I've gathered, in this article, my top picks for wall storage solutions and ideas to make use of all the storage space at your disposal in your home from floor to ceiling.
I think one of the most underutilized spaces for storing items in most homes are walls.
Think about it, most of the time all we do to our walls is consider what color to paint them, or what piece of artwork to hang up there.
However, when done right, you can use some of your wall space in your home to free up floor space or other space on flat surfaces.
That flat space, which is always at a premium, can then be utilized in a completely different way. That basically doubles the amount of stuff you can hold in the room and it still not feel cluttered or cramped.
Now, you don't want to go overboard with the amount of stuff you mount on your walls. Some open space can be pleasing to the eye.
Pictured: CD or DVD storage shelves
available on Amazon.com [Click here to purchase]
But I bet you could strategically take down a picture or two and be amazed at the space you free up when you choose the right wall storage solutions for your needs.
While utilizing your walls to hold and store items in your home can be great, make sure you take into consideration these general rules and safety tips when utilizing this type of storage solution:
Wall organizers and storage systems are mounted to the wall, and you've got to secure them well to make sure they don't fall off.
Wall mounted home entertainment
console available on Amazon.com
[Click here to purchase]
This often involves finding the studs in the wall, using a stud finder, and mounting the storage system or organizer to the studs.
If you just choose any place in the wall, willy nilly, and mount the product, it will most likely pull itself off of the wall, especially when loaded with any substantial amount of weight.
This can damage your wall, the organizer itself, and the items you've stored in it, not to mention be dangerous to anyone close to it when it falls down.
Many of the items I've suggested below as good ideas for use on your walls can be assembled and put up on your walls yourself.
However, if you are mounting something quite heavy and/or expensive, such as a flat screen TV, or the entertainment console shown on the right, it may be worth getting it professionally installed to make sure its done right, and safely.
Wall mount magazine rack
available on Amazon.com
[Click here to purchase]
Before buying anything to mount on your wall, you need to consider the dimensions of the object you want to store in it, the dimensions of the organizer or storage solution itself, as well as consider what height you'd like to have the storage system placed at for easy reach.
Some storage works best at eye level, while others types should be lower to the floor. It all depends on what you're storing, and why.
For example, the magazine rack on the left should be at eye level if you've got this close to the door perhaps, but should be lower if you've got it in the bathroom to use while using the facilities.
Also, consider safety. The higher you mount the object to the wall the harder it may be to reach the stored objects and get them down. Further, the higher an object is stored, the farther any such objects have to fall, if they fall off the organizer.
In wall ironing board available on
Amazon.com [Click here to purchase]
Finally, remember that unless you make a recessed part of your wall to store items in, or otherwise build storage system into the wall itself, such as the in wall ironing board shown on the right, the mounted objects will jut out from the wall.
You don't want to have such items mounted on walls in such a way that it blocks or hinders walkways or paths within your home.
There is nothing worse than smacking your shoulder against a certain shelf, for example, over and over, almost every time you or a guest walk by that area.
When it comes to mouting items on your wall, there really is an almost unimaginable variety of products you can use to do it, and an almost unlimited variety of things you can store there.
Below are some of the most popular types of places and types of wall storage solutions you might want to consider for your own home:
Rubbermaid Fast Track Garage Wall System
available on Amazon.com [Click here to purchase]
Storing things on your wall makes a lot of sense, especially in certain areas of your home.
One of the most common places where you might use wall storage is in your garage, where you've got lots of equipment to keep in one place, of either the sports and activity type as shown on the left, or gardening equipment and/or tools.
Of course, garage floor space is at a premium, so you can actually park your car in there too.
Therefore, many different garage wall storage systems have been created that allow you to easily attach items for storage on the wall. These still allow easy access for the items, so you can take them down for use and easily put them back up again.
Pictured: Rubbermaid Homefree Series Closet Kit 3P40
similar Rubbermaid products available on Amazon.com
in various sizes [Click here to purchase]
The system pictured above, to the left, is Rubbermaid's Fast Track system, but there are also many other varieties available from a wide range of manufacturers.
The other place you'll see lots of storage systems, many of which are wall mounted, are in closets.
That is because closets are small spaces where you're trying to fit as much stuff as possible in an organized fashion, so it naturally makes sense to use the walls as an extra storage area.
Lots of closet kits are available in many sizes and varieties that you can install onto your closet walls to help you fit all of your clothing and accessories into the small space in an organized fashion.
Pictured above, to your right, is a Rubbermaid closet kit. These kits, as well as those made by other closet kit manufacturers, such as ClosetMaid, come in a variety of models, depending on size and the types of things you want to add to your walls.
While wall storage systems are quite popular, don't forget that they are not the only way to free up floor space, or counter or shelf space.
In both the kitchen and living room, mounting appliances and electronics to the wall is an excellent way to utilize your limited space to the max.
Common examples of things you can mount include televisions, entertainment systems and speakers, microwaves, and ironing boards.
Mop and broom organizer available on
Amazon.com [Click here to purchase]
Another popular way to store things on your walls is to use a wall organizer designed to hold a specific type of item.
The one pictured to the left is a mop and broom organizer, but there is an almost unimaginable variety of these organizers available, designed to hold all types of things on your wall.
This includes holding paper, mail, keys, craft supplies, gardening tools, automotive tools and supplies, etc.
The thing about all the wall organizers I mentioned above, as well as the storage systems, is that when you use them everything stored on the wall is in plain view.
The same can be said for wall shelves, where instead of having the shelving unit sit on the floor they are mounted on the wall, so again they free up floor space.
We'll talk about wall shelving later, when I talk about shelves in general since they're also in my list of the top 15 storage solutions.
The advantage of items being in plain view is that you can easily see what you've got, and access it without difficulty. The disadvantage is that you've got to keep it somewhat organized visually, and uncluttered, so it doesn't seem overwhelming or become an eye sore.
Another storage possibility for your walls, for items you don't want the world to see, are wall cabinets.
The nice things about cabinets is you can close the door of the cabinet and hide the contents from the world, so you don't have to be quite as vigilant in keeping things looking neat all the time.
We'll talk about wall cabinets, which instead of sitting on the floor are mounted to the wall, along with their close cousins storage cabinets, in another week of this series too, since they're also in my list of top 15 solutions.
Finally, the last type of storage for your walls includes those of the built-in and/or recessed variety.
The advantage of these types of storage is that they typically don't stick out as far from the wall. This can be great since some of these items can be quite bulky, and would block much of the space in the room if they didn't go into the wall some.
A classic example of a built-in storage item include wall beds. Can you imagine if this item wasn't recessed in the wall some? It would take up quite a bit of room.
Of course, as with anything built-in, these types of storage solutions can be quite pricy since they typically involve professional installation, and in addition may even by custom built to fit your specific space exactly.
So this concludes my tour of wall storage solutions and ideas you can use in your home. I've only touched the surface of the possibilities, but I hope you now see why the walls are my first pick as one of my favorite types of storage solutions!
This series has really just begun, since I've only covered my first of 15 types of solutions you should consider in your home to increase your overall storage space.
Next week I'll be discussing another way to store things on your walls, or ceilings, using hooks and pegs.
I know hooks and pegs could be considered wall storage solutions themselves, but they have so many storage and organizational uses, and are so versatile (and much smaller in size than many of these ideas presented today) that I wanted to share a whole article about them with you, so you'll hopefully get your creative juices flowing for your own home.
Rubbermaid closet system photo courtesy of Rubbermaid Products
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