Storage space

[Lindy]

This has come in handy for me, thought I would share.
Our panty space in the kitchen is half pantry and half coat closet since it is right by the door coming into the house from the garage. To keep things compact and accessible I got a hanging vertical shoe rack. It is supposed to hold 10 pairs of shoes. I use it for storage of gloves hats etc in the top cubby, in other cubbies I have the food vacuum pack rolls, paper towels, extra granola bars etc. bags. It hangs from the rod that the coats hang from and the top Pantry shelf. It helps to keep it compact, easy to get to and off the pantry closet floor. Works great!
~Lindy

 

[Evolon73]

I took a tour of my house with storage space solely in mind. From that perspective I noticed so many places I had that were wasted space. Creative designs often has some nifty ideas in this regard. Look at every surface and ask yourself how can I use, rebuild, or add to it for a dual purpose. If you cantt think of anything at least remember the place in case inspirations finds you later. Thanks for the shoe rack idea!

 

[Clyde]

I took a tour of my house with storage space solely in mind. From that perspective I noticed so many places I had that were wasted space. Creative designs often has some nifty ideas in this regard. Look at every surface and ask yourself how can I use, rebuild, or add to it for a dual purpose. If you cantt think of anything at least remember the place in case inspirations finds you later. Thanks for the shoe rack idea!

This is something the wife and I are currently tackling! We have a very limited amount of space, and are trying to improve on it in any way we can.

 

[jimLE]

there's one cornner in my laundry room thats mainly taken up by a dvd holder..gonna build some shleves there for store bought canned foods and home canned foods.and the ones i already built will be for dry foods..

 

[MistiLoo]

I don't have much storage in this house and the attic is too hot to store food stuffs. So, my pantry with cook/bake ware needs to be pared down. I have to reduce how many serving pieces I have on hand. I don't entertain as often these days, so I can box and store those items in the attic and keep food in the pantry. Also, my linen cabinet has a ton of towels. We seriously don't need so many available for use - so the over flow can move to the attic until company comes. There are other items I can also move to attic space.

So - just clearing unused items makes room for food storage in a climate controlled space. This is what I've been focusing on recently and I've made some good progress. Just have to keep going....

 

[jimLE]

if i had me a storage building thats at least 10 x 12 feet in size.id deffintly free up some space in this house

 

[MistiLoo]

You don't have any open attic space, JimLE? My attic is hottern hades in summer, but many things don't suffer for it.

 

[jimLE]

yeah,we got attic space.but the stuff i want/need out of the house.i dont want in the attic.and for 2 reasons.the cold in winter.and the heat in summer...

 

[Brent S]

I like to make dual purpose furniture. I built a coffee table and two end tables that dual as storage chests, and I had a wall space in a downstairs bathroom and made a 7ft tall by 6ft long pantry/cabinet unit. I had a house a few years ago that I built with lots of built in furniture, but when I moved I didn't have any storage anymore, so now I make everything as furniture in case I want to take it with me if I move again. I also have a parsons table that has a false bottom in it that hides a shotgun within easy reach. Even my avatar here has an old three drawer chest that doubles as a wine cabinet. I haven't done anything for under the beds yet but that's a great amount of space that's wasted. Here's a couple Picts.

 

[jimLE]

real nice brent..you did a good job with it..

 

[Brent S]

real nice brent..you did a good job with it..

Thanks, I call this cheating as far as woodworking goes. I got a deal on some tounge and groove 1x6's at work, and they are really easy to work with. I really love to build furniture, mostly early American antique replicas. My house is decorated in early Cracker Barrel restauraunt style! Lol.

 

[Gettingreadymama]

Thank you all for the great ideas! I do a lot of garage sale shopping and storage auctions for my own THIS THAT and THE OTHER yard sales and space is an issue!!

 

[PrairieWife]

LOL I also have early Cracker barrel style! lol haha

I used to live in NYC-small apartments. I always doubled all furniture-looked at it as how much can I store.

I bought shelving and hutches etc etc....always trying to use as much vertical space as possible too.

But, as shown coffee tables, and end tables should double as storage. Coat closets, yes we had two coat closets so one was pantry and one was closet. (the larger was the pantry).

