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Home » Home Organization » Space Planning » How to Find Wasted Storage Spaces in Your Home

How to Find Wasted Storage Spaces in Your Home

Last Modified: February 25, 2024 Sabrina Quairoli This blog uses cookies. It also has affiliate links. We earn sponsored content income.

Are you looking for hidden storage spaces in your home? With a small house, I have to be creative in every room. As the kids get bigger and my house seems to get smaller, it is even more crucial that I make my storage space count. This post shares the four ways I found storage spaces in my home. I designed and developed these areas in my house for more storage space.

Jump to:
  • Four surprising hidden spaces to use for storage
  • Tip 1: Adding storage to the bathroom
  • Tip 2: Adding storage under stairs.
  • Tip 3: Adding storage to the garage.
  • Tip 4: Adding storage to an unfinished basement
  • Tip 5: Inside Under Used Cabinets
  • Tip 6: Under bed storage
  • Tip 7: Corner Units
  • Tip 8: Use Closets
  • Visit our other small space posts to help you maximize your home with minimal effort.
How to Find Wasted Storage Spaces in Your Home - featured image

Four surprising hidden spaces to use for storage

Tip 1: Adding storage to the bathroom

Built-in Bathroom Cubbies: I love this idea! In a bump-out wall that only had one 4-inch pipe in it, we were able to make cubbies for knickknacks and towels! We made a wooden box and added a frame around it to support the box to the studs, and then we painted it and added moulding. Looks great, right? It gives the allusion to a wider space instantly and adds much-needed storage. 

builtin cabinet

Tip 2: Adding storage under stairs.

Under the stairs storage area: We built out a wall (to line it up to the other wall) and, as a result, created a great storage space under the steps. We installed a door, and now it holds my extra party supplies. Because we have a staircase that wraps around, it gave us even wider storage than a straight staircase. 

under basement steps storage

Tip 3: Adding storage to the garage.

Above our narrow single-car attached garage (Affiliate Link), we created attic space. We inforced the flooring with 2 x 6-inch studs and added flooring to reinforce the space. In a newer home, the house is framed with 2 x 4-inch studs. If you want to use attic space, it must be 2 x 6-inch studs. Reinforcing attic flooring studs in this area allowed us to store holiday decorations and other things, like coolers, that we only use seasonally. We also installed drop-down steps and flooring, and now it keeps a lot of stuff!

attic storage

Tip 4: Adding storage to an unfinished basement

We built it with metal stud walls around the heater and hot water heater area, which were placed by themselves on one side of the basement. 

We added two doors, one for the heater and one for the hot water heater. Doing this added a place for long-term storage and room for supplies. We could also add a bookshelf (Affiliate Link) to hold books and other reference material. 

heater room photo

Tip 5: Inside Under Used Cabinets

Look for space under cabinets that are underutilized for that particular room. It could be a bathroom sink cabinet with only a few things in it or a kitchen corner cabinet with only containers. You can find some items stored in their lidded bins to store items in these places.

Tip 6: Under bed storage

Some bed frames (Affiliate Link) have storage, like drawers, which you can pull out under the bed (Affiliate Link). The most significant unused space in the bedroom is under the bed (Affiliate Link), so why not use it? If you need a bed frame with built-in storage drawers, you can buy under the bed (Affiliate Link) bins to store shoes (Affiliate Link) and other things.

Tip 7: Corner Units

You can add many things to corners to help maximize the space. The area is usually a little tight, so smaller items, like books, work best in this area.

Image of Floating Shelves for corner Set of 4

Floating Shelves for corner Set of 4

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(Affiliate Link)

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Tip 8: Use Closets

Some spare bedrooms have decent closets to store things. Adding shelving (Affiliate Link) to these closets will make them more organized and easier to find things. Closets can also be in basements and bathrooms. Ensure that the items you store in these areas can handle the humidity.

When looking for space in your home, make a small hole in the wall and ensure nothing is blocking the space you need. There may be wires, piping, and other things you don't want to cut. If you see something, patch the wall and try a different area. Always remember to measure twice and cut once before taking action. Happy hunting for those hidden storage spaces!

Visit our other small space posts to help you maximize your home with minimal effort.

7 Ways to Maximize Wasted Space in Kitchen

This post shares how to increase storage space in the kitchen.

Book Storage Solutions for Small Spaces - featured image

Our post talks about storing books in a small home.

Small Spaces Storage Ideas Made Easy - featured image

This post gives you more ideas to organize your small space.

cropped-How-to-Increase-Space-using-Shed-Organization-Tools-featured-image.jpg

The following post shares how we organized our small shed.

Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon (Affiliate Link), and at no additional cost, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through and decide to make a purchase.

How to Find Wasted Storage Spaces in Your Home
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How to Find Wasted Storage Spaces in Your Home
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About Sabrina Quairoli

I love sharing my passion for organizing life and home. I hope you get inspired when visiting my home organizing tips, quick weeknight recipes, party planning ideas, and DIY organizing projects. Visit the About Me page to read my story.

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  1. Nancy Haworth says

    December 03, 2018 at 10:14 am

    These are wonderful tips for creating extra storage space in a home. I love the bathroom cubby storage and the under stair storage ideas!

    Reply
  2. Seana Turner says

    December 03, 2018 at 9:39 am

    I love the bathroom cubby idea. We did a renovation in our old house where there was an 18inch space at the end of the tub/shower that was being wasted. We pulled out the wall and put in cubbies very similar to yours. It ended up being terrific storage for very little expense:) Good to think about what is behind your walls, right?

    Reply
  3. Janet Barclay says

    December 03, 2018 at 9:14 am

    Great suggestions. I especially like the one about using the upper part of the garage. If more people did this, there would be a lot fewer cars left outside subject to the elements because there's no room for them in the garage!

    Reply
  4. Linda Samuels says

    December 03, 2018 at 9:11 am

    What smart ideas for maximizing space. I especially love the bathroom cubbies that you built. We're in a small house too with no basement or attic, so storage space is at a premium.

    Reply
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