Looking for more storage space in your house? Try seeing your living areas through the eyes of design pros.
Your house likely holds a lot of extra room for your favorite things, according to Alexis Givens, deputy home editor of Martha Stewart Living magazine.
“Storage space is in plain view,” she says. Specifically, behind doors, along staircase walls and hidden in beautiful furniture such as ottomans and window seats.
The staircase area down to a basement is a great place to install shelving, Givens says.
“It’s not a space a lot of people are going to see,” she says.
She also recommends using the space under beds, but not just for clothes.
“Think outside the box,” she says. It’s a great area for storing gift wrap. You can buy products designed for under the bed or craft one out of old drawers with wheels attached to them.
Upstairs landing areas often go unused, she says. Create a little office with a secretary desk or add a chest of drawers for linens.
The garage is an area that has a lot of wasted space. Think vertically to make the space work more efficiently. Make sure that any boxes or bins are waterproof if you’re going to use them there. (Pros recommend clear plastic boxes so you can identify their contents later.)
Once you get the hang of maximizing space, integrating it into your decor and keeping it stylish is the ultimate goal, according to Jennifer DeLonge, a Southern California interior designer who launched her own furniture line (www.jenniferdelonge).
The demands of family living inspired her stylish furniture, she says. One of the banes of organizing — toys — is remedied with a 10-foot-long console with silver storage tins.
“It’s really fantastic,” DeLonge says. “No one understands there are toys in it.”
From her own furniture line, the Charles round side table, in birch or walnut, about $300, is a chic choice for kids’ storage. The lids are finished in wood or chalkboard.
“You must have lids,” she says, no matter what kind of storage you select.
Sticking with one style of storage is key, DeLonge says. Otherwise, you end up with a mishmash — and another eyesore.
For more affordable options, Ikea keeps cranking out stylish storage solutions. Cloth magazine file holders, called Kassetts, clear boxes, the Broder garage system, a kids bookcase system called Trofast and a new bathroom cabinet system, Vattern, are some of the favorites of Trisha Tisdale, communications and interior design manager at Ikea in Bolingbrook.
The Trofast bookcases are designed so that kids can put things away on their own, she explains.
“We try to make things fun. It’s not about cleaning,” she says.
