Lack of storage in house, how to store things?

[Janeway]

I am quite frustrated by the lack of storage in our house. We have a big house, almost 4000 square feet, with small closets and no storage space. There is an attic space, but it overheats in the summer so much that it has damaged all clothes with elastic in it and damaged American Girl dolls and melted the base of an artificial Christmas tree. I have taken to storing what I can in the garage, but last year, found that lizards were laying eggs inside of some things. Gross! I am at wits end and do not wish to rent a storage unit. In storage I have things like hand me downs that will be used eventually by younger children and holiday decorations. There are some things I wish to store now that won't be used again for years, such as books that I love but have been read. I have some children's books that were favorites that I would love to have on hand in the years to come when and if I ever get grandchildren. And both my adult sons are have girlfriends that they have had for a while. I am not saying grandchildren are around the corner, I am just saying I like these kids books and want to keep them. I have a media room that I could put shelving in, but have been challenged in finding good shelving. I would love something like the metal shelving from Costco that I have in the garage, but more appropriate for indoors. IKEA has nothing to fit this as all their shelving is less deep and such. I have no clue why I made this post as this is likely a super dumb problem that no one could possibly help me with from a post, but I already clicked post so I cannot just delete the post. So I will leave it here and maybe someone will have some good ideas.

Edited June 6, 2023 by Janeway

[Rosie_0801]

You don't have room for more furniture? Wardrobes, chests of drawers?
 

(I've no idea what 4000 square feet looks like.)

[regentrude]

That's a huge house. You should have room for wardrobes and wooden chests.

In my home country, we don't have closets. Wardrobes and chests is where stuff is stored.

Eta: and shelves for books. I have not yet found a book in my several thousand that is too big for IKEA shelves.

Edited June 6, 2023 by regentrude

[mominco]

Janeway call Closet by design type of places.I had a similar problem when I moved states,2 years into buying a new build I had to call and use California closets and last year called Closet by design who gave me more storage.You can try Elfa by container store as well.They all come up with some creative storage solutions.If you have specific questions do pm me .

[prairiewindmomma]

51 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:

You don't have room for more furniture? Wardrobes, chests of drawers?
 

(I've no idea what 4000 square feet looks like.)

about 372 sq m….

[Rosie_0801]

3 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

about 372 sq m….

Google tells me that's four bedrooms and four bathrooms, just about.

There has to be room for furniture!

[prairiewindmomma]

OP, have you seen photos of homes in Europe and Asia where they have just a blank wall of cabinets? https://www.divinehome.cz/en/elegant-fitted-wardrobe-in-white-colour/

If it’s precious enough to hold on to store, then it’s precious enough to spend the money on built in cabinets or to do some IKEA hacking…. Otherwise, reassess how much you hold on to.

Edited June 6, 2023 by prairiewindmomma

[fairfarmhand]

I’ve used this brand of shelves and cupboards and they’ve held up surprisingly well with 4 rowdy kids and years of use. Especially considering they’re not solid wood.

 

https://www.sauder.com/collections/homeplus?gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwsvujBhAXEiwA_UXnAAefC7UI6c7yAWLp1_8OQJd8y4WoKMFWABdRGhGDsV6oj1VNroflUxoCcXwQAvD_BwE

Edited June 6, 2023 by fairfarmhand

[Melissa in Australia]

Stacked up chests? 

I have done this against the wall between the hallway and loungeroom. 

 Lego in the bottom and machano in the top 

Edited June 7, 2023 by Melissa in Australia

[Melissa in Australia]

I have one whole wall in the loungeroom that is bookshelves. Great sound insulation as well as storage. 

[Janeway]

4 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

You don't have room for more furniture? Wardrobes, chests of drawers?
 

(I've no idea what 4000 square feet looks like.)

It is an open floor plan with large windows. So very little wall space.

[Rosie_0801]

4 minutes ago, Janeway said:

It is an open floor plan with large windows. So very little wall space.

Ah. I have some book cases back to back in the middle of my room to create a wall and storage space. But perhaps that doesn't work in a family home. You could still put chests of drawers around, even if they cover up some of the window?

[Starr]

If you don’t have walls put the beds on risers or loft them with storage underneath.

[Clemsondana]

When we bought our current home we looked at a house like that - very open, large, lovely, and  very little storage.  Could you have a bookcase built that you could back up your couch to, such that it could be a room divider?  Could you replace most occasional tables/coffee tables/nightstands with trunks, chests, and small dressers?  Is there a spare room that could just be used for storage?  Can you get underbed//undercouch bins?  Could you have custom shelving built low under windows, like bench seats all along a wall, or have a few walls in halls, around the headboards of beds, etc filled with custom bookcases?  

