OK, all of you who have enough room to store and display your possessions can stop reading right now. So how many is that? Just as I suspected. EVERYBODY needs more room.  Here are a few nontraditional and unexpected storage ideas that you may want to consider.

Commercial and industrial storage doesn't have to be ugly, but it almost always HAS to be sturdy, which is why it's so perfect for personal use.  Consider a library card catalog file for your CDs and DVDs. Most libraries no longer use the paper cards and their cabinets are beautifully made. Keep your eyes peeled. Literally hundreds of items can be conveniently stored in a flat file, from table linens to lingerie. What are you storing  in boxes now that would be safer and  cleaner if you had it in galvanized garbage cans or other bins? How many flat objects can you fit into one of those baker's pan racks?

Have you considered retail display suppliers as a  source for your own clothing storage needs? Not just racks of all kinds, but slat wall and  cubbies can be adapted and reconfigured as your needs change. Buy the heavy or bulky parts locally and get the easily shipped pieces on eBay and the web.

Have you ever considered a "frieze shelf" all of the way around a room, about six inches to a foot deep and about a foot below the ceiling?  It provides a way of storing and displaying all manner of collectibles above harm's way and decorates an area that is usually left plain. Backing it with a mirror adds depth.  Shelves over doorways and windows are other less-likely places for displays.

What about a shallow cabinet mounted on your bathroom wall, with lots of small drawers and cubbies? Think of all of the things you store in your bathroom that need a small drawer of their own.

Some kitchens have cabinets mounted high on the wall- I call them "once a year" cabinets because getting to them may be  less than convenient. They are perfect places to store items you need less often, like, oh, Once a Year. Does your kitchen have a "dummy soffit" that  places your cabinets at a convenient height, but hides dozens of cubic feet of space?

Hollow pedestals take up no more space than solid ones- and provide handy storage for all manner of items within, either secret or not..  Everyone knows about using the space below stairs for a bathroom, but what about that little triangular space under the first few steps? Can you make a cabinet there for cleaning supplies and equipment? Secure storage for liquor? Boots and wet weather gear?

Items of miniature furniture, such as doll's chests of drawers are often perfect for humans' small effects, such as writing instruments, sewing supplies, even stationery and stamps. Any kind of  rack or box designed to hold letter-sized papers ( a collator or office mail box) can be used to hold other pieces of letter-sized paper, more and more of which finds its way into most home offices and other parts of the house. You probably already have a small file cabinet.

For those who have money, but little room, it may be practical to retrofit chests and cabinets with shallow drawers so that hidden compartments may be made in the back for secure storage of  guns or other valuables. A clever cabintmaker can do the alterations so that a casual observer will never see them.

I hope this guide has been helpful to you, so that you might enjoy having a few more things, but keeping them out of the way when you don't need them.  Please check out my other guides, from the Mostly Useless Guide to Fame to the eminently practical What to do When Someone is Arrested.

And, if you have a moment, please vote YES below for helpfulness.

Thanks
WT