead of putting up blank plaster walls, buy freestanding bookshelves, and use them to divide your space. These bookshelf dividers will lend a fun and Bohemian vibe to your area and make it easier to keep things organised.
4. Hanging Solutions
If your walls aren’t thick enough for built-in furniture or strong enough for wall shelves, you could look for alternative storage solutions by suspending shelves from the ceiling. Look for cascading ceiling shelves, which usually look like rope ladders, and attach them to hooks embedded in your ceiling. That will free up some space without weakening the integrity of your walls. You could also consider a hanging solution to your cooking utensils by installing large pegboards in your kitchen.
5. Foldable Furniture
Furniture has a feature known as its footprint, which describes how much floor space it takes up. When your house is already cramped enough with essential furniture, you may want to look for furnishings with smaller footprints. Folding furniture offers you a way to reduce clutter and improve storage. Invest in furniture like wall hanging desks and folding chairs. You could also install a Murphy bed to remove one piece of furniture that usually has an enormous footprint.
6. Built-In Closets
When a lot of your home’s or apartment’s floor space is taken up by walls, it may be the time to have contractors build closets right into them. Built-in closers offer you a wide range of storage opportunities, depending on which room you have them. In the bedroom, you can use them for a recessed make-up table or as storage for a folding desk. In the kitchen, you can use built-in closets for a dessert or carving station.
7. Multiuse Storage Solutions
Like using bookshelves as space dividers, any opportunity where you can incorporate storage space into another item. Think creatively when you have a limited amount of storage space and learn to recognise the storage potential of furniture. In your living room, you can use storage boxes as seating. Simply wrap them in furniture cloth and attach seat cushions on top of them. You can put more storage spaces in other large items of furniture.
8. Look for Unused Spaces
A lot of homes and furniture have spaces that aren’t being utilised properly for their storage potential. For example, the area under your bed can be an excellent place for you to store small items in shoe boxes or similar containers. Walls offer a lot of space should you install free-hanging shelves on them. Always be on the lookout for any furnishing or area you could turn into a storage area.
The quest for more storage space is ubiquitous to any homeowner. These creative solutions can help you make your house or apartment a better place to live in with more areas to store your possessions in.
