By spaces
Closet, hallway and garage storage ideas
The rooms that exist purely to store things. Closets, wardrobes, hallways, understairs, garages, sheds, lofts and basements.
This is the largest section of the library, and for good reason: these spaces are pure storage. A closet, an understairs void, a garage and a loft have no competing purpose, which means every cubic foot is fair game and nothing needs to look like furniture.
It also means these spaces fail in a specific way. They rarely run out of floor; they run out of organization. A garage with a clear floor and chaotic walls holds far less than a garage with a full floor and a proper wall system. Almost every page in this section is really about converting unstructured volume into addressable, labelled, reachable space.
13 guides in closets, halls & garages
Closets & Wardrobes10 min readIdeas for closet storage: how to double what yours holds
Most closets I open are one rail with a big pocket of wasted air underneath. Measure the drop your clothes actually need and you can usually fit a second rail, which roughly doubles what hangs.
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Storage Rooms & Outbuildings9 min readGarage storage ideas: how I get the floor back
A garage never runs out of space. It runs out of walls being used. Nearly every one I walk into stores everything on the one surface you also have to walk across.
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Entry, Hall & Stairs8 min readUnder the stairs storage ideas: how I use the whole wedge
The space under a staircase is a triangle running from about 2m down to a few hundred millimetres. I treat it as three separate storage problems, because that is what it is.
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Storage Rooms & Outbuildings8 min readShed storage ideas that keep tools off the floor
A 6x4 shed has about 2.2m² of floor and nearly 20m² of wall and roof structure. Almost every shed I open is using only the floor.
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Closets & Wardrobes9 min readWardrobe storage ideas for a box you cannot make bigger
A built-in closet is a space you fit out. A wardrobe is a box someone else sized, so every gain has to come from inside it.
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Entry, Hall & Stairs9 min readHallway storage ideas for a space you have to walk through
A hallway is circulation first and storage second. Get the depth wrong and you have made the house worse to live in.
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Storage Rooms & Outbuildings9 min readBasement storage ideas that do not end in a damp box
A basement is a humidity problem before it is a storage problem. Solve it in that order or you are just choosing what to ruin.
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Closets & Wardrobes7 min readCupboard storage ideas that stop it becoming the everything cupboard
Every house has one cupboard that absorbs anything homeless. Zoning it is what turns it from a hiding place into storage.
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Entry, Hall & Stairs8 min readUnder stairs cupboard storage ideas for an awkward wedge
The space is a wedge and shelves are rectangles. Almost all the wasted volume in an understairs cupboard comes from that mismatch.
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Closets & Wardrobes8 min readSmall closet storage ideas, and the honest limit of them
A small closet can be organised into holding perhaps a third more. It cannot be organised into holding a full year of clothes.
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Entry, Hall & Stairs8 min readEntryway storage ideas for everything that arrives at once
Four different things land in an entryway within ten seconds of the door opening. Whichever one has no home ends up on the floor.
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Storage Rooms & Outbuildings8 min readAttic storage ideas, and the two things nobody tells you first
Ceiling joists were sized to hold a ceiling up, not a floor. And boarding straight onto them destroys your insulation. Both come before any shelving.
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Entry, Hall & Stairs8 min readMudroom storage ideas for things that arrive wet
A mudroom is a drying room before it is a storage room. Everything arriving is wet or muddy, and storage that ignores that will smell by November.
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Other storage categories
Room Storage
Storage ideas for the rooms you live in. Kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms and living rooms.
11 guides
Utility & Work Rooms
Storage for the rooms that do the work. Laundry, utility, home office, workshop, craft room and playroom.
3 guides
Outdoor & Garden
Weatherproof storage for gardens, patios, balconies and yards. Tools, bikes, firewood, cushions and bins.
5 guides
Home Types
Storage strategies that depend on the kind of home you have. Small houses, apartments, rentals, RVs, campers, vans and boats.
6 guides
Awkward Spaces
The gaps most people write off. Under the sink, above the fridge, behind the door, in the corner, along the wall.
1 guide
Clothes & Personal Items
Storage for the things you wear and carry. Shoes, bags, coats, clothes, jewelry, makeup and toiletries.
5 guides
Bedding & Linen
Storage for bulky soft goods. Blankets, towels, duvets, sheets, pillows, quilts and rugs.
3 guides
Kitchen & Food Items
Storage for what lives in the kitchen. Pots and pans, food containers, spices, jars and dry goods.
1 guide
Tools & DIY
Storage for tools, materials and cables. Hand tools, power tools, timber, paint, screws and extension cords.
1 guide
Hobbies & Sport
Storage for collections and kit. LEGO, toys, board games, books, vinyl, yarn, fabric and sports gear.
6 guides
Storage Furniture
Furniture that stores things. Storage beds, cupboards, shelving, benches, ottomans, trunks and carts.
1 guide