# No storage problem



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

My house is about 600 sq ft and only has one closet. The closet is 3' x 6'. I have one 12 drawer dresser. 

The lack of storage makes it impossible for me to get this house organized so that I can keep it clean. It is the dustiest house I've ever seen and the floor clutter makes it impossible to get the dust under control.

I do have some totes but there is no place to put them other than piling them somewhere.

Does anyone have any suggestions?


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## puddlejumper007 (Jan 12, 2008)

totes can hold a lot of stuff, pile them up and put a pretty quilt over it and use it for a table, or stand..


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## DW (May 10, 2002)

I like chest of drawers. In our other small house, we had one in the livingroom. It can hold loads of stuff. I have one now full of crafts & sewing things. You can put a small lamp on top and some books.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

One hurdle I run into all the time is ONES. One of this and one of that but no common thread between them.

I guess I'll just have to watch for tote sales this week.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

More information is needed to offer any kind of suggestion that would be effective. What is on the floor? What do you need to store? Under bed storage? Attic? Too much stuff and what you really need is how to cut back?
I suppose you could do like the city street sweepers do- move everything to one side of the room then clean- sort of alternate days cleaning but what a pain.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Pretty much everything that isn't in the closet is on the floor.

No under bed storage possible.

No attic.

Really not very much stuff just no place to put it.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

fishhead said:


> Pretty much everything that isn't in the closet is on the floor.
> 
> No under bed storage possible.
> 
> ...


How about the Shaker solutions of pegs on the walls? You hang bags and shelves off those pegs as needed. Even chairs. 
Although not so esthetic, I suppose a peg board is possible. 
I once had a book about interior design for small spaces. I bet a search under those words might turn up some interesting ideas.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Get yourself down to less stuff?

Frank Lloyd Wright designed houses with almost nothing for storage. I've been through a couple of them... You just need less stuff to live in small spaces with no storage..


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## okiemom (May 12, 2002)

lots of great things on pintrest and the visuals really help. in the corners a curtain rod can be put up so you have a closet. I lived in a huge farm house that had no closets I feel you . it was large but all floor space had some sort of storage furniture on it. 

any furniture you do have must do double duty. tables have shelves under them for storage or drawers. beds can be raised to but stuff underneath. if you want it to look neat it needs to have doors on the cabinets. but I loose stuff that way. 

getting rid of stuff is really the only way to go. we all keep to much stuff.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Oh.. option #2... Outbuildings


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I already have a lot less stuff than most people. I think I could get almost all of it in the one closet but the closet would be packed to the ceiling and I would never be able to find anything.

It's just storage space that I'm lacking.


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## OUVickie (Mar 8, 2003)

Cubbies (cube shelving) make great storage and they are very versatile. I have one for my shoes, and I use the top of it for backpacks, etc. I plan to buy another one that hangs on the wall with pegs underneath.
Target sells them. Do a Google search so you can see the different types and what they're used for.
You can even put baskets in them, which gives you drawer space to store things in.
They can be used as benches, bookshelves, TV stands, end tables, etc.
If you can make your own, even better!

And as other's suggested, use your wall space with pegs and such. Hang and store as much stuff in shelves and on pegs as what you can. I once had a tiny house, like what you describe, that had two very small closets and not much cabinet space in the kitchen. I had a huge shelving system in the livingroom that helped.
When you live in a small space you have to get very creative!


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

A shelf above every door. In fact, a shelf all around the room. As long as you don't hit your head on it, it's high enough. On shelf I'd have baskets with like staying with like.


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## Gretchen Ann (Aug 30, 2010)

Can you put your bed(s) up on some kind of riser? Bed, bath & beyond sells small leg extenders, I think 6 or 8 inches but something higher would be better. We store a lot of stuff under our bed, cereal, crackers, pretzels, dried packaged foods. 

I store a lot of stuff under the beds upstairs too. I keep freezer boxes & lids in a box under one, the can lids & rings too.

I have a celler for our home canned food and the chest freezer is down there too, but I don't like to store the boxed food down there.


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## ldc (Oct 11, 2006)

Find someone's thrown away bookshelf/filecabinet with deep shelves; put stuff on it, cover the front (or file) with a curtain/remnant. As suggested above, have done the shelf over the top of the door frame and around the room; as a kid in NYC in the 50's, many did that. A bureau/chest near the entry with deep drawers. A nice tray or bowl for keys, and the drawers can be used for everything that's small enough. I do the Shaker peg board thing for hanging clothes that are used all the time, too. My passion is to get it all up off the floor also!


