5 Awesome Storage Solutions You May Not Have Tried Yet!

Hi Honeys
You know what they say, necessity is the mother of invention.  I've found that's certainly true when in search of that tiny bit more space when organizing our home 😊

Our home organization journey is certainly a long ways from being complete.  Hubby & I have both been major pack rats throughout our long marriage so there's still a whole lot of junk we want to get rid of.  One day at a time though huh?

During the organizing projects so far worked on we've actually managed to create some (I think) pretty neat storage solutions where none previously existed.  So, dear ones, today I thought I'd take a little trip down memory lane and share with you the ones we're still using, the ones that still make our lives easier and help our home just plain rock 💗

OK before we dive in, do you have a coffee? Maybe a cookie? You're going to love these 💖 but it's definitely a post you'll want to have a coffee & a cookie for.  Put your feet up honeys and let's begin at the beginning shall we..

 1. A Whole New Use For That Keyboard Shelf On Your Desk..

Much as I absolutely adore my little desk, for the longest time the slide out shelf under the desktop bothered me. Yes, they were once useful and even necessary.

Back in the day (you know, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth... I'm so old!) computers would have a keyboard, a mouse mat and a mouse.  All of which would live together happily on this handy little pull out shelf.  Times move on though and suddenly we all had laptops (yes, yes even they seem to be on the way out now I know.... again, cut me a break, I'm old!)

I still have my laptop which I love dearly.  his name is Gregory 2 (having been forced to retire Gregory 1 after many happy years) and even though I also now have a tablet and a far-too-complicated-for-me smart phone, I still much prefer my laptop 😊

So, the no longer needed and yet still quite cool sliding out shelf bothered me.  My desk is pretty tiny, it sits in a little corner of our living room and the idea of wasting valuable desk top real estate was annoying.  Then, on a trip to my happy place, Ikea, I found the solution!

Image and product details can be found here

The STÖDJA cutlery tray is a ridiculously inexpensive item and yet here I am over three years later still using it almost every single day! Just like that! The slide out shelf had a purpose again!

It became the default home for all of my (far too many) pens, pencils, staples & stapler (now to be found in the same place and without my spending half an hour looking for one or the other yaaay!) rulers, markers, stampers etc all have a place to be!  I can walk over and find what I need in a heart beat - no rummaging required 😊

Such a tiny organizational task but one that's served me so well.  It's wonderful!  You can see the original post (with links etc) here honeys.

On to the next organizing project I am ridiculously in love with still 💓  This is another storage solution which gets used constantly.  I actually don't know what I ever did without it!

2. Adding A Narrow Shelf Behind The Hanging Rail In My Closet

OK, this is another case of previously completely wasted, and very valuable, storage real estate.  In our master bedroom we have a tiny reach in cupboard/closet. Hubby completely stripped it out, painted, wallpapered and added a new hanging rail from Ikea to it for me (thank you sweetheart x)

After doing all that he then added a narrow shelf to the wall directly behind the hanging rail... genius! Perfect for storing items which can become lost in a small closet such as hair accessories, jewellery, perfumes etc. There are no words for how useful this little shelf has been and continues to be every single day.  I love it!  

we've added lots (really lots) of other cool storage to this wee closet too honeys. You can see those, as well as the little shelf above in this post which details the lots of ways I've squeezed extra storage out of my teeny tiny closet. There is another post too you might like on how I turned the outside of the door to this tiny closet into my own personal handbag boutique 💖  Love it!

For the next little storage hack we head to our teeny, tiny bathroom...

3. Photo Shelves Add Valuable Storage Space In Our Tiny Bathroom

Again, another system we put in place some time ago and it's still in use every day.  Maybe the simple ideas work best but just having a photo ledge under the mirror in our tiny (seriously honeys it's 6' 4" x 6' 6") bathroom just opened up the world!

It became somewhere to put hair accessories when you're trying to pin hair up out of the way, somewhere to put make up while applying it, somewhere to put talc to use after my evening shower... and Hubby says it a great place to put toiletries, shaving foam etc too 😄

Having placed one of these ever-so-useful photo ledges under the large mirror, Hubby then added (thank you sweetheart x) another under the bathroom cabinet over by the sink.

Seeing possibilities I then asked him to add one of our used-in-so-many-places-around-our-home-it's-ridiculous Ikea Bygel rails (and matching containers) directly under the photo ledge.  Just like that! A whole new world of storage opened up!  You can see the original post with photos and links here honeys  Unfortunately Ikea discontinued the Bygel range but it's been replaced by an equally fabulous line called the Sunnersta range.  Details can be found in an edit at the above link.

Next we head to the kitchen, more specifically to the cupboard under the sink that's awful to organize because the pipework gets in the way... 

4. Mini Plastic Drawers Used To Organize Space Under The Kitchen Sink

The little three drawer plastic unit in the above photo was a game changer.  These are available all over the place honeys. I've seen them in Asda (Walmart) in Home Bargains, in so many places. They tend to cost around £4-£5 but are worth their weight in gold for this wee Rosie 😊

The one in the photo above used to store my make up at one time until I decided to use one of the large bags supplied with the Soap & Glory Christmas gift sets.  Then it became the perfect item to store packets of anti bacterial wipes, little bottles of floral scented Zoflora disinfectant used to mop the floors with and in the top drawer, ready to grab as needed, soap pads for pot cleaning.

This clever little chest of drawers was just one part of a major re-organization of this two door cupboard under the sink and it still looks good, and works very well now.  Again, you can find the original post here honeys.

On to the last of our five little projects that allowed us to create storage where we needed it but it didn't exist.  I love that each of these projects are still in use, still helping us stay organised and still making our lives that bit easier every day so yaaaaaaay!

5. Sectioned Shelf Unit Is Inverted & Used As Desk Hutch   

This next project involved buying a shelf with built in sections or cubbies...

We found the ideal unit at Argos, brought it home, Hubby built it (it was flat pack and is very heavy so good wall fixings were a must) it was then inverted and placed on the wall above my tiny desk...

This shelf is so far beyond useful honeys.  It's now home to (too many) notebooks as well as things that make me smile like photos of loved ones.  If you'd like to find out more You can see the original post here. and another post where we used the same item but it's become part of my little crafting corner.

So honeys, there we have it.  Five of my favourite ways to squeeze extra storage where its needed but might not exist (yet.)   Have you tried any of these little improvements in your home?  Have I encouraged you to go try to squeeze some extra storage from small spaces? I hope at least I've made you smile honeys.

I hope you're enjoying the sunshine and having a fabulous week, although do stay safe in the heat. Till next time dear ones, huggles always xx