You should walk through your home, room by room at least 4 times a year. Look for things you can downsize or get rid of, and take inventory of what you need to take more advantage of each space. That's what I would do. And I kept a log on my pc about my goals for each room. (basically do the same now even though I live in a much larger home!) Label the goals from most important to least...and work on tackling getting all the things you need. (IE shelving, storage etc). As you tackle getting things little by little, keep reevaluating, and tweaking. We lived in a one bedroom apartment with 2 children and were really just fine, the way I organized and utilized my space! We moved to a larger apartment that didn't have storage at all! (no closets!) and it seemed much smaller even though it was in reality larger...there was no where to put things away!

So to me having closets and storage units (cabinets, hutches, etc) are very very important.

 

[Brent S]

My house is alot larger than i need so im gearing towards building a small cabin on the back of the property for me and will prob. rent the house for extra income. ive been playing with designs and think about 12ft wide and 45'long will work pretty well. luckily i like to build things, because in that space every inch counts, so everything doubles as storage. ive allready started collecting stuff for it, have all the windows and doors, electrical box, most of the insulation, and lots more. i really like the size of most mobile homes, they just dont use very good materials in them, so one built solid with good materials sounds perfect. ill try to import a drawing of my ideas later for input from all of you.

 

[PrairieWife]

also do searches of small homes, and tiny homes, the guy in Texas has great ideas for vertical space, and making the most of every thing you have.

Personally I can cook almost all my family needs with 2 pots and 2 pans. I do NOT buy sets of pots and pans. I buy the pot/pan size I need individually.

Basically I need a big skillet/pan for frying eggs, bacon, making pancakes, etc etc. A small skillet (6 inch) for baking corn bread and doing other little things like that.

One big dutch oven for doing soups, stews, boiling diapers, pasta etc etc. lol And a smaller quart size pot for doing things like oatmeal, quinoa, etc in.

One big water bath canning pot, one big pressure canner, a slowcooker/crock pot. And basically every thing can be done with those things. Although I do have a toaster oven, and a whirly pop too, but really those are not needs, but don't take up much room. I don't need a ton of other pots/pans, and this and that. Oh I use a 8x8 and a 9x13 pans too (cakes/brownies etc). Again though I don't need a huge selection of them one of each. All my pots/pans can fit under my oven in the drawer, or on the rack above it, or in one cabinet.

 

[Brent S]

also do searches of small homes, and tiny homes, the guy in Texas has great ideas for vertical space, and making the most of every thing you have.

Personally I can cook almost all my family needs with 2 pots and 2 pans. I do NOT buy sets of pots and pans. I buy the pot/pan size I need individually.

Basically I need a big skillet/pan for frying eggs, bacon, making pancakes, etc etc. A small skillet (6 inch) for baking corn bread and doing other little things like that.

One big dutch oven for doing soups, stews, boiling diapers, pasta etc etc. lol And a smaller quart size pot for doing things like oatmeal, quinoa, etc in.

One big water bath canning pot, one big pressure canner, a slowcooker/crock pot. And basically every thing can be done with those things. Although I do have a toaster oven, and a whirly pop too, but really those are not needs, but don't take up much room. I don't need a ton of other pots/pans, and this and that. Oh I use a 8x8 and a 9x13 pans too (cakes/brownies etc). Again though I don't need a huge selection of them one of each. All my pots/pans can fit under my oven in the drawer, or on the rack above it, or in one cabinet.

It is amazing how much crap we collect, and how little we really need! I love 1 pot dishes, I got a Dutch oven from amazon, it's porcelain coated cast iron and is amazing for quick easy and good dishes. I agree with not needing much, I probably have 4 or 5 things I cook with often, I could live without the rest.

 

[Gettingreadymama]

It is amazing how much crap we collect, and how little we really need! I love 1 pot dishes, I got a Dutch oven from amazon, it's porcelain coated cast iron and is amazing for quick easy and good dishes. I agree with not needing much, I probably have 4 or 5 things I cook with often, I could live without the rest.

you should sell your"crap"! I do and it brings in great prep cash!!

 

[jimLE]

i saw the name of the topic..then looked up and went HMMMM? free wall space.then i looked around the room..wall space above two side by side windows on one wall.then there's a closet door and another door that leads to a different bedroom.idea for shelves.and using rope or some thing else.run eyebolts into the studs in the ceiling..

