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9 Ways to Add Storage to a Small Home

When you’re short on floor space, sometimes the only place to go is up

Janet Dunn 4 April 2016

Houzz Australia Contributor. Former NZ House&Garden writer and stylist, and avid interior design enthusiast. Ex-restaurateur and caterer, with a Professional Certificate in Gastronomy, University of Adelaide.

Houzz Australia Contributor. Former NZ House&Garden writer and stylist, and avid... More

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A small footprint can mean big storage issues. With limited floor space, it pays to look up to your ‘air space’. By thinking vertically, you’ll find a whole world of opportunities for stowing items, saving the floor for essential furniture and traffic movement. Check out these nine ideas that find room up high in tight spaces.

Agsia Design Group

Reach the upper echelons
In an ideal world, there would be no out-of-reach cabinetry. But there’s an awful lot of wasted space up there, so don’t dismiss it. Many of our items go untouched during the course of a week or even month, so keep these seldom-used items up top. When needed, a stepladder or basketball player will come in handy. Store the rest at human height.

Tip Leave top-level compartments open for easy access and visibility, and label them to avoid fruitless climbs.

Tess Bethune Interiors

Get your hooks in
The hook is the saviour of the spatially challenged – didn’t someone once say, ‘You can’t be too thin or have too many hooks’? Embrace the hook all over the house – hallway, kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, playroom, bedroom, living areas – to add heaps of handy storage.

This entrance forgoes a space-hogging cupboard or shelving unit in favour of hooks, a big basket and a couple of chairs for taking off shoes.

Tip When using multiple levels of hooks, stagger them to keep items clear of one another.

Day Shift Furniture

Don’t forget about the underside of shelves for a bit of hook action. This tiny kitchen makes use of both the top and bottom of a shelf across the window to hang pots and pans and to keep items off the worktops. Also note the very practical lid rack.

Get expert advice on building in kitchen storage from the outset

Corynne Pless

Having a small kitchen is a good reason to bring back the cup hooks popular in earlier times. They’re often attached under cabinets, but your pretty cups and mugs can be displayed anywhere.

Hill Farm Furniture Ltd

Stay on the straight and narrow
These merest slivers of a wall are fitted with narrow, built-in shelves and cavities for books and wine. In-wall storage like this provides some insulation for your precious vintages, makes an interesting entrance to the room and creates a spot to pause while browsing recipe books or choosing a bottle to open with dinner.

Lauren Rubin Architecture

Narrow shelves on either side of a doorway can also hold flat items such as trays, breadboards and platters, and they make a tidy frame if continued across the top.

Tip Store up high those items you use only occasionally and decorative treasures you love to display.

Alair Homes Vancouver

With limited space for a bar, recessed shelves just one bottle deep help in creating a nook for pouring and mixing drinks. A metal grille over it makes a decorative feature.

Abaca Interiors

Get behind the doors
The back of a door is underused property. In a child’s bedroom, toys can be tucked away in bags or baskets, ready to be unhooked at playtime. It’s also a good place to keep a ready-packed child’s travel bag to grab and go when you’re in a hurry.

It’s a nifty idea for craft supplies, and in the bathroom, a spacious bag or basket can hold towels, cleaning gear and larger bath items.

Tip Make sure there’s enough clearance behind the door – a rubber stopper may be needed.

Jennifer - Rambling Renovators

Utility rooms often have doors to minimise noise transference to the rest of the house. Instead of wrestling an uncooperative ironing board into a narrow niche, hang it on a pair of brackets on the back of the door.

Tip Hollow-core doors will handle brackets for light objects, but for heavier loads, use an expanding, toggle-style plastic or metal anchor. Another trick is to glue (with a proper construction adhesive) or screw battens to the door, paint them to match and attach your brackets or hooks to them.

Traditional Home Office Nancy's Craft Studio

A budget-friendly answer to keeping children’s books off the floor is an over-the-door plastic hanger. They’re not the most attractive of items, but they do the trick when floor space is tight. The transparent compartments make it easy to see the titles. They’re also great for storing shoes, of course.

Discover child-friendly spaces that don’t scrimp on style

Eunice Fernandes

Hit the high spots with shelves
Open shelves that start just below the ceiling double as storage and as a visual trick to give the illusion of a larger room. If you want to minimise the shelves, paint them the same colour as the wall or use tempered glass. For more impact, use a contrasting colour or wood that matches other wood in the room.

Gepetto

Wall boxes are a great idea for renters. They can be attached with minimal damage and are easily removed and transported when you relocate. Choose a lightweight wood and don’t overload them.

Tip Check out ways to hang wall boxes that don’t damage walls too much. Ask your landlord if it’s OK, and offer to repair the walls when you leave.

See more clever ideas for storage in rented homes

Luci.D Interiors

Try a line
Bulky wardrobes crowd small bedrooms. Little people’s clothes are… little, and also light, so a rail suspended from the ceiling should hold a chunk of their items. It’s also colourful and cute.

Cabbages & Roses Ltd

If you’ve managed to carve out space for a small guest room, chances are the bed and bedside table have first claim on floor space, leaving not much room for storage. Short-term guests don’t need much, so a rack of wall hooks can take the place of a wardrobe and reduce that squeezed feeling.

Clever wardrobe devices, like this pull-down bar, ensure high space is used to the max.

De Hasse

Give your books air
Bookworms face the inevitability of their book collection reaching critical mass. Short of culling –something bookworms hate to do – you can gain space by floating your shelves. This clever curve leaves room for a small desk and handy storage tubs and holds the same number of books as a hefty floor-standing case.

Use wall hangers to free up surfaces
A small, cheap and often overlooked means of freeing up floor space is the wall-hung basket. Not only does it gain you more room for bigger items, but you can keep surfaces clear of fruit bowls, herb pots, cloths and utensils. Worktop ends are a perfect spot for these catch-all containers.

Tip Use wall-hung baskets for potatoes and onions, which don’t need refrigeration and benefit from the circulating air.

ComfyDwelling.com

Hang several wall-hung baskets in pint-sized bathrooms – on towel and shower rails, baths and wall hooks. They’re easy to move to where you want to use the products, and you might get by with just a tiny medicine cabinet or none at all.

Tip Renting or sharing a house with just one bathroom? Keep your personal toiletries in a basket in your bedroom and carry it to the bathroom when it’s your turn.

Grow a high garden
Vertical gardens are a growing trend. Even a postage-stamp-sized outdoor space offers a chance to try your green fingers. Use fences, hangers or wooden frames to get your garden off the ground and double your growing area. Herbs, vegetables and flowers will enjoy the rarified atmosphere above the crawling insects and are at a perfect height for picking.

TELL US…
What’s your favourite space-saving trick at home? Share your tips or photos in the Comments below.