I recently became aware now that we have 3 kids, and the house is getting more full in all of the ways that we need more storage. I’ve said before with our 100+ year old house that it is lacking in closets. Plus we have taken a couple closets out because they were awkward, not very functional and blocking windows.
So I have taken it upon myself to find some creative ways to add storage to our home. Storage that is easy to access and keep up with. I hope that this can help give you ideas if you find yourself in a similar position.
I would like to add that I have been trying to be better about passing things along. Kinda like a hot potato if we don’t need it and aren’t using it it can go. I think this is an important step before trying to add storage. There’s only so much a I can manage inventory wise.
Use Every Nook and Cranny For Storage
I badly needed extra storage for our many smaller jars that I do not use on a regular basis. They no longer warranted taking up prime real estate in our kitchen cabinets. I didn’t want to get rid of them though, I’m hoping to use them again at some point.
I found a spot where a door had clearly been on the wall behind the basement door. So it was basically a doorway but walled off on one side. It’s taken me years and years to realize I could put shelves in this spot, and that it would be the perfect spot for jars.
If you come across a spot where you can create a niche between studs in your home it could be a really good thing. First of all it doesn’t take up any floor space. Plus you could easily add a door to conceal the items if needed.
Turn a Room into a Closet/Storage Room
I had a flex room that was just collecting things that we weren’t using elsewhere in our house. This room didn’t feel like it was being used to the fullest. I decided to turn this room into a closet.
There’s this weird room you walk through to get to a bedroom. It has zero windows, and we have tried multiple purposes for this room. We tried to use this room for an office, but we soon found that no one really wants to work in a room with no windows. Weird.
We used it as a nursery which was nice for naps but once our child got to a certain age this did not work well. Basically it got to the point where we were waking her up on the way into our own room each night. We have used half of the room for our clothes closet for a while and that has worked well.
So for now we will turn the rest of this room into storage. We had the holiday gear in the attic and in the small closets in our bedroom, but it has not been working well. I usually really enjoy decorating for holidays, but I have found myself dreading it because it’s hard to get to, and it’s a mess because of that. I have stuff stashed everywhere because I acquire things in between time and can’t easily put them where they need to go.
Windowless Room/Room Before a Room Ideas
If you have a windowless room that leads into a bedroom like this I think there are 3 good uses for this space. 1 obviously being a storage area or closet. The 2nd idea is walling off part of it as a bathroom. The 3rd idea is a media room. I think we may turn this in between room into a media room when the kids are older and we are able to move our clothes and room downstairs. For now I am loving being able to see all of our decor and things again.
Storage Shelves and Hooks
Basically anywhere you can add shelves that makes sense, do it. Also with that I would add if they are deep shelves bins are your friend. Without some sort of bin things tend to get lost behind the other items you are storing. I finally figured this out with our laundry room closet. I shopped these containers from around our house (Similar Crates here).
Once I know for sure if this set up works I will get a more aesthetically bins or maybe make some that match. That’s one of my favorite things to do to save money. I shop our house first for something close to what I think will work and use that for a bit. Just to be sure it will be worth the expense.
As you can see below in our “summer shed” as we call it I needed more storage for my pots and gardening items. It was rough. We had this feed trough in the barn that I have always wanted to use for something but I didn’t know what.
One day it finally clicked in my head that it could be used as shelves. I made sure to add some screws to make it sturdy enough to hold up to some extra weight. Then I just screwed it to the studs, and I could not be happier with this solution.
Also adding hooks where you can, is such a game changer. I plan on adding hooks to this same area for a bunch of the tools and outdoor gear to hang on. With most of these areas I have gotten a good start as I have shown but they are far from done. It is an ongoing and ever changing battle.
To Sum It Up
Hopefully this helps to motivate you to take a step towards calming the chaos in a space in your home. Just getting started can make a huge difference. Like I said I’m far from done with these spaces, but they already feel so much better.
Thank you for visiting our farmhouse and please stay tuned for more home projects like this. If you want more design tips and to learn how to design your room you can find that here in my mini ebook course. To see more diy projects you can find those here. If you missed my past renovations you can find those here. Or if it’s design plans you are interested in you can find those here.