The week’s interior design tips and tricks with Richard Ornelas is looking at stylish storage solutions for your home
We all need space to store our stuff and a hallway is a great starting point with a bench unit that doubles-up as storage for shoes as well as seating for putting them on, and taking them off.
The Cotswold Company are very good at these!
Feature shelving units of all shapes and sizes are particularly on-trend and you can visit stores like Dunelm for great value, quirky designs that add volume without being obtrusive.
Look even higher-up to place a run of shelving for additional space and impact by adding stylish storage boxes and trailing plants for colour. High storage can also be useful in downstairs toilets as well for items you don’t need to use very often.
In the lounge, you may already have a cabinet for your TV but there’s also potential for storage in your coffee table if you choose a two-tier table with space below for magazines and books, or a table with drawers if you don’t want items to be on show.
The ladder shelf unit is a really versatile piece of furniture which is very fashionable at the moment and can be used in the lounge, kitchen, bedroom or a larger bathroom. Ladder shelves can replace a traditional lamp table to give you more space.
Bedroom décor with an industrial style influence can provide a really brilliant, eye-catching clothes-hanging solution to replace a more traditional wardrobe. If you’re happy to have your clothes on show, then how about turning a branch into a hanging rail? Really simple but looks great. Old school pegs for storage from Wayfair are also fabulous.
Having open storage gives a sense of space as light can pass through it and you haven’t got the corners of a big wardrobe to contend with. Admittedly you would need to keep your clothes a little tidier but that is no bad thing!
If you are looking for something more traditional, Mike Southway at the Gooding Group, who has fitted storage in our show home at Cales Reach, Wincanton suggests a mirrored wardrobe to add space and light but, he adds, don’t be tempted to fit drawers inside, a second rail is a much better use of space.
Another tip from Mike is to use the often wasted space under the stairs to fit handle-less drawers which, he says, are much smarter than cupboards or cabinets which run the risk of people banging their heads when retrieving items! Search Pinterest for some inspirational ideas.