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## PNP Katahdins (Oct 28, 2008)

Old farmhouse here with only a bathroom closet and galley-type kitchen. We got several of the assemble-it-yourself wardrobes on sale at Shopko. They have several types. Also we got old file cabinets and 3- and 5-drawer dressers at a big college dorm sale. The file cabinets make great mouse-proof food storage.

Peg


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## backtocolo (May 1, 2012)

can you do some of these things



















This one has cool shelves at the top of the room. Too much visual clutter though. 










Here are slim shelves that could go at the end of a hallway.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Thanks for the ideas. Whatever I end up doing it will have to have a curtain or door between the stuff and the living space. That's the only way I can think of to keep everything from being covered in dust.


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## amandaleigh (Apr 10, 2013)

I few things that I like are bookshelves with fabric totes or baskets - I did this in one of our apartments and used the totes to store smaller clothing items like socks and underwear. I love book shelves used as open storage for dishes and more attractive cooking and serving pieces with a few decorative items mixed in. A cedar chest makes a great coffee table and is great storage for extra blankets and linens. My mother has a smaller house and used an old chest of drawers that she refinished as a sofa table. One drawer holds bills to be paid, check book, pens, ect. Another has tablecloths/napkins, one has her good silverware, one has towels, ect. she also follows the rule of if she wants something new, she has to get rid of something old in the same category. This really helps keep the clutter from building up.


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## KnowOneSpecial (Sep 12, 2010)

Go through your stuff with a fine tooth comb. If it hasn't been used in the last 6 months, does not bring you joy or is not useful GIVE IT AWAY or THROW IT OUT. 

Think function. If you have a coffee table, get one that has storage under it. Same thing with ottomans. You can get old dresser drawers, put casters on them and roll them under the couch. Think outside of the box. Each room should have a book shelf with baskets for your essentials. That should be all the storage you need for each room. Bulky things like blankets and off season clothes can be stored in vacuum packed bags and the bags slid behind the headboard or between the mattresses.


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## ronron (Feb 4, 2009)

Years ago I ran across a sale on two drawer file cabinets, I bought 12 of them all the same height, and put them under my bed all facing out. New beds only really have a mattress and a foundation, I tossed my foundation and put the mattress on the file cabinets, I have a king size bed I placed one full row along the bottom of the bed facing out and the others along the sides, others at the top facing so they will open when you slide the mattress off, you need support everywhere so I put a piece of plywood over them and have a ton of storage, some of it I can only get to when I slide the mattress out of the way, I use this for Christmas decorations the rest I use for what ever I want... Most beds are higher now and my mattress is very thick I made a nice long bed skirt and added a weights to the hem so it would stay put... It doesn't look much higher than most beds now days... Wish I would have purchased more every bed in the house would have them.


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## housewife (Mar 16, 2006)

ronron that is brilliant!! absolutely brilliant!!!!! :bow:


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## sapphira (Mar 24, 2003)

This is a big help - keep it coming. I know I have certain roadblocks in my mind and cannot be creative with storage. I did do away with klutter aroune the floor in the tiny laundry room and hung 50 items on the wall with just nails, including a certain amount of camping diddly stuff. I know where my kero lantern mantles and wicks are !!! I hope this thread continues. I also have to have some plain space - areas that are very simple and not confusing to look at. I could never get along with the picture of the one room with all the shelving built in over top with all the stuff. My house would be all storage and I would be living in the tent outside !!! s


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## Belldandy (Feb 16, 2014)

I like these ideas, too. With the example of the high shelves, I believe he visual clutter comes from the pictures crowded on the walls and not necessarily the collection on the shelves.


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## mrs whodunit (Feb 3, 2012)

Maura said:


> A shelf above every door. In fact, a shelf all around the room. As long as you don't hit your head on it, it's high enough. On shelf I'd have baskets with like staying with like.


And windows


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## OUVickie (Mar 8, 2003)

I found a few deep plastic baskets that are about 12"L x 6"H x 8"W. I'm using one of those to store lids in for my plastic storage bowls and such. 

I have one in my bathroom that holds all my pedicure items. 
The square dinnerware holders for forks, spoons and knives can also be used as drawer organizers.

I use the top that came off a spindle of CDs turned upside down which I put my elastic pony tail holders and asst'd hair clips in.

