59 replies to this topic

[susie]

Mice might not eat the TP or paper towels, but they'd tear it to bits and use it for their nests.

[CrabGrassAcres]

Spare blankets, sheets and even winter coats, can be stored between the mattress and foundation of all the beds in the house. You can use the space they were occupying for food!

[mommato3boys]

Here are some more ideas that I have gotten off several other forums...

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How much space is behind your books on your bookshelves? Can you store boxes and canned goods behind your books?

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In your kid's closets lower the rack and add another shelf

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Cut a board the size of your closet floor but not as deep (front to back). Raise it on 1x4s high enough to slide plastic storage tubs underneath. Cover the board with a piece of carpet that can hand over the front edge of the board and touch the floor (use tacks or glue to hold the carpet to the top and front edge of the board. Who will know that is not part of the original house construction?

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Add another shelf above the one already in your closet

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Build a storage box to replace your bed frames. 1/2 ply tops and bottoms. Make the vertical dimension tote high or 2 #10 cans high use 3/4 ply vertically every couple of feet for strength and make lanes one or two cans (or one tote) wide load you cans (totes) from one side and remove from the other (instant rotation)

Note: if you have long legs like my husband or if you build steps you can make it tall enough for 5 gallon buckets.

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Add a wall cabinet to your bathroom over the toilet for linens and use your linen closet for storage

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That back corner of the cabinet that doesn't get used because you really can reach it....perfect storage for cans

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Look for empty space in your furniture. Old desk have empty spaces behind drawers

Get rid of end tables and use your 5 gallon buckets just lay a sheet of wood (or glass top) on top of the bucket and cover with a table cloth

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Step in to your closet TURN AROUND and LOOK UP
There is usually a space up there between the top of the closet door trim and the bottom of the ceiling (this poster said this space in their house was 8" tall and 6" deep)

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Oh and if you want to hide special things that are light weigh and flat can be taped to the bottom of a drawer it is a little thicker the back of the drawers.

[Kevin B 123]

You Might think Im crazy:

I live in a TINY place, with very little storage. So To gain floor space, I bought 2 low dressers, removed the legs off these, set them back to back, place my bed on top. Thus I have a cheap captain bed, and freed up room for 2 shelves!

Im Looking for “sewing” chairs, the ones with a box beneath the seat for storage. Instead of am “entertainment Center” for the TV, VCD, DVD & speakers, I bough a 36 inch high 20 inch wide dresser, and the Tv sits on a swivel base above the other units. Gives me 4 additional drawers for storage.

In my pantry, I use 5 gallon buckets, and old POP-Corn Tins ( christmas sized) on top of these, with smaller ones on top of those: These stacks fit nicely under the shelves which are at a permanent height; The 5 gallons hold a variety of bags, which if sitting on a shelves, would take an entire shelf. ( Or more)... I remove Bags out of boxes, and they fit better in a 5-gallon bucket.

On another wall, I use two 5-Gallon buckets, with my long term storage,( the 40 lbs of grains)with a board across these, another set of 5-gallon buckets, on top of the first 2, then a second board, to make another shelf. These shelves hold light-weight things that are easily removed when I need to access the buckets. When I can get wooden crates that the 5 gals will fit into,the crates will hold the shelves.

My permanent shelves, will hold 3 cans deep and 2 cans high, so I get the stores display boxes, ( like you might see at ALDI’s) and then i can go 4 deep & 2 high, smaller things like mushrooms, tomato paste, I can get 3 sleeves of completely filled display cartons.

My Kitchen is small, 4 feet x 6 feet, so I found a wire shelve that fits OVER the table, and gives me 5 wire shelves above the table... My Book shelves, also wire, are on wheels, so i can turn each shelve-unit are around allowing me to stack books 2 deep, and I still see all the titles!


My Cup-boards sit on two walls, leaving an “L” shaped space above the cup-boards. I places a 2 foot x 4 foot plywood board, at an angle over the cup-boards, giving MOSt of the “soffet-area” plus another 4 foot of shelve.