[mmasc]

This ikea shelf is amazing. It’s super deep-definitely deep enough for any books you have. I’ve even used it with books on each side of one cube. You can add baskets and store tons of things without the stuff being visible, also. You can install doors on some of the cubes, but I prefer the baskets. It’s very sturdy, too. 

[Janeway]

1 minute ago, Rosie_0801 said:

Ah. I have some book cases back to back in the middle of my room to create a wall and storage space. But perhaps that doesn't work in a family home. You could still put chests of drawers around, even if they cover up some of the window?

The media room has plenty of wall space so I am thinking of putting something in there. I have removed the speakers from the walls. I was going to put in shelving from Costco, but have been told, by family, that those shelves only belong in the garage. So now I have  Rubbermaid type of containers sitting on each other.  It works I guess. But I need to bring my parents’ Dept 56 stuff home as well as scrap book stuff. I am getting some more furniture with this, but it is not much as far as storage goes.

 

[Elizabeth86]

OMG you have 4,000 sq ft and a storage problem??? I cannot even begin to understand. lol I have 1,070 sq ft and 7 people. No garage, basement or outbuilding except for the one for dh’s tools. I have a small hard to access attic. Please tell me how your house is set up? I mean, like how many bedrooms?? One good sized spare room would solve all my problems.

[SKL]

I've found that things hold up better in the garage than in my basement (damp) or attic (hot and also unfinished).  To avoid critter poo, use storage boxes that close very securely.

Other than that, as others have said, there must be some walls somewhere that could make friends with a tall bookcase.

[rebcoola]

1 hour ago, Elizabeth86 said:

OMG you have 4,000 sq ft and a storage problem??? I cannot even begin to understand. lol I have 1,070 sq ft and 7 people. No garage, basement or outbuilding except for the one for dh’s tools. I have a small hard to access attic. Please tell me how your house is set up? I mean, like how many bedrooms?? One good sized spare room would solve all my problems.

We have 3600sq ft and little storage.  They added on to an older house and their are just regular closests in bedroom and 1 hall closet.  Like our and steam mop sit in our spare bedroom. 

We try to buy furniture that has built in storage.  I put curtains on our pool and hockey table and store holiday totes under them.

[Carrie12345]

5 hours ago, SKL said:

 

I've found that things hold up better in the garage than in my basement (damp) or attic (hot and also unfinished).  To avoid critter poo, use storage boxes that close very securely.

 

This is what we do.

When we had ~1100sf and 7 ppl, the shed was the main storage space. Well-sealed plastic bins have been everything to me, though they are more pricey now than they used to be.  Now they’re stores in our basement (with dehumidifiers) and garage.

[Teaching3bears]

I would get storage or wall cabinets such as others have linked to put in your media room, or one of the bedrooms if it is not in use.  If they seem too expensive you can find a lot in different styles on Facebook marketplace or Craigslist if you look up storage cabinets. You can also pint it to match your walls.  This will look nicer than open shelving and can be used to store other things in your media room as well.  
You could also divide up the items:  You could put the books in the media room and the clothing in one of the bedrooms, wrapped up nicely with ribbons in a chest.  Are all your bedrooms occupied?  You could store it in your oldest child’s bedroom at the back of the closet and use more open storage for clothing currently in use.

 

[Melissa in Australia]

frankly I would just rip out everything in the media room and turn it into lots of cupboards and rename it the storage room .  Having a media room seems even sillier than having a million toilets. 

Edited June 7, 2023 by Melissa in Australia

[Pawz4me]

I think I remember the state you live in, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. But is there any way you can do something to make your attic a little less hot? I'm thinking adding a ridge vent and an attic fan (or more than one) or something similar? That would give you storage space, increase the lifespan of your roof, and help with cooling bills.

Edited June 7, 2023 by Pawz4me

[wisdomandtreasures]

You said there are lots of windows. What about putting in window seats that double as storage space, like this?

[SKL]

It sounds odd, but we also have plenty of living space but not plenty of storage.  When we expanded for more living space, storage space (linen closets etc.) were the casualty.  So we store linens, small appliances, etc. in our bedroom closets, leaving less flexibility for other things.  I guess we should have given it more thought when planning the new spaces.  (We also tore down our termite-infested shed.)  😛  But like I said, at least our garage is decent for storage.  We had large shelves built in the garage many years ago, and they are still doing the job.

