Storage and Closets

The difference between a cluttered and chaotic space and an organized and calming one is proper storage. The way you design your storage spaces will affect now only their aesthetics but also their functionality. To properly do this, you need to know more about the different storage types and how to optimize them based on your individual needs.
To help you on your road to designing the perfect closets in your home, we’ve analyzed the anatomy of the ideal closet, researched different ways to optimize storage units and make them more functional, and looked at how you can create more storage in your home. Let’s start by going over the different types of storage in your home and then proceed to different storage and organization techniques.

Types of Storage in Your House

If you want to upgrade the type of storage in your home but don’t know where to start, researching different closets is probably going to get your creative juices flowing. Let’s take a look at what we have in store for you in terms of storage options.

Walk-in Closet

Walk-in closets are the ultimate indulgence when it comes to closet types, especially if you’re someone who’s interested in fashion and has a lot of clothes that need storage. Not only do they make it easier for you to organize all your clothes, but they offer you the opportunity to design a unique space tailored to your preferences. Besides storing clothes, a walk-in closet can also be used as a storage space for shoes, jewelry, accessories, and your makeup collection, in addition to being a space where you can pamper yourself and try out different combinations.

Reach-in Closets

Although smaller in size compared to walk-in closets, reach-in closets are quite popular for storing and organizing clothes. They’re well-designed and integrate partitions, drawers, long bars, shelves, and other storage options that are tailor-made to your space and needs. This type of storage optimizes every centimeter of space that you have without compromising on design.

Wardrobes/ Armoires

Wardrobes or armoires are free-standing pieces of furniture bought as is from a furniture store that are generally used to store clothing. Armoires generally have three types of storage - hanging space, shelves, and drawers. Moreover, they aren’t just intended for storing clothes, but also for keeping your children’s toys, storing tableware and cutlery in the kitchen, and as extra storage space in your living room.

Linen Closet

Linen closets are a type of reach-in closet with less depth. You can place them in narrow spaces around your home that are close to your bedrooms and bathrooms. They’re generally used to store linens, towels, bedding, and bed sheets, pillows, and sometimes even bathroom utilities. If you have a deeper closet, you can also use it as a space to store your washer and dryer.

Pantry

If you have the luxury of owning a home with a large kitchen, the pantry is the walk-in or reach-in closet of the kitchen. These closets are used to store different kitchen appliances and culinary equipment as well as perishable foods. In modern homes, pantries are walk-in, while in the past they were reach-in. The storage system in pantries is made up of wooden shelving and baskets that optimize the storage capacity.

Utility Closets

Utility closets are reach-in types of closets that are used to store miscellaneous items around your home, such as cleaning supplies and appliances, brooms, mops, vacuum cleaners, craft supplies, chemicals, suitcases, seasonal decorations, tools, etc. They’re generally organized with a shelving system on top and free space at the bottom where you can store larger items.

How to Benefit From Storage Spaces

Now that you’ve decided which types of storage spaces you want to incorporate in your home, let’s talk about how these spaces will make your day-to-day life easier.

• Closets are ideal for storing your clothes, accessories, jewelry, and clothes, but they’re also perfect for storing your out-of-season clothes.
• You can store all of the small kitchen appliances that you rarely use to keep your countertops clean and clutter-free.
• Storage spaces are great for storing most of your kids’ toys while only rotating a small selection to play with to keep the clutter at bay, but also keep them interested in the same toys for longer.
• Storing things out of sight is a great step towards decluttering your belongings. If you’re unsure whether some items should be donated, add a box in your storage space where you’ll place items that you don’t really use. After a period of time, go back to the box and see whether you need any of those items or not, and you’ll have your answer.
• You can use your closets to store out-of-season holiday items and decorations that you aren’t currently using but don’t want to get rid of.
• For people who have hobbies that require materials that take up a lot of space, having a closet where these items can live when you aren’t working on your hobby is a great way to minimize clutter.
• If you work from home and deal with a lot of paper and documentation, having a designated space for all your paperwork will help you be more organized.

How to Make Your Storage Units More Functional

Storage units without proper organization aren’t actually useful, so making them as functional as possible will save you a lot of time and energy. To make your storage units more practical, make sure to:

• Identify the items that you pull out regularly. Those can be your favorite pieces of clothing, children’s toys, craft supplies, etc. Knowing this will help you place those items where it’s easiest to access them.
• Plan the layout of your storage closets. Each item you own needs to have a designated place if you want to have a mess-free house, so plan out how you’re going to store everything you own.
• Install a shelving system and order containers or boxes. Shelving units with boxes on top help you to efficiently organize your closets and are very convenient for storing larger items.
• Label the storage boxes. Finding what you need is much easier and quicker if all of your boxes are labeled.

