Storage Solutions

I'm a great believer in finding the best storage solutions you can within your budget.  Everything should have it's place in your home, but sometimes finding the right solution can take quite a while and can involve thinking a bit laterally.  Okay, not having so much stuff in the first place helps, but sometimes it's not easy to just throw things out.  I always think the most unlikely things can come in handy and I hang on to things for years with this in mind.  Sometimes I eventually find a great use for them, or customise them to use and sometimes I don't and I let them go.

My partner jokingly calls me Mrs Receptacle as I always like to put things in things.  Whenever I say I need to find a storage solution for something, he groans.  It drives him mad, but do you know what, if it stops things falling out of cupboards on top of you and keeps the house looking tidy and organised and allows me to lay my hands on what I need when I need it, I don't care.

I very often wish I could be more minimal and I'm working on it, but I'm afraid it is not really in my nature.  A lover of most things vintage, who has various collections (I always did as a child too) my instinct is more to hoard than chuck out.  I'm getting better, I've all but stopped collecting now, but I've still got a long way to go.  It's just as well I only have one child as if I had more the house would probably be bursting at the rafters with sentimental things I can't bear to throw away.

Besides, I do like my house to feel like a home and a bit of clutter does seem homely somehow.  It's getting the right balance.  Over the years my obsession with putting things in things has led me to seek out lots of storage solutions from charity shops and car boots.  I love picking up wicker baskets, for example, and have several in my bedroom housing various things such as photographs and photo albums.  These were usually picked up for £4 or £5 and have been worth their weight in gold as you can pay up to £50 in the shops for similar solutions.

Fortnum and Mason hampers are always good to look out for too and I have a couple of these.

 

I also like to use wicker baskets to hide clutter in the bathroom and in other rooms.  They are great for storing magazines and when the basket gets full it's a good indicator that perhaps you need to sift through it and get rid of some.  These small baskets, which cost a few pounds each from Ikea, fitted perfectly onto these shelves built into a small alcove in our bathroom and provide ample and tidy storage for toiletries and other items in a very small room.

This pretty underbed storage I picked up in a charity shop or car boot sale is also great for housing my vintage bed linen collection. 

My current linen cupboard is an old 1930's men's wardrobe that I bought second hand.  It needs a bit of work.  I might even sand and paint it if I ever get around to it, but it has lots of room in it for bedlinen and towels and even has a small amount of storage under the lift up lid.  Every so often I need to thin it out a bit which does prompt me to get rid of older worn out linen and it fits perfectly on our landing upstairs so is handy for getting at the bedlinen when you need to change the beds. 

It was looking particularly full when I took this photograph so I had a bit of a sort out and it now looks a lot tidier.  Here's a picture of what it looks like now.  You might beg to differ on the point of view that it is now a lot tidier, but trust me there is a little more order to it.  As you might be able to tell, I don't iron bed sheets and quilt covers these days, as it frustrates me grappling with them on the ironing board, so I just fold them and store them.  (I do iron my towels though)

When looking for storage solutions I always find that more is better i.e. the more you can get into something the better.  If faced with two options I always tend to go for the one that offers that bit more or is more flexible in terms of the ways you can use it.  Don't rush into buying the first thing you see.  I have done this in the past and regretted it only to look for an alterntive solution soon afterwards.  Take your time and get it right.  Get something that you can live with over a period of time and that will fit with your decor.  If you are looking for a storage solution for a particular place in your house, good luck, I hope you find just the thing.