I hope this information helps out....

[CrabGrassAcres]

WOW Kevin! I'm impressed!

[Kevin B 123]

Thanks CrabGrassAcres!

[Shandy]

I'm impressed too, Kevin! YOu could write a book about using up available space. Incredible ideas, especially about the bed!

[HSmom]

Excellent suggestions Kevin!

[cheles2kids]

Here's what I did in my dining area. We refer to it as 'the sideboard.'

Now you see room for up to 27 5-gallon buckets (although I have some smaller ones in there too.)

Now you don't.

Materials needed: buckets, 2ft x 5.5ft plywood, thrift store sheet.

LOVE this idea!!! OMGawrsh, now you've opened up a can of !
I can see having one of these all the way down one side of my looooong hallway.

Thanks so much for sharing these pictures & these ideas!!



Michelle in middle Tennessee

Edited by cheles2kids, 24 February 2009 - 10:22 AM.

[cheles2kids]

You Might think Im crazy:

I live in a TINY place, with very little storage. So To gain floor space, I bought 2 low dressers, removed the legs off these, set them back to back, place my bed on top. Thus I have a cheap captain bed, and freed up room for 2 shelves!

This idea is ingenious!!!
Thanks for sharing!


Michelle in middle Tennessee

[arby]

Yep Chele, I will be raising my double bed mattress up one of these days to about five feet high, so I can put two layers of five gallon buckets under it, and several layers of smaller stuff. I will just make a very long bed skirt once its up, after I get it built. This will give me a whole bunch of cubic feet of storage place. I could even mount guns under there, rather than stick them in the closet, in case someone looks in my closet when they are trying to ripoff/confiscate??? I could enclose it with locking doors, but that makes it more obvious than a bed skirt would be. I figure dark rubbermaid bins with misnamed labels on them ( christimas and craft stuff, etc) for the real food items I would store.
I live in a small apartment, so utilizing every square foot of space in ways that people won't hopefully think twice about it is the key here, in case anyone comes in.
I also have about six sq. feet ( Plus to the roof) ( Almost 50 cu. ft) of space I can build a locking cupboard that would be behind my front door, where I can then store my BOB and camping gear out of sight once I build that cupboard, set up with space for sleeping bags, pads and the big tent and the BOB and First Aid bags. It would also make it look nicer to be able to do that instead of the pile of stuff sitting there right now! ( BOB stuff). The less people can see what I have here, makes it less likely to get them interested and nosy.

I may even use the bench and end table ideas for the five gallon buckets around my place. It is difficult for me to get furniture here, believe me, so I will implement that as I go as well, as preps come to me.

The third cupboard and added counter tops can be done in the kitchen too. I want to be able to lock the lower cupboards, and it would give me a place to store my canner out of sight as well.
The fourth storage system is my computer desk and entertainment shelves and cupboards I need as well. It would sure be nice to have all this done now, but it will happen in time. I have to be long on patience with a fixed income, but at least I can prep!

Today I dealt with odd clothing that needed to be used for rag rugs, hemmed up or tailored. I got it sorted, along with inventorying sewing patterns and materials and putting them neatly into a box. I can see my floor in my bedroom and get to stuff now, lol.... I found a couple shelves for the books I am always referring to these days ( lately), and that feels nice.

The next thing I do know I can do is rearrange all my indoor gardening supplies in the space where I want to use them once I set up shelving and grow lights..... this will open up some room in my little living room, and I can make a space for my cat, where he likes to look out the window and also goes in and out of the window to the first floor roof.

Getting the junk out, getting what I do need put up neatly sure is making a difference, although I will be at it all week I figure, along with other things typical of our prepping lifestyle and cooking from scratch. ( The beef roast smells heavenly right now).


All of these things will be able to be taken down to easy to move sizes and weight, as well, so when I move in the future, it will be easier on my older bones and back.

Thinking in terms of cubic square feet helps me be more ingenious and practical in figuring out storage methods. Making it more comfortable here is also important to me. Things certainly don't match at this point!

