Furnishing a storage room is the kind of task that would discourage anyone. All those boxes, cleaning tools, toys, Christmas decorations... A chaos you'd rather deal with as little as possible!
Storage rooms are a bit like the "black hole" of every home, where a myriad of objects and accessories of all kinds end up:
- All the items we don't know where else to put them.- Old mementos we don't have the courage to throw away.- The seasonal change of clothes.- Brooms and the vacuum cleaner.- Shoeboxes.- Christmas decorations...
In short: a beautiful, heterogeneous mess! There's enough to discourage even the most motivated.
And yet, it's not impossible. Furnishing a storage room in an organized, tidy, and even attractive way can be easy with the right ideas. Not only that, it's a fun project that will bring you tons of satisfaction!
Don't believe it? Read our guide and discover all our storage room ideas!
1. Organize your storage room by making the most of narrow spaces
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Storage rooms are generally small, cramped, and often uniquely arranged: load-bearing columns, sloping ceilings, and niches are common. This can take up precious space... but only if you don't use your imagination!
In reality, these spaces are perfect for organizing your storage room impeccably; just make full use of them.
For example, a sloping ceiling isn't wasted space: custom-made shelves and cabinets will be invaluable allies for organizing your storage room down to the last centimeter. If your home is on two floors, you can even use the space under the stairs and organize it as a proper storage room!
Or: is there a "natural" niche in your storage room between a load-bearing column and the nearest corner? We bet you use it to store your brooms and rags, right?
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We suggest a different solution: try equipping the niche with shelves and transforming it into a bookshelf! You'll have plenty of extra space to store your things and avoid leaving them lying around.
Okay, but what about brooms? Read the next section to find out!
2. A solution for a small storage room: hang your tools behind the door!
Why would you put your brooms on the floor, taking up precious space? One of our favorite storage solutions is to hang brooms and rags on the wall with special accessories. (See the photo below: this also works for the ironing board!)
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If your wall isn't made of plasterboard, you can look for hooks to hang with screws, or make your own using knobs and coat hangers. Alternatively, there are always adhesive broom holders: plenty of options for hanging your tools on the wall and keeping the floor clear.
The important thing is to choose that little piece of wall that gets hidden when you open the door... In short, the one you can't use any other way. Or, why not: you can hang the brooms directly on the door and the result will be the same!
3. Think vertical: organize a storage room with shelves
Walls are often an underutilized space for organizing storage, especially at the top.
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Having to reach for a ladder when looking for something is inconvenient. But you'll surely have a lot of things in the storage room that you don't often need within reach: layettes, Carnival costumes, toys from many years ago...
In these cases, the best solution is to organize a storage room that covers the entire wall, with shelves and, where the shelves don't reach, shelves almost to the ceiling, arranging things in order of use from the lowest to the highest shelf. If you have a nice wine collection, they can also find a place on your walls: all it takes is a bottle rack!
All this applies to furnishing a standard-height storage room. But what if yours is particularly high?
4. How to furnish a small storage room with a mezzanine
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In this case, if your ceiling is really high, here's a really simple solution: go for a mezzanine!
If you need to furnish a small storage room with limited space but plenty of height, this is definitely the most effective solution. You'll gain a lot of extra space to organize with lightweight shelves and boxes.
Furnishing a storage room with a mezzanine isn't a job we recommend doing on your own: it's best to contact a professional. But, especially if the space is small, the cost won't be prohibitive. The cheapest mezzanines are metal ones (steel costs a little more than iron); next come wooden mezzanines, and finally masonry mezzanines, which are the most expensive.
If you have at least 220 cm of headroom, a mezzanine is definitely the best way to furnish a small storage room and maximize its space. (Note: the 220 cm height rule only applies to storage rooms and hallways: habitable rooms require the appropriate permits and at least 270 cm!).
5. Improve your storage room organization with boxes!
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If your storage room is perpetually disorganized, don't underestimate the power of boxes. Imagine a wall entirely covered in shelves and racks, with no objects in sight, just neat rows of boxes: peace of mind! It will make all the difference in organizing your storage room.
A quick tip: "open" boxes (like crates) are suitable for items that are changed frequently and need to be moved. Household cleaning products, for example, or vegetables that don't belong in the refrigerator.
For organizing all your other items, always choose boxes with lids, so you can protect them from dust: shoes, of course, but also holiday decorations, toys, craft or gardening tools, notebooks and schoolbooks, videotapes, slides...
And how to distinguish the contents at a glance? How do you do it? Boxes are very practical for organizing a storage room, but they have a limitation: they hide the contents. And do you know what the most organized storage room is? Exactly: the one where you can find everything in just a few minutes.
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Of course, there are also clear plastic boxes on the market. But they're less eco-friendly than fabric or cardboard ones. And they don't solve the problem of chaos: yes, you'll always know where to find your items, but the overall look will remain messy. We can use them sparingly, but we don't recommend using them to furnish the entire storage room.
So what's the most effective solution for organizing a storage room? In a word: labels! It will take a little patience, but it will be worth it: writing the contents of the box on a nice, large label will help you find your things faster.
Even better? Photograph the contents of the box and stick the photo on the front: a picture is much more immediate than a thousand words. And organizing your storage room will be a breeze.
6. Drawers and dividers for a seasonally-ready storage room!
Now we know exactly how to furnish a storage room with shelves, racks, mezzanines, accessories for hanging tools on the wall, and even boxes.
Basically, we've discovered how to organize everything... Except for one last category of objects: clothes!
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Yes, because seasonal changes almost always end up in closets and hallways. So, in addition to shelves and racks, it's best to also think about storage furniture suitable for clothes.
Dressers are a great solution because they generally take up less space than a closet. Plenty of shelves to store your sweaters in the summer and your Bermuda shorts in the winter, neatly folded and clean. But how best to organize them?
Use fabric dividers! The larger ones will allow you to arrange your sweaters folded "vertically" (remember the Marie Kondo method?) so you can find them quickly without rummaging. The smaller ones are perfect for organizing seasonal underwear: socks, tights, swimsuits... Opening the drawers and finding everything neatly organized will make the seasonal change much less traumatic, we assure you.
7. A perfectly organized closet with a laundry area!
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The washing machine takes up a lot of space, it's true. But it's also true that having a closet organized as a laundry area is a huge convenience.
Here are a few quick tricks for furnishing a storage room so it can accommodate a flawless laundry corner:
- Transfer detergents into labeled glass containers and place them on a shelf above the washing machine, or in a wooden box to keep close at hand: a practical, eco-friendly, and beautiful solution. - Limited space to hang clothes? Use a vertical drying rack (or hang it on the wall). - Laundry baskets are always scattered across the floor. Place them on a shelf and you've solved the problem: an organized and tidy storage room in one easy step!
Discover all the secrets to furnishing your laundry room with style in our guide dedicated to this room of the house!
These are our 7 ideas for furnishing a storage room in an orderly and visually pleasing way. Enjoy!
