Storage Ideas

So you have had your clear out, spring clean and you may even be trying out the upcycling, but how about increasing your storage?
When I moved in here the lack of cupboard space was crazy for a family home and has been one of our biggest struggles. I am a real thrower outer, but now we have Jake we have things we need to keep, keepsakes that need safe places to be kept and many more shoes and clothes taking over the house!
When we first moved in the area under the stairs was just an open space… I cannot look at wellies, hoover, mop etc. all the time, it drives me mad. The simple solution was to put a door on there and voila, we had a cupboard (my Dad used to be a carpenter, so it’s easy when you know how). We had another wasted space on the top floor under a Velux window:

A space that I thought could easily be used for storage but I really wanted to create a feature I could enjoy too. A window seat seemed like the perfect idea:

There was an alcove in what is now Jake’s room, in which a wardrobe fitted nicely, but it had wasted space behind it so wasn’t getting used to its full capacity. Another chat with my Dad and he agreed to turn it into a built-in wardrobe (before Jake was born). I don’t have a before pic on this but here is the end result:

Plenty of shelving space for all his blankets, toys, old shoes, travel cot and so on.
As for the keepsakes, I found the perfect little, cheap, soft boxes from Ikea to make into memory boxes:

They have lots of different styles and varying prices in there. For all of my loose photo’s I found this gorgeous box in TK Maxx:

Again, there are lots of different designs at the moment ranging in sizes and prices from £7.99-£12.99.
For the kitchen, I was recently after a console but at a good price – some were up to £200 which was way out of my budget. I hunted online for ages (check measurements too as these all vary) checking Oak Furnitureland, The Range, eBay, Argos, Tesco and anywhere else I could think of that may do one cheaper. Then one day I stumbled upon exactly what I needed at a fab price of £79.99 in B&M’s of all places! It hides away my tea towels, looks attractive and I could finally get some photo frames out of the cupboard, plus it provided a bonus storage solution for Jake’s art and craft collection:

The crate effect boxes underneath were a find on eBay. They are available in 3 sizes and are the perfect size for kid’s paints, bits and bobs, A4 paper etc. Small box £9.95, medium box £11.95 and large box £16.95 OR a full set at £29.95. You would never know!!! Just the way I like it.

Lastly, on garden storage (we have a very small garden), the plastic boxes available now are large enough to fit all your garden tools, cushions for seats, kid’s toys, watering cans etc. These also vary in price but we got ours for £29.99 in an Argos sale.

I hope this gives you a few ideas on how to create storage when you seem to be running out of space and you want something a little more attractive than a plastic storage box!

Kid’s storage will be next on my list so stay tuned.

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