How to Optimize Your Small Storage?

Once you’ve tackled the organization and functionality of your storage, next comes optimizing it. You can use some of the following storage options to increase your storage space:

• Under-the-stairs storage. The area beneath the staircase offers a lot of storage space if you incorporate pull-out drawers or shelves that can be used to store shoes, bags, luggage, and sports equipment, and can even be used as broom storage.
• Under-the-bed storage. If you have a raised bed, the space under your bed is perfect for using as storage space by incorporating large drawers where you can store bedding or out-of-season clothes.
• Include floating and wall-mounted furniture. Opt for wall-mounted furniture, foldable furniture, and multi-purpose or double-duty furniture, such as a banquette seating area that you can use to store kitchen equipment in. This will not only make your space feel bigger, but it will also give you more room for movement. You can have a wall-mounted nightstand, TV shelf, and bookshelves, the opportunities are limitless.
• Floor-to-ceiling storage. Make the most out of your storage space by using the full height of a room.
• Open shelving systems. Use shelving systems both inside your closets and in spaces around your home where you want to add a bit of decor.
• Use pegboards. You can install them in your kitchen, office area, or children’s bedroom, and the best thing is that they don’t clutter up the space, but rather make it look more cohesive and uniform.

How to Create More Storage in Your House

Now that you’ve optimized the storage systems in your house and everything is flowing well, you can use the following methods to create even more storage:

• Declutter. Clutter tends to creep up easily in our homes, so the first thing toward creating more storage would be to regularly evaluate your possessions. Keep what you need, donate what you don’t, keep some items in storage to reflect whether you want to keep them at a later time, gift something, and throw away the rest.
• Have a home for everything. When items have specific homes, it does wonders in terms of storage and organization.
• Add shelves and boxes. Use every suitable space to add shelves and boxes, but don’t overdo it as too many storage spaces can overcrowd a room.
• Purchase furniture with built-in storage. That can be a bed with storage underneath, coffee tables with storage, headboards with storage, a storage table in the kitchen, etc.
• Add hooks inside cabinets. Hooks help you place more items inside your cabinets without having to add more shelves.
• Optimize the backs of your doors and the doors of your wardrobes. Add bag hooks, shoe pegs, a laundry hamper, and whatever else you can think of at the back of your doors.

The Anatomy of an Ideal Closet

How an ideal closet looks depends from person to person, but there are some general guidelines you may want to follow:

• Keep it neat and organized. The more clutter you have, the less organized your closet will be, so have a specific time in the year when you’ll purge and declutter.
• Have different types of storage, depending on the items you need to store. Use shelves for folding, hangers for wrinkly clothes, drawers for undergarments and jewelry, and a proper storage system for your shoes. Moreover, include options for hanging both short and long garments.
• Have doors that double as storage. Use up every corner of your closet by hanging your shoes, accessories, or big pieces of jewelry at the back of your doors.
• Label. It’s easier to find a specific piece and store things back when everything is labeled.
• Organize. Organize both by category and by season, so you’re able to find things you need quickly.
• Sort your belongings. Separate your clothes based on color, length, or material to create a more uniform look.
• Fold, stack, or hang clothes. Try out different methods and see which one you like. If you’ve tried folding horizontally and figured it doesn’t work for you, go with Marie Kondo’s vertical method and see whether it works better.
• Vacuum seal. Out-of-season clothes take up a lot of space, so you can vacuum seal them to increase your storage.
• Use hooks and pegs. Store your delicate jewelry on hooks so you’re able to find it easily, but also prevent it from getting tangled.

And finally, add your own personal touch based on what works best for you.

Closet That Applies to Your Requirements

In the end, your storage system and closets need to satisfy your and your family’s needs. And before you even start planning your closet, evaluate how much you have. If you’re a fan of shoes, for example, design a specific shoe closet where you’ll only keep your shoes, so you don’t have shoes in various closets around your house, which will make it harder to find the right pair when you need it. If you’re a fan of cooking, a walk-in pantry and a kitchen island probably sounds like a dream. For people with kids, a toy-storage system will be much needed. Proper storage can make a huge difference between an organized and a chaotic house.

Final Thoughts

Good storage doesn’t just mean including many storage options, but also implementing the right organization systems that work for you and your family. Therefore, the best storage system is the one that you’ll be able to maintain.