Sometimes, if I’m having a creative block, I will visit other blogs to see what they are writing about. When I see posts about closet makeovers or junk drawer organizing, I always think, “Who would want to see my closets?” They are somewhat organized (1/2 the time), but definitely not worthy of a blog post. So I started to think about an issue that I’m guessing many of us have.
Living in an older cottage style house, our storage space is pretty limited. This style of house was built with small closets that are few and far between. Because of this, I have found ways to conceal a lot of my clutter necesseities. Let’s go over a few ideas that can be adapted to any home that needs some extra hidden storage space!
1. Skirting- Skirting tables or desks can be a great way to unsuspectingly store things that you would normally put in a closet. You can simply pick up a tension rod from Target, sew or use fusible table to create a little skirt, place the skirt on the tension rod, and place up underneath your table or desk! That provides a whole lot of space to stack some magazines or a few boxes of craft supplies!
2. Buying or building pieces of furniture that have lots of drawers provide you with instant organization! Below you can see the media console that my husband and I built with a bunch of old drawers we found at flea markets.
We not only love the look, but we love that each drawer or space is used to organize/hide a different thing, like this drawer which fits our DVD’s perfectly. . .
and like this mirror that rotates to reveal our DVD player on movie night, but conceals it the rest of the time. . .
We also designed the piece to have an opening that perfectly fits a collection of our magazines.
We built this piece of furniture, but we’ve also purchased a couple of flat files to store and organize small office and craft supplies around our space.
3. Of course another way to hide things that you don’t necessarily want to be visible to to use baskets. This extra large basket under our kitchen island serves to hold table linens, cloth napkins, and tea towels.
4. Old suitcases are a great way to stylishly hide anything in plain site. You can stack them to create a charming sculpture of sorts or use them separately to hold everything from photos to out-of-season clothes. Below, I used one beside this bed to hold a couple of extra blankets.
Those are some ways that we have increased our storage space around our house. However, sometimes rather than trying to hide things that need a place, I choose to artfully display them. Let me show you what I’m talking about. Sometimes I think we try to conceal things that are just too pretty to shut behind a door or hidden in some box. For me, things like jewelry, cosmetics, vintage dishes, and more can be artfully displayed in full view. Thinking of these items as small pieces of art allow them to do double duty for you. Not only can you use jewelry to finish off an outfit, you can use it to finish off a room!
Tim and I were just on the The Nate Berkus Show talking about this very thing! You can watch our video here if you haven’t seen it yet!
Below are a few ways that I like to display jewelry. DIY wooden busts and DIY wooden spindle jewelry holders.
Here, I used my collection of vintage tea cups to create a center piece for my dining table. They are way too charming to be stuffed in some cabinet, don’t you think?!
Well, that concludes my post about ways to both conceal clutter, organize, and bring pieces out of the closet or cabinet that need to be displayed! I hope that these ideas are of some help to you and your own war against lacking storage space!
We would love to see and hear about the innovative ways that you’ve created storage space for yourself!
I love your work, I think your blog is beautiful and inspiring.
LOVE love love love love that wacky storage piece with all the drawers. Here’s my idea: my husband is leaving for a week in April. You and Tim fly up, and we’ll redo our living room together and make it fabulous. Awesome. Thanks.
Love your idea of leaving some of the drawers out and using the empty space for storing other items!! I have an old chest of drawers that I will re-vamp, instead of leaving it out for the garbage pick-up! More ideas, please.
The console table idea is phenomenal!
Thanks for the kind words ladies! 🙂 Ms. Hollow Squirrel, we would love to come redo your living room! 🙂 If you’re serious, let us know! We are always up for fun travels!
Storage is a CONSTANT challenge around my house (lots of teenage girls) and I love all these ideas. I think skirted desks in girl’s rooms would be a great idea!
Kara, do you have a post on the art behind the flat screen tv? I’d love to know more about that look. Decorating around a flat screen is such a pain.
Well yes I do.
http://karapaslaydesigns.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-make-your-tv-more-appealing.html
It sure can be an eye sore, but you can make it a lot better!