If you have a storage area of any size, you know how important it is to keep it organized. When you know how to organize storage space you can stop it from becoming an overwhelmingly inconvenient mess.
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Storage space can be a love-hate relationship. Sometimes it saves our bacon (literally, in the form of a food pantry) but other times it looks more like a garbage dump than a storage area.
Take the back room in my basement, for example:
I was happy to have a space to put things but it was also stressful to get around and hard to retrieve things from. It was chaotic, and chaos was difficult to manage.
This doesn’t have to be you!
Learning how to organize storage space will help you keep track of your items and make it easy to get them when you need them.
You will be surprised how nice it is to be able to “get something from the back” without having to step around things, move stuff, or dig around for what you need.
It may take some effort in the beginning but I believe that the benefits will outweigh the costs in the end.
This post covers how to organize storage space and make it way more convenient.
Contents
How To Organize Storage Space
Storage Room In House
If you are struggling with an unruly storage area, consider first if it is the best spot for storage. A better-suited space might exist elsewhere.
The answer, of course, depends on your home and your preferences but it may be worth thinking through. Often I have been surprised by how well other spaces could suit my needs if I only considered them.
If you use some creativity, you may find that the problem is not the stuff but the space.
Many spaces can work as storage areas so it might take some experimentation to find the right fit.
TIP: Try moving the bigger things into other compatible spaces; It may free up enough space to organize the small items better.
The more space you have, the better your storage options are. Don’t get stuck on only one space unless you are certain there is nowhere else to store things.
Stay creative!
Storage Room Design Ideas
Once you have found that perfect spot, the next step is to plan it out! The worst thing you can do is to start throwing stuff around hoping it will magically organize itself.
Rather, look at your belongings and determine which things you could pitch, which are used often, and which see only occasional use.
You can use these three categories to cut down on items stored and divide the rest into storage solutions based on frequency of use.
Larger containers like totes and bins work well to store occasion-use items. Conversely, items used frequently need easy-to-access storage solutions like a chest of drawers or open shelving.
Implementing different storage solutions for different use frequencies allows you to diversify your storage area rather than keeping everything together in one big pile.
The less there is in a storage space, the easier it is to manage in the long term.
Storage Room Layout
Once you have selected potential storage solutions for your space, deciding where things should go within it is next. This is called the layout of the room.
When considering layout, it is important to recognize that each storage solution does not have to live together. They do not even have to be on the floor.
Larger, more bulky solutions like dressers will likely be better off on the floor due to their weight and designed function. You won’t want to restrict access to the drawers by having them up high, either.
Conversely, solutions like shelves and racks can go as high as your space (and the law) will allow!
You may also mix storage solutions to extract use out of every bit of space you have.
TIP: Try adding open shelves to the wall above a dresser unit. This will allow you to use the full height of the wall while also allowing easy access to the drawers.
You may need to experiment with your storage room layout to find what works well. You should also do some measuring to see if certain solutions fit well together.
Through it all, remember to stay creative and be open to trying new spaces (including high ones!). Different parts of a room can offer valuable storage space.
How To Organize Space
Once you have a plan for how to organize storage space in your home, it is time to start digging in!
For practicality, I will assume that your storage space is already filled up. If that is not the case, perfect! You can skip this step.
The first thing you should do is give your storage space some space. That is, give yourself room to work inside the storage area.
You can do this by temporarily moving things out of the area you will be working in. It can be useful to move big things out first since they will yield the most work space per item moved.
TIP: Try moving out things of the same use frequency. This will give you the ability to organize them together right away.
Once your space is clear of storage, you can start installing your storage solutions. It is usually best to start at the ceiling and work your way down.
DIY Storage Shelves
Open shelving is a great solution for storing frequently used items. They make items easy to reach and you don’t have to open anything to get them!
One of the biggest benefits of open storage shelves is that you can adjust their spacing to fit any size of the item you want.
The more distance between shelves, the bigger the item you can fit.
There are many styles and kinds of shelves you can buy but you may find it worth it to make your own instead.
Making diy storage shelves can be a fun project and you can customize the size, shape, color, etc. This can be very useful if you can’t find a purchased shelf that fits the space just right.
It may also end up being a better solution since you can select the quality of materials used in construction.
A great option is to build a simple DIY shelf for your storage area using wood you already have.
I love the idea of taking used materials and making something new out of them! Give it a try, you might find a new hobby!
Wall Storage
Another type of storage shelf is wall storage, that is, large shelves big and tall enough to cover a whole wall. These are the kind of shelves that you would see in a warehouse.
They are typically built to utilize as much vertical and horizontal space as possible, this tends to make them structurally sound. That usually means that they can hold lots of weight and store much larger items than the typical open shelf can.
This makes them perfect for storing bins and totes of off-season decor, overflow storage, or other infrequently used items.
Much like the open storage shelves, wall storage shelves can be purchased and assembled or you can try your hand at making your own!
They can also be configured to allow for the addition of drawer storage below it, depending on the structure of the shelving. This gives you configuration options for your storage area which is nice to have when your space is limited.
Drawer Storage
Drawer storage is another great option when you need to store items for quick access. Drawers offer similar benefits as open shelving but differ in a couple of ways.
Using drawers to store items provides the benefit of concealment in case you don’t want the items visible. The drawers also act as containers that can hold items better than open shelves.
These dressers served me well for years and happened to fit the space perfectly.
However, one drawback to using drawers over open shelves is the size of items you can store.
Open shelves have the potential to store larger items if they are mounted appropriately, whereas drawers have a fixed size and can only fit appropriately sized items.
In addition, storage drawers are typically mounted inside of a container unit like a dresser which can be big and bulky. This usually means keeping the unit on the floor.
Conversely, open shelves can be mounted at any height and do their job well.
It may sound like there is a strong case to always use open shelving but it really depends on what you need to store and how aesthetically pleasing you want your space to look.
I have found that certain items like gift bags, party decorations, or similar items that require containment store better in a drawer than on a shelf.
You could use a bin or basket on a shelf for the same effect but then you encounter the problem of bumping the container off accidentally. There is enough to clean up around the house, so keep this in mind when deciding.
Conclusion
I am convinced that if you apply these ideas to your own storage space it will see more frequent use and your home will work much better as a result!
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