[Scarlett]

7 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

frankly I would just rip out everything in the media room and turn it into lots of cupboards and rename it the storage room .  Having a media room seems even sillier than having a million toilets. 

Toilets are very inexpensive to purchase. And an extra bathroom can take up very little square footage. I have lived in houses completely without any indoor plumbing all the way up to A toilet for each person who lives in the house. The convenience of multiple (but not a million) is pretty great.

 

[Ellie]

I totally get that. I live in a large house, which has closets enough in each bedroom, but that doesn't leave space for all the Christmas decorations and whatnot. Happily, we have a finished room over the garage, which is accessed through a bedroom and shares the HVAC so all our stuff is safe (and easily accessible); we keep suitcases and other heat-proof things, which don't need to be easily accessed, in the attic.

[Tap]

Convert a seldom used room into a storage room. That is what BF and I will do when we move in together. He has 5 bedrooms plus an office. One bedroom will just be storage or lined with enclosed shelves and a double size bed for a 2nd ( or 3rd when his son moves out) guest room. 

[Clarita]

Large tubs with lids. Some are more locking than others, see how secure you need to keep the critters away. Then store away in the garage.

Then you can convert a guest room, media room, living room whatever into a storage room. There are a lot of ideas at ikea on how to make a wall of storage. 

[Wheres Toto]

16 hours ago, Elizabeth86 said:

OMG you have 4,000 sq ft and a storage problem??? I cannot even begin to understand. lol I have 1,070 sq ft and 7 people. No garage, basement or outbuilding except for the one for dh’s tools. I have a small hard to access attic. Please tell me how your house is set up? I mean, like how many bedrooms?? One good sized spare room would solve all my problems.

I had to laugh since this was my reaction too.  We have 750 square feet, 4 people, only two half-sized closets, no attic at all and a detached garage that is not water/bug or rodent tight.   

With that much space but without walls, I'd either set up bookcases as room dividers or have a ton of nice chests stacked in various corners and next to other furniture. 

[Janeway]

21 hours ago, SKL said:

I've found that things hold up better in the garage than in my basement (damp) or attic (hot and also unfinished).  To avoid critter poo, use storage boxes that close very securely.

Other than that, as others have said, there must be some walls somewhere that could make friends with a tall bookcase.

There is wall space in the media room, which I think is the best place to store things. I need deep shelving to be able to put rubbermaid containers on it or however I put the stuff up. Dept 56 stuff is not current in containers, but stuff like ornaments are. I should likely put the Dept 56 stuff in to containers. I swear, I wonder where my parents stored all this stuff in their house! However, on that note, several pieces of storage type furniture is being inherited by other family members, like the large China cabinet, a chest (cannot remember the term for it, it is like a hope chest of sorts, there is a name for it, it just escapes me now), other cabinet type things. I am getting one smallish China cabinet, some furniture that is more of a display type stuff that will be going in to more public like places (curio cabinet, etc), and some seating type things. Now that I am typing this, I am thinking adding in a storage type coffee table in the media room might help. I am also thinking more shelving in the garage might be fine and I need to focus on how to seal things up better so as to not allow critters. But maybe I should just put the metal Costco shelves in the media room like I had wanted to and tell anyone who does not like it that they do not have to look at it.  I am wondering if Dept 56 stuff can be safely stored in high temperatures as those as the main issue for storage here. Most everything else has gotten a place with shelving that I added in other spaces. 

 

[Janeway]

11 hours ago, wisdomandtreasures said:

You said there are lots of windows. What about putting in window seats that double as storage space, like this?

THIS would be perfect!!!!!! This would fit exactly what I need. How would I do this? How would I put this all in? Would I need to hire a cabinet maker or something? What kind of person would make this?

[Janeway]

14 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

I think I remember the state you live in, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. But is there any way you can do something to make your attic a little less hot? I'm thinking adding a ridge vent and an attic fan (or more than one) or something similar? That would give you storage space, increase the lifespan of your roof, and help with cooling bills.

I added an attic vent and such, some whirly birds and such, thinking it would help. But when I pulled out some new hand me downs for youngest a recently, I found the elastic ruined. 

[Jaybee]

When I was growing up, we had a row of window seats that had cushions on them. You could take off the cushions, and lift up the top and there were bins underneath (rather than drawers, as shown above).

