If your house is crammed, rearranging won’t help
The first thing to know about home storage solutions is that nothing will help if you have too much stuff. Don’t blame me. Blame French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who discovered the law of conservation of mass, which states that if your house is crammed, rearranging won’t help. Betcha never thought an interior designer would tell you that.
For practical advice on home storage solutions, I spoke with Avrumie of Suede Custom Decor, Rachel Auerbach of Rachel Auerbach Interiors, and organizer Rachel Hakim.
Every large piece of furniture should do double duty. Consider a storage ottoman or a coffee table with lots of capacity for toys and games. Storage benches are good options for entry areas, mudrooms, and dinettes. Less common are storage sofas, dining tables, and armchairs. Article, Crate and Barrel, and Wayfair all carry beautiful options for furniture pieces with secret compartments.
When maximizing space, room height is as useful as floor space. Pick higher bookcases and dressers to get more use out of your square footage. You can also stack a smaller furniture piece on top of a larger one. For example, you can place open shelves on a low dresser, or a smaller dresser on a larger dresser. If you do this, make sure the upper piece is not on legs — you don’t want an awkward space between the two pieces. Stacking furniture works best when the two pieces are the same color.
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