If the old saw that you can never be too rich or too thin were re-written for a home, it would say you can never have too much storage. Time and time again, too few houses have enough storage or thoughtful use of space. But, with some innovative thinking and novel use of furniture, you can create more storage and better organization in your home.Create space
With the right furnishings, you can literally create more space in your home. Furniture should be put to work and the furnishings that do double and triple duty are good choices. For instance, if you’re thinking of adding a new coffee table, opt for one with storage. Furniture manufacturers understand that the need for storage is great and many furniture lines now include storage features.
Another good choice for your home is to select pieces, such as small chests, to stand in for side tables and consoles. Small chests look charming and eliminate the “room of legs” feeling that many living rooms suffer from. Sofa tables that have shelves or storage are a better option than tables that only have legs. A long, thin cabinet used as a sofa table can also anchor the room and give it more weight than a leggy table.
Too often space is given over to rarely needed uses. Guest rooms often fit into this category. If guests are a rarity, opt for a pull-out sofa instead of giving over a whole room. Formal dining rooms are also rooms that are rarely used. They can easily be converted into a home office or can be used as a home office and a dining room if office equipment is stored discreetly in an office armoire, for example.
Get organized
Organizers are another way to add space. Recently, I added organizers with sections and dividers to my home office filing credenza. The open space below the top of my credenza became a collection of books and junk and wasn’t organized or efficient. By adding the organizers I created “homes” for the various items, could find the items faster, and actually got more into the space than I had previously. Organizers can be added to drawers, desks, closets, kitchen cabinets, you name it, and can often double the amount of available space merely by making it organized.
Be resourceful
Create more function from your furnishings by making them do double duty. A short filing cabinet can be fitted with a round top and table skirt and stand in as both a table and filing cabinet. Or, add a round skirted table to store items out of sight. A collection of pretty hat boxes can be used on top of an armoire for decoration and hold papers or other items. Closets can also be used more efficiently. Many closets have wasted space that could be used more effectively with some minor changes.
Rolling storage carts can be put into closets for jewelry or lingerie and can be added to coat closets to store hats, gloves and scarves. Another option is to add wire drawers to create more drawer storage in the closet, add shelf dividers to make your shelf more useable and, if space is available, add a second shelf for more storage. If your ceilings are tall, it may even be possible to add a clothes rod up high for seasonal clothing. Storage bins and boxes are still more ways to add more storage to your closet. Homes often need more storage, but by being resourceful and using the storage space you have more creatively, you can drastically improve the amount of storage in your home.
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