I've used two long thin boxes - about 1 1/2" high and over a foot long in my kitchen drawer for asst'd cooking utensils.

Laundry baskets are good to stack & store things in too. I find a lot of useful items like these at the Goodwill store. I just wash them up and reuse for storage.

I like things that I can see through, in order to see what's stored in them.


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## backwoods (Sep 12, 2004)

The plastic shoe box type containers with lids are nice stored on shelves. Especially if you get a "label machine" and put the contents on the front of the box such as "Toiletries" or "Knitting Needles" etc. You can buy inexpensive bookcases at Big Lots, with adjustable shelves. Get it first, measure the shelf depth, and buy a few boxes and fill them up. See what size the items you need to store are, then find the right sized boxes they will fit in. Get all the boxes the same color or opaque, and they will look nice & uncluttered. Also, dust can't get to the contents. A quick swipe with a damp rag will clean them. If you still don't want to look at it, hang a pretty cloth curtain off a rod across the front of it. Better still you can put two side by side, or back to back, with one side attached to a wall for support, it could also be a small room divider, if needed. I've seen two side by side that were bolted together, then they ran a piece of decorative trim all the way across the top and bottoms, and it looked like a "built in." You are probably going to have to think "vertically" for your storage needs.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I've made a little progress.

I put up a shelf for the TV and DVD player so that let me get rid of the entertainment center that dominated that wall and was on the floor.

Then I emptied and painted the largest kitchen floor cupboards. Lots of wasted space and stuff they got tossed or given away. That freed up some wasted space and lets me take some stuff out of the bedroom closet like paper towels and food processing equipment and put them in the kitchen where they belong. I'm going to finish painting the rest of the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen.

We've got so much snow I can't clean the garage and build shelves so that is causing things to back up into the house but that should change within a month.


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## 1stTexan (Apr 23, 2014)

fishhead said:


> My house is about 600 sq ft and only has one closet. The closet is 3' x 6'. I have one 12 drawer dresser.
> 
> The lack of storage makes it impossible for me to get this house organized so that I can keep it clean. It is the dustiest house I've ever seen and the floor clutter makes it impossible to get the dust under control.
> 
> ...


Screw some hooks into the walls, from about 18" off the floor up every 12" to as high as you can reach. Be sure to screw the hooks into the studs. The studs are probably about 24" apart. Then hang your totes from them. They will be up off the floor and you can always find the one you want. --1stTexan


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## katlupe (Nov 15, 2004)

Our house has no closet space at all. It had hooks on the wall which is probably what the first owners back in 1850 used. I have almost all my clothing in a large dresser. And my husband's is in a smaller dresser. My husband had one of those vintage metal closets, a double one with a mirror on the front of one of the doors. So that is where our coats hang. 

In the living room, I have a flat top trunk that I use for a coffee table. It is a storage solution that does double duty. Under the single bed in the living room, I have plastic containers that are flatter than the usual ones and they hold a lot of items that I want close by. We do not waste space with a couch as we do not have visitors or any need for one. 

I try to put things in something, like Rubbermaid containers, so they don't get dusty or have mice get into my things (since we seem to never be rid of them for too long). I plan on buying two metal cupboards that are not too deep, so I can put them in my pantry and mice can't get into them (as long as the door is tight). Open shelving just is not an option for me, so I had to change my game plan. 

Thanks for this thread, it has given me some ideas to look into!


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## katlupe (Nov 15, 2004)

I have been doing some research on the DIY storage and there is lot of stuff on Pinterest and other places. One is this site that has some good ideas, DIY storage.


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## Queen Bee (Apr 7, 2004)

Our house is tiny and I need all the storage I can get! When we moved here I took three 50ish dressers.. took the long skinny legs off and placed them in my pantry under the shelves. I use them for table linens, vacuum attachments, bags and filters, for my grandson's extra clothes shoes and other things.. I have bind under my bed , I have a narrow tall bookcase that holds all my quilts and blankets, dh cut extra shelves and I painted them , so there only a few on each shelf..


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## TerriLynn (Oct 10, 2009)

We live in an old farmhouse with no closets also and something I have been doing is watching Craigslist for free entertainment centers. When I see one like an armoire with doors that close over the top and bottom sections I try to snap them up. Usually they are open in the back, but I just tape cardboard over the opening......that's enough to keep out the dust and no one sees it but me.

On the inside I have hung tension curtain rods for clothes or have installed shelves on the inside to put things on. On the top I can stack Rubbermaid containers with more stuff.


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