[Kalmia]

I have two closets in my whole 2,100 sq foot house. We make use of chests, trunks, tall baskets with lids, picnic baskets, ottomans with storage, clothing racks, bookshelves, decorative paperboard boxes, hanging baskets (like the kind for fruit but we use for bathroom items), and wardrobes and we store a lot of stuff under the beds. 

[Janeway]

14 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

frankly I would just rip out everything in the media room and turn it into lots of cupboards and rename it the storage room .  Having a media room seems even sillier than having a million toilets. 

That is what I was on my way to doing when "some people" (aka, family members) complained about my choice of shelving. So I headed to IKEA to find some more aesthetically pleasing options and found nothing was very deep, at least nothing I saw on the floor. I have already ripped out the built in speakers that came out from the wall so that the shelving could fit. The long term plan of mine was to add the shelving and eventually, move that space to be a small living space/apartment type place for the older kids after college. The room is huge. I am unsure of the exact measurements, but maybe 22 by 24 feet. At one end is a bed, as oldest son sleeps in there when he comes home from college. To another corner is an office space, where husband works from home. Then the rest of the room is a playroom, full of Legos and doll houses and whatever else. Then, the rubbermaid type containers are piled up against the walls, but not going too high as I don't want them to tip over. There is a large TV in there (not a new LED one) and a sofa. The room looks like the junk room and I am a bit embarrassed which is what is leading me to wanting to make it a more functional room, a place with purpose, and which does not look like a disaster zone.

[Melissa in Australia]

Coukd you use bookshelves, back to back to make them more stable to partition off the office area or the bed area ? 

 

 

[wisdomandtreasures]

11 minutes ago, Janeway said:

THIS would be perfect!!!!!! This would fit exactly what I need. How would I do this? How would I put this all in? Would I need to hire a cabinet maker or something? What kind of person would make this?

If you look on Pinterest there are tutorials. 🙂 I've even seen people make them using Ikea shelves. A cabinet maker could probably do it or at least point you to someone who can if they don't make them. 

[Janeway]

5 hours ago, Wheres Toto said:

I had to laugh since this was my reaction too.  We have 750 square feet, 4 people, only two half-sized closets, no attic at all and a detached garage that is not water/bug or rodent tight.   

With that much space but without walls, I'd either set up bookcases as room dividers or have a ton of nice chests stacked in various corners and next to other furniture. 

When I say 4000 square feet, I should add that I live in an area of the country where there are no basements or other uncounted footage. It always surprises me when I see that the home I grew up in is listed as 1500 square feet, but I know it was at least as big as this and even had storage space that is not counted in that. Where I live, every nook and cranny is counted. Sadly, a neighbor just added an outdoor shed for his lawn equipment and the county has counted that as taxable square footage! My last house was half the square feet but actually had much more useable space for storing things. Now, I struggle even with art supplies. I have a cabinet in the kitchen for it and use part of the pantry. I have several shelves of books and even use space under the dressers for books. 

[Halftime Hope]

9 hours ago, Janeway said:

I added an attic vent and such, some whirly birds and such, thinking it would help. But when I pulled out some new hand me downs for youngest a recently, I found the elastic ruined. 

You may need to have someone come look at or install soffit vents to make sure there is plenty of air flowing into the attic from below, so that the roof vents can pull it out. We had to do that with a rather new house, so it's not surprising.

[sweet2ndchance]

14 hours ago, Janeway said:

THIS would be perfect!!!!!! This would fit exactly what I need. How would I do this? How would I put this all in? Would I need to hire a cabinet maker or something? What kind of person would make this?

A carpenter or sometimes a handy man could do this for you. There are also Ikea hacks to achieve a similar look. Just google something like "built-in Ikea bookcases". We diy built something similar in one of our past rental houses that had a beautiful picture window in living room but no storage. It wasn't hard at all but it is a lot easier if you have a table saw, a miter saw and other power tools.

[KungFuPanda]

Build bigger closets? It would be cheaper than putting better climate control in the attic. 

[Halftime Hope]

Depending on the size of the rooms, built-ins can be a wonderful addition, based on stock kitchen cabinets from ikea or a home improvement store. We've seen something like that frequently in upstairs hallways, if it's a wide hallway. (Don't install over carpet; pull the carpet back and properly bolt to the floor and wall, then finish with trim, paint, and possibly with countertop if you don't go floor to ceiling.)

