Feeling kinda cramped in your home these days? Wondering where else to shove ‘all the things’ so when company drops by, your home at least looks tidy? Only you have to know if you’re secretly hoarding a closet full of shoes and a pantry full of expired canned goods.

Staring at walls and corners that aren’t being used is like staring at ignored potential. Or missed opportunities. Frankly, you probably don’t even realize how much vertical space you could potentially be using in your home, or just what you’re missing out on. Additionally, vertical storage space can be stylish too!

Tips

Shelving

Shelves are a dream come true for utilizing vertical storage space. Don’t know how to style a bookshelf properly? Well...in reality, there is no wrong way to do so, and the possibilities might well be endless. In fact, shelving from Inside Weather is available in many width and length options, plus unique customizations. 

Shelves can be attached on the wall, or come with their own supporting frame to stand against a wall. In addition, they can be added to cabinets, kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms, and pretty much any other space in your house. Shelves can be designed as floor-to-ceiling, or you can put up single shelves. Like we said, the possibilities are endless! 

Ladder Shelves

A ladder shelf is an extremely popular vertical storage unit. They declutter your floor space and make any room look cool, while utilizing your vertical space and creating places to display your favorite things.

You can use it for your books, your music collection, knick knacks and dust-collectors. You can decorate them with vines, or fairy lights… the sky's the limit! You could put one in your kitchen and use it to organize your food or show off some fancy dishware.

Stacking

Vertically stacking items is one of the easiest ways to utilize vertical space in your house. What happens most often is we tend to waste the space above our heads. You can utilize this space by stacking items on top of each other. Bunk beds, stackable washer and dryer units, and stackable shelving are excellent examples of stacking.

Of course, you can also stack things like decorative storage boxes to hide items away. Just make sure that before stacking items, you properly plan so that your rarely used items are at the bottom, and your most used ones are at the top. Otherwise, it’s a pain digging around on the bottom level searching for something, or constantly unstacking to reach the bottom level.

You can also choose to stack items that are designed with a frame for easy access, or are made to be stacked so that taking things out from any particular section is––mostly––more convenient.  

Storage and Storage Boxes

The idea of storage is not new. However, with vertical space, the way you utilize it for storage may be new. There are multiple ways to increase storage capacity with the help of vertical space.

Adding storage racks or cabinets on walls above or around the cabinets in your kitchen, around your TV, in your closets, and elsewhere are all excellent ways to boost storage capacity in a small space. And as mentioned, if you get decorative storage boxes, you can stack them on top of each other as vertical storage units that look pretty, too! 

Display Wall Art 

Adding wall art to a vacant wall space in the house is a great way to transform a blank wall and showcase your personal style.

Although art items are often displayed at eye level to garner maximum attention, they can also be spread along a wall on multiple levels. You can hang your artwork close to the ceiling, you can put it on the floor and lean it against a wall, or anywhere in between. Create a cool geometric pattern with your art, or arrange it uniformly. Maybe you’ll be inspired to create your very own gallery wall.

Hanging Organizers 

Hanging organizers are a great way to utilize vertical space. Such organizers can be used to store a lot of things, from files and magazines in a study or living room, to trays and cutting boards inside or outside a kitchen cabinet. A rail with hooks, a plastic or fabric pocket organizer, and slings are all examples of hanging organizers. You can make DIY slings for storage by adding fabric on curtain rods and attaching them to any vertical space of your choosing.

Rope Plant Hangers

Rope plant hangers have been in use for decades. They are an excellent way of bringing color and freshness to a room, without compromising on floor space. Moreover, you can use the same rope hangers to hide toys and other decorative items in the kids’ rooms to bring some dimension to the room.

Vertical Garden

Vertical gardens are all the rage these days. There are multiple ways of installing a vertical garden. You can train and guide common vines such as pothos or ivy to grow along hooks on a wall, hang them up high and let gravity do its thing.

Another option is to install a frame with shelves or rails to put pots on. You can also opt for a wall-mounted hydroponic setup to create a vertical garden. They are an excellent way of bringing an air of freshness and nature into your space without hogging all the room.

Office Wall 

To fulfill your work-from-home needs you could consider installing floating shelves. Grab a chair, and viola! You have your very own “desk.” Similarly, depending on the size of the unused space, you could add an accent chair and side table, put the shelving higher for books and files, and convert it into a work or reading area. 

Wall-Mounted Rack 

To make the most of any vertical space in your kitchen––because who doesn’t need extra space in the kitchen––install a wall-mounted rack to store spices. This will not only take advantage of unused space, but also make it convenient to access all of your spices. Even better, wall-mounted racks can also be used as a hanging bar. 

Etagere / Open Shelf 

Etagere refers to furniture that features open shelves for displaying decorative items or ornaments. Essentially etagere is open shelving. It’s an ideal storage solution for kitchens and dining rooms, as it allows you to show off your fancy china or ceramics.

Although the prospect of putting everything in plain sight can be a bit daunting, you’ll grow to like it once implemented. Floating shelves and traditional shelves can also be used as open shelving. You can place etageres in any vertical space of your home.

Tall Cabinets

Whether it’s your closet or the kitchen, install floor-to-ceiling cabinets to utilize the top space on your walls. You can store rarely used items high up and arrange them in order of least to most used. Similarly, in your closet, you can store out-of-season clothes in the top cabinets. Don’t you love it when storage makes sense?

To-Do List / Chalkboard List

Who doesn’t need to be more organized? You could try hanging a chalkboard or whiteboard in the hallway near your door. It’s great for writing down important things you don’t want to forget, creating to-do lists, and more. Make it do double duty by hanging one that comes with hooks to hang keys, magnets to hang notes and bills, and cubbies to catch mail and miscellaneous items. 

Additional Tips for Using Vertical Space

Consider Taller Furniture

Low lying furniture can make your ceiling look higher and highlight any awkward vertical space in your surroundings. To minimize this effect, a good tip is to use taller furniture. For bedrooms, you could design a loft bed and replace the lower bunk with an open area that can be utilized for multiple purposes. High wingback chairs, tall armoires, a floor-to-ceiling entertainment wall, and bookshelves are just some of the many options for tall furniture. 

Use Modular Storage 

Modular storage refers to flexible storage units that can be customized and designed according to your needs. The biggest benefit of modular storage units is that they’re already constructed and only need to be installed. Modular storage can be used for any vertical space in the house, like creating shelves in closets or spare rooms. Modular bins are great for storing items that are rarely used.

Adjust the Lighting

If you want to maximize your space, you can’t go wrong playing with lighting. To maximize the effects of vertical space, install lights on the ceiling. To minimize the effects of vertical space, use lower lighting, like floor or table lamps. These will cast shadows in the areas above it, minimizing the look of vertical space. Track lights are popular because they can be adjusted to multiple angles.

Figuring out how to use vertical space in your home can be a challenge, but it’s a fun one. Learning how to minimize and maximize what you’ve got to work with is a life skill you can use for almost anything, not just home decor!

Shop custom shelving options from Inside Weather today!