Six Original Storage Ideas

Space is very important these days because we, people, grow in numbers, but the space we live in remains the same. It is only normal to have less and less space allowed for our home and our offices, everything. If you live in a city you will most likely live in a flat,  so you will not have enough space for storing everything you need. That is why many people have tried to find out new ways of storing things. Here are six original storage ideas:

1. Staircase drawers.

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When you have stairs leading you to the upper floor inside your house, you’d better use them as storage space because the space underneath is valuable and it goes unused most of the times. So you can make some drawers under the stairs that fit the stairs perfectly and do not affect in any way the function of the stairs nor do they prevent walking upstairs. Of course, the size of the drawers depends on the size of the stairs, so the wider and higher the stairs, the more space you have for every drawer. I think this is an original and great idea to use the space under the stairs for storing socks, magazines, tools, slippers and so on.

2. Understairs storage boxes.

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This time the space used is not under the stairs per se, but under the whole row of stairs. I mean all the space between the stairs and the floor is usually not used for anything and the best you can do is to place a coat hanger there. But what if you covered all this space with wood and then divide it into compartments of different sizes, smaller or larger wooden boxes that can be used for storing different things? Use your imagination and see what your needs are and then use this original closet for different purposes. It is very useful and also very cheap and you can even let some boxes open in order to use them as display cases. This way the design of the hallway will improve and also its functionality. If you cannot do this by yourself, ask for a professional carpenter.

3. Suitcase pile.

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Nothing looks worse than different things piled up all over the house, misplaced or thrown on the floor, on the bed and sofa and everywhere. Even if the house is really clean, it still looks like a mess if things are lying in the corners, never being stored in the place they are supposed to. That happens because people tend to gather too many things and only afterwards do they realize they have not enough storage space for them. One very original idea, especially for storing clothes you do not need at the moment is the pile of suitcases. You just buy a lot of suitcases of different sizes, but having harmonious colours and store the clothes in them. Each suitcase will have a label with what kind of clothes it contains and this way all the clothes will be safely stored, without the danger of getting mold, stale or something similar. When the season changes, just rotate the clothes inside the suitcases. The pile looks cool and nobody will guess its real use.

4. Jar and cup storage for small items.

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When you have kids you must be prepared for everything. I mean, their requests are quite unexpected, so you must learn to store a lot of small items that they will use later to make beautiful arts and crafts. Here is an original and great idea for storing small items like buttons, small yarns of different colours, beads and so on. You just take a few big jars and fill them with only one kind of small items- so you will have a jar full of buttons, one full of thread, one filled with beads and so on. I already tried placing those jars on a shelf, but unfortunately kids are likely to cause accidents and I can testify that cleaning the room after such an incident is not at all pleasant. So the jars had better be placed somewhere safe. How about securing the jar lids under the wooden shelf? You just need some nails and a hammer . So every time you need something just unscrew the jar and take it down, leaving the lid up. Crazy, but it’s working, right? For the things you must access immediately like brushes or felt tip pens just use plastic cups hanging on a hook and then hanging on a towel support. Man, I love creative people!

5. Suitcase hangers.

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Speaking of hanging things – here is a crazy but brilliant idea of storing things that will make your room look interesting. The name of the project is Tassenkast  and it belongs to Lotty Lindeman, an enthusiast young designer coming from the Netherlands. The point is to take a wooden bar and fix it to the wall of your living room or any other room you want to use for the project. Then just hang some suitcases from it with the help of a rope and use them for storing things inside. The best choice are those suitcases that have a lid that is made of fabric and which can be easily removed or rolled up and down, protecting the things stored inside. Actually the suitcases used in the original project were made specially for it and they were made of wood and fabric. However, you can get inspired from this project and make your own suitcases or use the ones you already have if they fit.

6. Suitcase inspired cabinet from Casamania.

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Well, a few lines before I was speaking of using a pile of suitcases as storage facility. However, the idea seem to have haunted many designers, so Maarten De Ceulaer turned it into reality and made the cabinet that looks like a pile of suitcases. He designed it for Casamania and imagined it as a modular cabinet with a funny and unusual design. This cabinet has six modules or drawers if you want to call them like that and they are all of different sizes and positions and this allows you to store a wide range of items there, starting with shoes, clothes, umbrellas, slippers, socks and so on. The modules are asymmetrical, respecting the real look of a pile of six suitcases, but this makes the cabinet all the more interesting in design. The item is available in different colour combinations and will make any room look cool and interesting.

So, here are only six of the most unusual and original ideas of storing things in the house, but if you have more, feel free to let me know.