Chilling with Lucas

Family and Lifestyle Blog

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • TikTok
  • Home
  • Travel & Days Out
    • UK
    • France
    • Worldwide
  • Lifestyle
    • Home & Garden
    • Family
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Beauty
    • Fashion
  • Reviews
  • Giveaways
  • Moving to France

Creative Storage for a Calmer Home

May 18, 2021 by Jenni

Sponsored
storage solutions for the front door, handbags are hung up on the wall. Shoes are on a shoe rack that can also be sat on

Do you sometimes feel as though your possessions are enjoying your home more than you are? No wonder some ‘tidy-up’ ninjas advocate a ‘one in one out’ policy when it comes to beating clutter.

It’s not always practical though. Possessions do amass over the years as you live your life, build memories, and generally accumulate your life history and legacy.

Of course, we all have stuff we’ve probably forgotten about and don’t really want any more, but I think most people don’t want to rid themselves of all the little things that tell the story of their life.

Squeeze in a Shelf or Two

When drawers are crammed full, cupboards are bursting at the seams and wardrobes overflowing, it’s time to think about some shelving. Just about every room in the house can use a shelf, and with styles to suit all decor tastes they can add the finishing touch to spruce up your home whether it’s for beauty or utility.

  • Use shelves in the kitchen to display favourite cookware, recipe books or china and crockery.
  • Add a shelf to the end of a cabinet run instead of having a spice rack in a cupboard.
  • Add low shelves in children’s rooms, with handy baskets or tubs to encourage them to tidy up.
  • Install shelves in the bathroom for spare towels or beauty and hygiene products. Pop one over the door if there’s no other spare wall space.
  • Use shelves and concealed lighting in alcoves for elegant display areas
  • Hang a shelf around the perimeter of a high ceiling (at picture rail height) in place of floor-standing bookcases or display cases.
  • Create a faux recessed doorway by adding shelves around and over the door opening.

There are so many ways to use shelves, and they can make all the difference when you’re struggling to find cupboard space for everything.

Look for Concealed Storage Areas

Maybe you’re not using the space under the stairs as well as you could, for instance. If it’s your general dumping ground, try and figure out ways to make it more useful. Even the addition of a shoe rack, a plastic drawer tower, or a few hooks behind the door for coats can make it easier to store and find odds and ends.

Then there’s the space underneath kitchen cabinets. We never use that space, but there’s no reason why not if it’s clean and dry. Just take off the kickboards and fit hinged or sliding doors, and you have long, low storage for all kinds of things. Think racquets, bats, board games, bakeware that’s rarely used, mops and brooms. Anything that doesn’t need much height is fair game.

Another place that’s often overlooked is inside the wardrobe. It’s not hard to fit an extra rail if your clothes are mostly short (shirts, skirts, or jackets), or alternatively, add a cheap drawer tower here too. They’re great for folding items, accessories or even shoes.

Rethink Self Storage Use

Consider all the stuff you only use during certain seasons. The rest of the year those things are just taking up space. Seasonal self storage is a trend that’s fast-growing, and it’s a brilliant concept when you need more space at home but don’t want to downsize your possessions.

Keep garden machinery and furnishings in self-storage over winter to keep it all in good condition, then swap out for the stuff you’ve used through winter. Snow shovels, tyre chains, heavy coats and boots, or storage for winter sports gear until you need it again.

Personal storage units are also useful for the temporary storage of children’s items, whether it’s nursery furnishings, spare beds or cots, or toys they’ve stopped playing with for now. It’s handy to be able to remove things, then bring them back after a few months for a new lease of life.

Living with a haphazard collection of possessions that don’t really belong anywhere can soon get you down. You might not even realise why you feel hemmed in and restless.

Organising the things you own means you can enjoy them more, and you’ll create a calmer living space and a better sense of harmony in the house.

Creative Storage for a Calmer Home. From self storage, finding space using shelves and finding ways to create concealed storage

Filed Under: Home & Garden, Lifestyle

« Father’s Day with Asda – Giveaway
Things to do During the Summer in Long Island »

Comments

  1. Jess says

    May 18, 2021 at 7:39 pm

    I would love to have the space for one of those ladders they are so cute !

  2. MELANIE EDJOURIAN says

    May 19, 2021 at 3:42 pm

    I like to use concealed storage areas. We make full use of ours. There is never enough!

  3. Paula Richie says

    May 19, 2021 at 5:47 pm

    We strive to leave somewhat at minimalists so we started with concealed storage. Now we moved to just throwing stuff out.

  4. Melissa Dixon says

    May 19, 2021 at 7:18 pm

    I love these ideas. I think using shelves is a great way to get organized and make use of vertical space that would otherwise go unused.

  5. Lavanda Michelle says

    May 20, 2021 at 5:24 am

    I didn’t know that space for storage didn’t have to be chaotic like my daughter’s storage spaces, LOL. I will keep these tricks in mind and use them in the future. Thanks for sharing!

  6. Rosey says

    May 20, 2021 at 11:20 am

    I was never one of those people to change things out by seasons. I have too many things around now, so i have to do it and it does make a big difference.

  7. Melissa Cushing says

    May 20, 2021 at 7:13 pm

    These are great ideas for maximizing space which I am all about as we did buy a smaller size home to reduce our carbon footprint as smaller homes require less energy to heat and cool but you have to get creative with storage solutions and such which is why I am loving this post! I am bookmarking it too so thank you!

Hello

Hi, I’m Jenni, Mummy to Lucas who was born in 2015 and Morgana, born in 2021. I’m a virtual assistant living in the Dordogne, France since moving from Lancashire, UK in September 2019 Read more about us

Take A Look Around

Categories

Subscribe for new posts to your email

Disclosure & Privacy Policy

Affiliates

Resources

Consider a Wyndham Timeshare or WorldMark Timeshare for your next family vacation. Wyndham timeshares and WorldMark timeshares are more spacious than hotel rooms and can be exchanged through services like RCI for more than 4,000 different resorts around the world.
  • About Me
  • Contact Me
  • Work With Me
  • Disclosure & Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy
  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2022 · Delightful theme by Restored 316