• Decluttering
• 8 Useful DIY Storage Tips For Your Entire Home

8 Useful DIY Storage Tips For Your Entire Home

21 November 2020 Do you ever find yourself overwhelmed by all the clutter and bits and bobs around your house? Not everyone’s home has endless storage space and massive closets, but there are ways around this.  Today we will share with you some useful DIY storage tips for your home. These ideas will help you minimise the stress of excess items around your house while offering stylish and affordable solutions. Let’s get going.

1. Use hanging storage (pots, tools and bikes)

While it may be impossible to add more floor space to your home, one way of expanding your available storage area is to use your walls.  Areas such as a garage or utility room often have empty walls going to waste. By installing hooks, you can repurpose these dull walls, to become wall storage. In your garage, you can hang up all your long garden tools. Also, you can add floating shelving to the walls, to allow you to add boxes to store smaller tools. Another way this can be used is to hang bicycles. If you have two or more bikes in your house, they can take up a bit of space, and you might be thinking about where you can store those bikes. By adding bike mounts to your wall, you can have them lifted off the ground and out of the way. Depending on your bike design, they can also double up as a stylish piece of modern art!  In the kitchen, you can also hang pots and pans by installing hooks on the wall or above an island if you have one. This will free up space in your drawers if you have a smaller kitchen.

2. Event shelters or gazebos for outdoor storage

Got a spacious garden or outdoor area? This one’s for you.   If you’re looking for ways to expand your living or storage space without the hefty price tag of a home extension, consider the versatility of gazebos, event shelters, and garden rooms. While gazebos and event shelters offer a temporary solution, garden rooms present a more permanent and sophisticated option.   This will allow you to extend your storage area significantly, without paying the price of a new conservatory or room.    For those seeking a more permanent solution, garden rooms are an excellent choice. These standalone structures seamlessly integrate into your backyard, offering additional living or storage space. They can be tailored to your specific needs, whether you’re envisioning a home office, an art studio, or simply an elegant storage solution. Garden rooms also provide the added benefit of enhancing the aesthetic appeal of your outdoor space, making it a functional and beautiful addition to your property.   In essence, whether you’re leaning towards a temporary event shelter or a permanent garden room, both options allow you to expand your outdoor area without the significant costs associated with traditional home extensions.  

3. Organise your drawers (properly!)

For maximum storage efficiency, reorganise your drawers so that they can accommodate as much as possible.  This can be done throughout the house, and there are many different techniques you can use. Clear drawer organisers are a sleek and stylish option, which you’ll barely notice. These are perfect for the bathroom, to tidy up make-up and toiletries. For make-up and smaller items, you could also use a kitchen cutlery drawer organiser. Just as you’d organise your knives and forks, you can separate make-up by facial feature or occasion.  If you enjoy DIY, consider making yourself a pegboard drawer organiser by attaching small wooden poles to a pegboard. This is great for in the kitchen, as it will serve as a rack for baking trays or dishes. In the bedroom, use tubes or pieces of pipe to store underwear and socks. You can get these in different colours, so they will be a fun addition to the drawer.

4. Storing small bits and bobs

One of the worst things to store and tidy up are small accessories such as jewellery or stationary. If you don’t have a classic jewellery box, consider using a coat hanger. You can attach small hooks and hang up necklaces. For tiny items such as earrings or beads, pill boxes are a great storage option, where you can arrange them by colour or design. Another versatile storage solution is a corkboard. These are quite sturdy, so as well as showcasing photos and paper items, they can be used to hang accessories. Jewellery works well on these, and you can pin earrings directly into the board. Also, they are a great solution for storing ties and belts. You can attach the corkboard inside of your wardrobe, so your accessories are discreetly hidden away. One final use for a corkboard is to create a handy welcome board for your hallway or kitchen. This can double up with a whiteboard or blackboard and can be used to hang car and house keys. You’ll never have to wonder where your keys are again before leaving the house!

5. Over the door shelving

If you don’t have enough wall space for the classic floating shelves option – don’t worry. One emerging trend we’ve seen in the past year is shelving that sits directly above the door frame. This is typically a ‘dead space’ so why not get innovative and use this for storage?  We think it’s a fantastic way to store photo frames, albums, board games and even trinkets from your travels. Obviously, it’s for the stuff that you don’t frequently use but it being within reach means you can access it and have it on display for house visitors. 

6. Slide it under your bed

This may infuriate your partner but if space is limited – please consider it. If you have a bed frame with an open area underneath, it’s a no brainer to use this as storage. And it doesn’t have to be messy – invest in cute floral boxes or transparent plastic organisers with high depth and minimum height.  We love this as a storage solution because it doesn’t require power tools and uses yet another area of dead space within the bedroom. Looking to maximise your conservatory space? Click here.

7. Create a plastic bag dispenser

Most UK households have their reusable plastic bags and plenty of the standard plastic bags that have been amassed over the years (from forgetting to bring them to the supermarket!) Why not repurpose one of your old tissue boxes, stuff your standard plastic bags in this and use it as a dispenser?  Save space, reuse old materials and you’ve got yourself a DIY home storage win. 

8. The handy cabinet pocket organiser

We’re going to end this with one for the bathrooms (or kitchen). The 2 feet of cabinet space below sinks is simply not enough to store all of your daily use products especially when there is a giant pipe in the center that creates more dead space. Moreover, cabinets below the sink are usually homes to a big mess of half empty bottles and random items that should’ve been thrown out already.  Declutter your cupboard with a handy pocket organiser. These can be obtained relatively cheaply and save space in the cupboard for the important, bigger items. Also, they can be cut to size accordingly giving you a bespoke DIY cupboard organiser. Combine this with some screws or adhesive strips to hang on your door. As you can see, there are so many different storage ideas available to you, regardless of your budget and space constraints. This guide was just scratching the surface of storage genius. By getting creative and using excess wall space, you can eliminate floor clutter and make your home seem even bigger.  Expanding your home storage doesn’t have to involve moving house or building an extension, with gazebos and temporary extensions being a fantastic option. By implementing even just a couple of these ideas today, you’ll see and feel a massive difference to your home life.