The 30 Best Storage Ideas for When You Have No More Floor Space

The wooden lid of this space-smart coffee table holds drinks, snacks, and the remote, while the hand-woven base conceals magazines, books, and pillows—all in a fraction of the floor space that two separate pieces of furniture would require. 

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If disorganized piles of tools clutter the floor of your garage or basement, why not move them up to the wall? Mount a precut and prefinished store-bought pegboard to an empty wall, attach pegboard accessories like hooks or hanging bins, and neatly hang your DIY must-haves. 

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Though standard-depth cabinets eat up floor space around the kitchen, a wall-climbing DIY shelving unit frees up space with its slim silhouette. By varying the height and width of the stained pine shelves, one of the bloggers behind A Beautiful Mess was able to stow an array of items attractively, whether tall vases and pasta canisters or shorter items like serving ware and pantry staples.

Does your morning routine include rifling through piles of clothes on the closet floor? Clean up that clutter by placing a three-drawer store-bought dresser in the closet, then flank it with shelves to create a cohesive storage unit. Perk up your newly efficient storage space with some eye-catching wallpaper, new dresser hardware, and gold paint on the closet rod. 

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If your closet and dressers are stuffed to the gills, why not stash your frequently worn fashions in the shelves of a platform bed? This full-size wooden DIY platform bed, which was designed and painted by the Chatfield Court blogger, features casters for portability and two wide underbed shelves outfitted with broad wicker baskets that are perfect for storing clothes, accessories, bedding, towels, and more.

As the kids—and the sports—accumulate, you can end up with an arena’s worth of footballs, basketballs, volleyballs, and bocce balls rolling around loose in the garage. Call timeout on clutter by stashing balls in tall metal baskets mounted directly to the wall or to the studs, depending on the construction of your garage.

For a tall laundry closet with a lot of vacant wall space, Ben at HomeMade Modern dreamed up a supremely functional laundry station. To gain space for sorting and folding clothes, he installed a spacious wooden countertop above the washer and dryer, complete with cutouts for waste baskets. A small storage cart holds detergent and other cleaning supplies, and two shelves higher on the wall are lined with plastic baskets for more supplies or freshly washed clothes and linens.

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When you’re sick of binge-watching, catch up on the latest best-seller or peruse the pages of your favorite magazine in your own living room reading nook. With little more than a comfy chair, a good-quality lamp, and a wall-mounted, minimalist magazine rack, you can create an inviting reading corner. 

You don’t need to sacrifice an entire wall to house your home library. Instead, try this idea from the blogger at In Honor of Design. Build and mount two narrow DIY picture ledges up high on a wall, then fill them with books, artwork, and pretty accessories. A thrift-store antique ladder will let you get just the volume you want, and a few comfortable chairs will have you reading and relaxing in no time.

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Set a pair of storage ottomans in the living room, and you’ll have the best of both worlds. One can hold your favorite board games so you’ll always be ready for a fun evening with friends, and the other can hide pillows and a throw so you’ll be primed to put up your feet and relax the minute they leave.

Eco-conscious commuters who lack basement or garage space for their bikes can park their ride on an empty wall. In this nature-themed entryway, bike sticks—wooden dowels with built-in screws—are secured to the wall to hold the bike high and out of the way. 

Are you constantly tripping over your pet’s food bowl? A DIY feeding station can keep the bowls out of the way and provide storage for all that extra kibble. Made of plywood by Jen of The House of Wood, this sturdy station is topped with marble contact paper and has a drawer that holds food and a scoop. 

Loft beds, elevated beds with a built-in ladder, free up anywhere from 30 to 60 or more inches below the bed for work, play, or both. Ambitious blogger Jaime Costiglio, working from plans by Jen from The House of Wood, created this soaring bed with enough space below for two Ikea Trofast storage units for Legos and craft supplies, and a play table that doubles as a desk. Plastic hanging buckets at the head of the bed are great for holding glasses, retainers, and knickknacks. 

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In a small living room every inch counts, even the oh-so-narrow space between the bottom of the sofa and the floor. The blogger at Passion Shake put this unused space to work by building a low-profile under-the-sofa storage drawer. The spacious wooden unit rolls in and out for quick and easy retrieval of accessories like throw blankets or magazines, books, DVDs, and remotes.

Floating shelves offer a simple solution for a decorative display in rooms where a freestanding unit won’t fit or doesn’t belong—for instance, in the corner of the bathroom above the commode. Puck lights installed beneath these above-toilet floating shelves built by Reality Daydream dramatically accentuate the items displayed below.