 

[Bambam]

I would head to my local Bare Furniture (we have one at our last major city, they would make shelving/etc to your specifications - it might be fast, but it was good quality stuff) and look at their stock and then get ideas and talk with them.  We have several bookcases from them (very sturdy, no sagging of shelves because those things just aren't going to sag) - and they come with different options. We elected to put doors on the bottom two shelves and leave the top three open. But you can have doors on all of them, or you can have glass doors, or no doors, or various other options. You can specific depth.  We wanted the top three shelves to be adjustable - again, you can set that up any way you want.  We also had them make a desk for us as well as a regular smallish storage cupboard thing. You can either pay them to stain/finish it, or you can do it yourself. We did the stain/finishing ourselves for the first two bookcases, and I happily paid them to do all the rest! 

My sister has elected a different option - she had a carpenter come in and install built in bookshelves in her living room and one in her hall and one bedroom. Again, viable option. I just want to take mine with me!

Good luck! 

 

[katilac]

On 6/7/2023 at 9:04 PM, Janeway said:

THIS would be perfect!!!!!! This would fit exactly what I need. How would I do this? How would I put this all in? Would I need to hire a cabinet maker or something? What kind of person would make this?

If you can't find someone to do something this nice, you could so something similar by having several storage benches lined up. Or a storage bench, a bookshelf, a storage bench. 

This is just an example: 

https://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Brighton-Ivory-Linen-Storage-Ottoman-by-Christopher-Knight-Home/4783823/product.html?refccid=45IREV37WU4L2G2BXKESXCMC3A&searchidx=10&guid=791499fa-32f2-40b3-af99-61074b8be5be&osp=true&kwds=storage+bench&rfmt=&option=6555153

You could figure out the cubic inches of your current bins and the cubic inches of any bench storage you look at and get a good comparison of what they will store. 

[Garga]

I’m late to the game and have to post and run without reading all the replies, I’m sorry if this has been suggested: Can you dedicate an entire room to just storage? We knew a family who turned a small bedroom into the family closet. All the clothes for the entire family were in there on racks and in drawers and they also stored totes of belongings (like Christmas decor) in the room. 

Edited June 10, 2023 by Garga

[Ausmumof3]

I haven’t read all the thread but just wanted to say I relate. We do have a relatively big house and yet I run into storage issues. That’s because the layout of the house is very poor, and my brain is not strong on spatial stuff either. And my DH who is the capable one when it comes to adding shelves etc just didn’t see it as an issue (because he was not the one putting stuff away). The kids have massive wardrobes in two of the bedrooms but there were barely any shelves behind the closed doors so all you could do was stack boxes which is kinda risky. And the layout is super open plan meaning no walls for cabinets or bookshelves and basically everything is a walk way so it’s hard not to block the flow of traffic. Plus only half the house is well heated. 
 

I realise none of that helps you a tonne but just wanted to say I totally get it. I’ve lived in smaller well designed houses with zero issues but when everything is poorly laid out and poorly thought out it does make it much harder. 

[DawnM]

I would start by seeing if you can get that attic better insulated.   Spray foam is best but also most expensive.   But if you can get the attic to not reach high heats, that is a start.

Lizards laying eggs?   That is a new one.   Even with totes?   

[DawnM]

As for storage problems, yes!   Our current house is larger than our last house and the storage is MUCH worse. 

In our last house when we finished the basement off, there was one area that we made into a storage room.   The basement stairs were in the kitchen, and the storage room was right at the bottom of the stairs, so it doubled as a super large pantry.   But we used those Costco metal shelves down there and put all our camping gear on one of them (I had Boy Scouts so we had a LOT of camping stuff), and storage items like crock pots/roasters, and then one for shelf stable foods, and then a few shelves of other items like scrapbooks/photo albums/things I wasn't ready to let go, etc....

This house doesn't have that, but there is a very large attic above the 3 car garage, but it is HOT.   We were planning to insulate it this summer or fall, but not if we are moving!

[SHP]

On 6/6/2023 at 9:47 PM, Janeway said:

The media room has plenty of wall space so I am thinking of putting something in there. I have removed the speakers from the walls. I was going to put in shelving from Costco, but have been told, by family, that those shelves only belong in the garage. So now I have  Rubbermaid type of containers sitting on each other.  It works I guess. But I need to bring my parents’ Dept 56 stuff home as well as scrap book stuff. I am getting some more furniture with this, but it is not much as far as storage goes.

 

Re the bolded, what on earth are they talking about? Shelving is shelving. If you want it in a room you can put it in a room. I cannot picture any storage that is marketed to a garage workspace that couldn't be put in any room