 

[Brent S]

Have you ever noticed how many old trunks are in antique stores? The reason is that there were loads of them. They were practical pieces that had a function. Everyone had them. If you were an average poor person, you could only afford stuff that had multiple uses. I like the idea of furniture not just looking nice, but having the ability to store stuff as well. It helps to be a carpenter, but you can find old chests of drawers at garage sales, thrift shops, etc. if you don't want to build your own. There's also simple modifications you can do to the furniture you allready have. I added a shelf under a side table and keep a rifle hidden on it but within easy reach. Not many would think to look there

 

[Dani]

View attachment 3066 Have you ever noticed how many old trunks are in antique stores? The reason is that there were loads of them. They were practical pieces that had a function. Everyone had them. If you were an average poor person, you could only afford stuff that had multiple uses. I like the idea of furniture not just looking nice, but having the ability to store stuff as well. It helps to be a carpenter, but you can find old chests of drawers at garage sales, thrift shops, etc. if you don't want to build your own. There's also simple modifications you can do to the furniture you allready have. I added a shelf under a side table and keep a rifle hidden on it but within easy reach. Not many would think to look there

Did you make these? Nice that they were kept natural and not painted. . . just me that prefers to see grain in the wood.

 

[Brent S]

Did you make these? Nice that they were kept natural and not painted. . . just me that prefers to see grain in the wood.

that picture was of the bottom of a 'parsons' table i built a long time ago. It's about 6' long, and kind of a shaker styled country table. The shelf I added not too long ago as a place to hide a weapon in plain sight. I have painted some things over the years but mostly am a real wood fan. Most of my house is filled with country antique replicas that I've built, and almost all are stained wood. I have a few pieces made out of walnut, which I just clearcoat as the wood is allready so dark, and beautiful. The picture in my avatar for this site has a walnut box that I made and ended up using it for a wine rack. It was a box for my sons amplifier, which he sold later on. It has finger jointed corners and about fifteen coats of poly on it. You know, just talking about it is making me want to go build something! I need to finish a few projects before I start any more though!!! The coffee tables and storage cabinet in the earlier post on this page were just store bought boards that I threw together. I like the look of them, and there really easy to make stuff out of them. I wouldn't say that's really woodworking when using them but it sure is easy to make something quickly.

 

[Gazrok]

I may have to tap your advice when I make my bar for the ManCave.

I'm sure many others do this too, but I store most building materials in the rafters of my garage.
In rooms that aren't really "public" like the utility room, service hall for the shop, etc., I usually try and have all kinds of shelving for things. And since not a "public" area, I'm more about utility than it looking pretty for these places.

 

[Brent S]

I may have to tap your advice when I make my bar for the ManCave.

I'm sure many others do this too, but I store most building materials in the rafters of my garage.
In rooms that aren't really "public" like the utility room, service hall for the shop, etc., I usually try and have all kinds of shelving for things. And since not a "public" area, I'm more about utility than it looking pretty for these places.

Anytime! I've always enjoyed building things and am happy to help. I made lots of mistakes over the years and can help others avoid them. I always thought I would enjoy teaching classes, maybey one day. For starters, if you just want shelving, you can have it ripped at lowes or Home Depot for free. I like to work with even measurements like 12" or 16" as you don't waste any of the sheet of plywood. As far as using plywood, you can glue a piece of trim on the front edge to cover it and give more strength to a shelf. Even if you start with a open shelving unit, you can always go back later and add doors to make it a finished piece. Not only do you get a nice functional piece of furniture, but the sense of pride and accomplishment is great. I am lucky enough to have hobbies that are productive.

 

[jimLE]

here's some great ideas on food shelves..and i fugure some can be redesigned for something else,besides food..

 

[Lindy]

I can't see any pictures of extra storage...

 

[jimLE]

oops..left out the link..

 

[Maverick]

my daughter place is relatively small, we taken her emergency items and placed them in 5gal buckets w/lids and place them in all her closets, we cut 1/4" plywood in 3 sections and placed on top of the buckets effectively raising the floor (1 bucket high 15") in the closets, each closet held 18 buckets except the coat closet that only held 4 buckets. Raising the floor up 15" didn't interfere with the coats, jackets and shoes.

 

[jimLE]

here's 3 ideas to shelves

 

[jontte]

must do something,as my kitchen cabinets can't take more food
one room's gonna be a combined study-prep room

 

[jimLE]

i just remembered this one i built above the kitchen sink.and as you can see,(i hope)lol..there's a florescent light on the bottom side of it.there's enough space behind the figurine's for small items..