Edited by arby, 23 February 2009 - 05:29 PM.

[PureCajunSunshine]

Here's an elegant solution for food storage hidden in plain sight...hattip to WitchMisspelled, who posted this on another board. Hattip to Justin Case who grabbed some screen shots for internet connection-challenged ones like me who are on pokey slow dialup...and to shut me up.

I remember seeing diagrams of this type of canned food storage in various magazines, etc. but never done this elegantly! I suppose this concept could be easily integrated into other projects, such as bookcases, room dividers, etc.

The beauty of the plan is that it automatically rotates the cans for you. Drop in your newest purchases in one end, grab your oldest canned goods from the other end. Get in the habit of writing the purchase date on the top of every can, and you're all set to go!





the shelf is behind this sofa...



...and at one end you feed the cans into the many compartments, they roll along a slightly downward sloping shelf, towards the other end. This way you can be assured of a convenient rotation of goods...




and this is looking at the other end where you take the cans out as you need them...




and this is how the whole cabinet looks with the sofa taken out of the way...




WitchMisspelled had this to say about it: "Basically what she did was to cannibalize an old dresser. She deconstructed it and then added in planks angling downward. She used L brackets to attach the plans to the frame and in between to make the individual can spaces. She also noted that her planks had a 1" drop angling downward from left to right that wasn't working well. She recommended at least a 2" drop.

The more I look at this the more I think I'm going to see if I can find some giveaway on an old dresser on Craig's list and try doing this project myself."

And this: "...I had thought about a butcher block island in the kitchen. Make one part to rotate cans make another part about shelving for odd pots and pans. Butcher block up top would make a nice work surface."

English Herts said this: "and if you want to make one without shelves, you could use angle iron just set them 5mm further apart then the height of the cans."

To see the rest of this beauty...go to the YouTube link at the top of this post.

Edited by PureCajunSunshine, 23 February 2009 - 05:46 PM.

[CrabGrassAcres]

Be nice if you could use one of those for home canned foods!

[cheles2kids]

I wanted to share this site with you as well.
There are tons of different storage ideas & some that wouldn't take too much money to make.

http://michael.coxfa...ation_Ideas.pdf

(Speaking of underbed storage, on page 3, would be an easy idea to incorporate. Then you could measure and customize to fit the size cans you that would be more likely to store)


Oh & HsMom, just wanted to let you know that I went & purchased the supplies last night to make my tables.

Can't wait to get them assembled and put together!

Great thread everyone!


Michelle in middle Tennessee

[angieg5966]

I live in a one-bedroom apartment-style condo in the middle of the city. One of my recent creative storage ideas was to measure the interior of my queen-size bed frame and buy enough totes to fill the space (it took nine). I then removed the slats and supports that held the box springs, placed the totes inside and laid the box springs over the totes. The mattress then was placed over the box springs. It raised everything by about four inches.

While this is not easy-to-get-to storage, I mainly put things there that I don't need constant access to. I have slept on it for a couple of weeks now and unlike my predictions, the box springs did not slip.

[vigilant20]

I'm going to be doing my first project to make more space this weekend. I have a pretty small house, but there are two places where the previous owners somehow ended up with a closet inside of another closet. Actual door frames on both of them and everything. They weren't well utilized because you had to walk through the small outer closet to access the other closet.

I'm going to be putting up shelves on the inner closets. The outer closets still need to be walk through, so I'm building racks against the walls for mason jars. I'm doing most of my preservation in the form of dehydrated fruits and veggies in mason jars, so this setup should be sufficient for all of my food storage.

[dogmom4]

BTTT

[dogmom4]

What a great idea!

http://learning-to-b...d-tutorial.html

[Jeepers]

I had a whole thing typed up and hit the wrong button and POOF it's gone.

Long story short...thanks for the bump! I have food/storage/organization envy now. Lot's of great eye candy in this thread.

[Andrea]

Wow, what a blast from the past! I had forgotten about Kevin! I wonder what he's up to? I really liked him!

Cool link, Dogmom! Thanks!