Park your plants and their pots, stow your fertilizer, or hang your tools—this DIY wooden potting bench from Reality Daydream does it all while discreetly hiding a trash can behind the cabinet door. So much storage in such a small footprint!

This wall-mounted kids’ art center from Reality Daydream folds down when inspiration strikes, revealing a spacious surface for drawing, coloring, or writing. Then when art time is over, the desk folds back up to keep clutter and cleanup to a minimum. A chalkboard on the flip side of the desk surface faces out into the room when the desk is in the closed position, so kids can play teacher or doodle for hours. A few child-size chairs tucked beneath the desk complete the artful nook.

The Simply Designing blogger made a DIY industrial-inspired rolling cart to store her paints in an unused recess between a cabinet and a wall in her craft room. A similar idea would work in almost any awkward alcove to store items like kitchen spices, bath amenities, or a DVD collection.

If you’re looking to carve out a reading nook for your kids, instead of installing a space-stealing bookshelf, take a page from The DIY Playbook and mount a few homemade MDF book ledges to a wall in a neglected corner of a nursery or playroom. Fill them with your tykes’ current favorites, and they’ll all be close at hand when bedtime rolls around.

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Plywood is the surprising star of this set of custom-made underbed storage drawers from The Painted Hive. A rich stain-and-oil finish enhances their beauty, and dividers inside the drawers keep contents separate and organized. Though the boxes look like they sit practically flush with the floor, long wooden rollers mounted into the recessed bases provide portability without the added height of casters.

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Kick your space-hogging shoe rack to the curb and instead wall-mount two Retur recycling bins from Ikea, one stacked on top of the other. By doing so, the bloggers at Young House Love created a slim two-tiered shoe storage unit that frees up floor space by their side entry. Each bin neatly holds several pairs of sneakers, sandals, or heels.

Loose gift bags, greeting cards, and rolls of ribbon and wrapping paper can end up littering closet floors. Control the clutter by moving it all from the floor to the door—specifically, into a trio of store-bought wire CD baskets mounted to the inside of the closet door. Two small coat hooks and a length of ribbon hold the wrapping paper rolls securely in place. 

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Todd from A Beautiful Mess turned his garage into a home studio that reverberates with style. Pale mint walls, plenty of room for instruments, and keyboard-filled ledges keep the creativity flowing and let calm organization reign.

Made of pine board and plywood by The Gray House Studio bloggers, this sculptural bike rack stores bikes vertically, which makes them easier to pull down than wall-mounted bikes. The bench at the end of the rack doubles as a shoe changing station or a place to park helmets after a long ride, while the chalkboard-painted front slats of the rack—and their chalk design—strike a playful tone.

Mount store-bought or DIY ledges, adjustable shelf strips, curtain rods, or wire baskets to the back of a pantry door, and you can stow practically any kitchen essential out of sight but close at hand, from pot lids to canned food.

There’s perhaps no more inconspicuous place to stash bulky, out-of-season items than in the triangular space beneath the stairs, a.k.a the spandrel. In this smart design by Bynum Homes, custom-fit drawers in this often neglected spot provide easily accessed, seamless storage. 

Related: 17 Clever Uses for the Space Under the Stairs

Kitchens are notoriously short on floor space for storage. Fight back by making your under-sink cabinet work harder. A cleaning caddy, plastic bins, clear acrylic drawers with vinyl labels, and behind-the-door hooks ensure that everything you need to get your cookware and countertops squeaky clean is easy to find. If you can also squeeze in a pull-out trash can, you’ll  keep it out of the way and tidily hidden until trash day.

In a cramped space where cabinets are out of the question, consider storing cleaning essentials on a shallow wall-mounted metal organizer. For an especially efficient setup, follow the lead of the Within the Grove blogger by depositing room-specific cleaning supplies in labeled baskets and toilet paper and paper towels in marked boxes. A chalkboard to-do list with daily or weekly tasks keeps everyone in the loop.

Nothing stifles creativity like having to rummage through a supply closet for paint, glitter, and glue at the start of every craft project. Keep all your artistic essentials in plain view—and even arranged by color, if you want—with wall-mounted multitiered wooden storage shelves. This set of DIY shelves made of wood planks, wood filler, and wire brads by the Skip to My Lou blogger would be great in a craft room, play room, or home office.

Where there are studs in a wall, there’s a storage possibility. For proof, look no further than this multishelf storage unit designed by The Craft Patch blogger. These shelves, set into a wall between two studs, provide valuable overflow storage in a small pantry. Molding installed around the top and bottom of the shelf and wooden slats mounted on either side give the unit a more finished, buttoned-up look.

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Creative storage ideas for the win!