Do you feel like every inch of your space is being utilized and still there’s not enough? Have you run out of drawers and shelves and counters? Watch this video to see one of my favorite places for storage- doors! This under utilized space will give you more visible, usable space.
(Click here to watch on YouTube if you can’t see the embedded player. Or watch the video at http://bit.ly/tcddoor.)
Transcript:
Hi. I’m Lorie Marrero, creator of the Clutter Diet book and on-line program, and today I’m going to share with you one of my best hidden storage secrets. Now, we talk about going vertical a lot when we’re looking for storage. So we’re usually talking about a wall where we’re trying to put some cabinets or shelves and we’re going vertical up that wall. But what most people haven’t thought about is that the back of a door is really another wall space that you have available for you. So it’s a blank canvas for you for storage.
Here, I’m standing next to our pantry door where I have glued on some tiles that allow me to use this as a bulletin board. So, we pin up little notices and things, some quick reference information for our family here. But this is so useful. If I didn’t have as large of a pantry as I happen to have in this home, I would definitely be using the back of this door for a big pantry rack like you see here. So, you can have lots of boxes and cans on that, and it really expands your storage. If you Google “over door storage” or “over the door storage,” you will find tons of products that are made specifically for using on the back of a door. And really most of them don’t even require installation. A lot of them have been designed to hook over the top of the door, so you don’t even have to use any tools.
One of the best uses of the back of a door is these simple shoe pockets. These are so versatile. They’re made for shoes, but you can use them for almost anything. Here, I’m showing what we did in our Women’s Day reader Linda’s home, “Hi Linda,” in Michigan, for our Project Declutter series. And we have her home office, where she’s got lots of things she uses to make greeting cards for her home-based business. So, all of the things you see in these shoe pockets are hole punches, different, various kinds of decorative punches, for these greeting cards. You can put Barbie dolls in them, you can put all kinds of kids toys and knickknacks, as well as shoes, or mittens, or gloves, whatever fits in these pockets. But you can see what incredible storage this earns for you with a simple installation of hooks over the door.
So, another over-the-door thing is just hooks. So, you can hang anything you want on the back of the door. I have a product I really love here that I’m showing that’s called “The Hinge It,” and I find that builders usually don’t put towel racks in, in an adequate way, and you usually need more towel space for hanging in a bathroom. So, this goes behind the door of maybe your water closet in your bathroom, and you can hide away some of the towels that you’re trying to hang up and dry. And you can hang your bathrobe on a hook on the back of a door, lots of different things. You can hang jewelry organizers, I can go on and on.
Here’s a picture of our Woman’s Day reader Pam in Project Declutter, her closet where we have her scarves that we’re showing, and she got visibility to her whole scarf collection, so she can see that when she opens the door. Again, it’s like having a whole other wall space. So, she has that whole collection whenever she’s choosing one of her favorites. She loves scarves, as you can see. So, again, Google “over the door,” you’re going to find all kinds of solutions. And if you need help with your storage space, we can help you with that. Seven days a week we have a team of professional organizers on-line helping our members in the Message Board area of our Membership site. And that is done for about the price of a pizza. We are directly consulting with you with your personal questions. You can upload photos and show us what’s going on in your space, and we help you get unstuck. You can find out more at https://www.clutterdiet.com/learnmore.
See you next time, and may you always be happy and grateful for having more than enough.
You may have been searching for tips for homes with little space or how to create more storage.
Super smart tip. I’ve thought of hanging hooks and stuff on the back of doors, but having something flat is better I think.
Thanks for the great tip and here’s to more clutter and stress free living!
Thank you for that wonderful sentiment, Jerry. And, the same to you!