Find Hidden Storage in Your Home

by Kathy Peel

A home is a haven when it inspires easy living. If a lack of storage space causes frequent frustration at your house, it’s time to take a fresh look at the areas you have to work with. You have more space than you realize.

Whether you live in a cottage or castle, these strategies will help you create new storage and use what you have wisely.

Store like items together. Gather all items used for the same kind of project and put them in one convenient spot.

Store items close to the place they are used most often. Keep your coffeemaker near the sink. If you do floor exercises in front of the television in the family room, store your mat nearby.

Allocate your most accessible space to the things you use most often. Shelves between eye and waist level are prime storage areas in the kitchen. Don’t store the deep-fat fryer you use once a year there.

Give every possession a “home.” Whenever you acquire something new, decide where it’s going to be stored as soon as you bring it into the house.

Make finding as easy as storing. Use see-through containers whenever possible, or label containers.

Be alert for “secret storage space”:

Put stackable plastic vegetable bins under the kitchen sink.
Screw hooks into the ceilings of your cabinets to hang mugs.
Use the inside of kitchen cabinet doors to post information such as cooking measurements, ingredient substitutions, and favorite recipes.
Think “up high.” Hang bicycles and other sports equipment from the garage ceiling. Put boards across the rafters in your garage to make a storage loft for things you need only seasonally—outdoor Christmas decorations or lawn furniture.
Build a high border shelf around a room’s perimeter to store/display decorative items.
Think “down low.” Keep a folding cot or plastic storage boxes under a bed.
Move a chest of drawers into your closet to free up space in the bedroom and make use of the space under the hanging rods that hold shirts and jackets.
Attach a long, straight magnet to the back (or side) of your medicine cabinet to hold small metal objects such as tweezers, clippers, and small scissors.

Family management expert Kathy Peel is the author of 15 books and is a regular contributor to American Profile.

first appeared: 4/29/2001