Four ideas for discovering storage spaces you didn’t know you had

Published 12:01 am Thursday, June 16, 2011

There may be several square feet of potential storage hidden under your nose and your furniture. These four tips will help you find space to stylishly store clutter big and small:

1. Stick it under the bed: A king-size bed eats up 42 square feet of space. Why should the dust bunnies have it all to themselves? Store your out-of-season clothes there. Ikea sells sliding-drawer units that fit under beds, or you can buy storage bins that roll in and out.

2. Maximize your closet: Before you start drawing up plans for your bedroom storage closet, analyze what you plan to keep there. To figure out where to install rods, for example, estimate how much space dresses and suits take up vs. shirts and jackets. For longer items, you need full-length vertical space under the rod. If the bulk of your clothes extends less than 3 feet, hanging two sets of rods, one high and one about 40 inches above the floor, will double the amount of clothes you can hang in that space.

3. Make it kid-friendly: Stashing the bed itself can make a tiny bedroom double as a nursery by day. It’s in your best interest to make storage fun, attractive and easily accessible for your kids.

4. Think vertically: To avoid extending shelves into the room itself, consider removing some drywall and creating recessed spaces between the studs. You can add doors to enclose them or install shallow shelf inserts.

If you have limited space around the bed, ditch the bedside tables in favor of a headboard with cabinets to hold lamps, books and glasses. Look for tall, narrow dressers, armoires and corner cabinets to stretch your small bedroom’s storage space.

Cathleen McCarthy on hgtv.com