Home Decor Storage Room Reveal – with tips and ideas to get organized
While I continue to tackle the other half of The EPIC Room Flip I am happy to report the Home Decor Storage portion of the flip is complete! If you’re visiting for the first time, we recently decided to flip our sons room with the room I use to house my home decor. This would have been done a lot sooner but we got set back waiting for the shelf brackets we ordered to arrive. After two incorrect orders of 3, not 30, which took everything I had not to rant about on facebook… we paid the extra expense and bought them here in town. Money well spent at that point as I was itching to move forward! The new space was laid out from the start to better hold my things, as opposed to being pieced together over time.
What was Austin’s room for many years was stripped bare so we could start with a clean slate. To get the maximum capacity, we decided to install shelves from floor to ceiling. Jim and I did this by installing a shelf track and bracket system. It was the most cost effective way to get a custom layout.
To do this, we located the studs and placed the shelf tracks accordingly for optimum strength and weight load. We customized the uppermost shelf to be shallower than the lower shelves. This would help everything be easier to access for me than if we had a deep tip-top shelf. Jim rounded the corners of the lower shelves for me since I love to run into things!
I’m always sporting a great looking bruise. I’ve got two beauties right now. Ouch.
The shelf brackets come in different lengths to support different depths of shelving. This makes it easy to customize them for your space and needs. You want to make sure to marry your shelf and bracket for a stable, safe shelf surface.
I left my shelves raw wood. I was running behind due to the shelf bracket snafu and everyday I spent not getting this room done, was one more day I was not getting Austin’s new room done. He is a champ, but was displaced during this part of the flip. I wanted to get him into his new room, even unfinished, as soon as possible.
The shelves being up meant I could start carrying everything from the old storage room, to the new one! I immediately started relocating things.
The shelves filled quickly as I spent a few days going through every single tote of decor. I deleted 6 large totes. I gave away items that I was no longer using to my sister in law, with the remainder going to the Habitat Thrift Store.
I started at the far wall storing Halloween and Fall and worked my way over with the other seasons decor. Shelves above. Totes below.
This wall is the largest and the hardest working.
You can see that items are almost touching the ceiling. I made every effort to store my things in a way that utilized every cubic foot of storage, not just the horizontal!
Specialty risers provided more “stackability”.
We’ll call that a Shannonism.
This under mount basket is just right for holding my decorator orbs. They are space hogs, roll around and are otherwise likely to get broken.
You can see another example of the versatility of these baskets here, in my linen closet.
Working my way down to the floor on this wall, I ended with clear totes.
Yes! I finally got my clear totes. No more twitching. lol
Just goes to show, you don’t have to do everything at once. I’ve majorly tackled my home decor two times previously over the last few years and I’m just now getting my clear totes. No more mismatched, can’t-see-in-thems for me.
While most of us have to budget and prioritize what we spend on, replacing the 12-15 totes I had previously for clear just was not important enough. When I saw these for $5.99 each I knew it was time! They are smaller too, which you would think would have me going backwards but they fit perfectly and are very manageable. The lids are attached too, they just split open and fold down the sides! Perfect.
Always look for a solution! My problem actually became the handiest spot to store a step stool.
The next thing I did was store shallow items on the wall between the shelves and window. This set of windows is fixed, so opening and closing them is not a problem. I also stacked wall art in matching color and styles on the floor here. Not too many, I can still get to everything, but it’s better then 50 deep. Much easier to leaf through and grab what I need.
Here I’ve gathered in groups most of my aqua decor, beachy/coastal goodies, rocks and shells plus a few floral bins of small picture frames. Keeping things together in groups is going to ensure the room stays neat and tidy.
This white wood shelf is so strong, I could jump up & down on it! It holds a ton and has served us well. It’s now in the center of the room. It’s not fancy. It serves a purpose. Some things are about function. Cute is great. Sometimes, you just need a “does the job” though. I am cool with that!
(I don’t have a high-quality wide angle lens, but here is a larger shot of the layout)
I will try these tips for organizing my room because no matter what I do in the end it gets messed up. I guess it is quite useful to keep the light items at the top shelve as it also reduce the chances of getting injured. Thanks for sharing this informative post.
Hi Shannon! These are great tips. We’re purging and organizing our storage room, and I’m also working on a craft room, so I love this post. I espcially like the idea of hanging up table linens and adding a storage rack to the back of the door. Thanks for sharing so much information. And your space looks so organized!
Holy Moly, you inspire me and make me feel a slob! Great job!
Never feel that way! My house is RARELY ever all picked up. I go from one thing to the next, leave a tornado in my wake! So chin up. Nothing is ever finished, but a work in progress Robin :)))
I really like your idea of making shelves from bottom to top. It provides us a lot of space for storing our stuff. Moreover, its the most cheapest way of making storage space for our stuff.
This is absolutely fabulous!! I would kill to have a room all my own to store everything. You must be thrilled!!~~Angela
I use this 365 days a year.
Who needs a guest room?
lol
PS: don’t forget.. no garage. So everything is in here. Christmas decor and all!
You did it! Wow, it looks neat & organized. I’m really glad to see that I’m not the only one who has a “warehouse” of goodies! L)
Cheers to home decor hoarders (:
Hi Shannon. Looking so great!! I have often wondered how others do it, since I’m pretty sure we all have lots of stuff! We have a long sun porch that we have turned into storage. I didn’t put up all the nice shelving but am using a big storage cabinet, totes (although not all clear which are really the best) and wall space. It is working out so much better than the total wreck that it was! Thanks for sharing your fix on this big problem..Happy Friday..Judy
Judy, It happened slowly… we used to have a guest room.
In reality, I use this 365 a year.
The guest room was little touched. We had to make our home work for us, the ones who live here year round.
I axed the bed and started taking over. I think I’ve finally got it stating from scratch (:
You’re solution sounds great. It took a bit to get the clear totes, like I said, I found them for $5.99 – keep an eye out, they are so worth it!
Shannon you did such a great job and what a huge success. I have to be honest I want to come over and shop your house. So many great things you have. I may show up one day and bring a big tub with me, LOL. You really have come up with such great solutions. PINNING for ideas for our new home. Thanks.
Cynthia
Hi Cynthia, Thanks so much! It had a few incarnations, but I think this one will stick! Starting from scratch was a huge help. I’ve been collection a long time. I definitely pick where I spend my money… lol – All on the home (:
I’m afraid to put all mine in one room! I’ve been collecting home decor for 50 years! You inspire me 🙂
Debbie
WOWZA, can I come shopping at your house! Looks amazing Shannon!
Anytime! I only wish we could all share decor… now that would be fun!!
Now you’ve got me thinking! I already figured out (AFTER I purchased the solid colored bins and spent time finding ways to label them) that clear bins are the way to go. I think that I may need to plan for a space like this. My stuff is spread out all over the house in no particular order. If I had a single space in which to store things, I’d probably use them more often because I could actually FIND them! What a HUGE undertaking that was! I’m still coming to live with you…probably going to stay longer so that I can spend time looking through your storage room. I may need to bring an empty suitcase! 🙂
I have worked my A$$ off getting everything in one place. I don’t have my boxed Xmas tree in here… but with the space I have I’m as close as I can get! Not having half the stuff downstairs and half up is a time saver. Finally finding the clear totes for $5.99 was a great, great day!! If you can do it. Do!
And you know you are welcome anytime. Maybe I can set the cottage up for guests ;)???
Looks amazing, Shan! I wish I could bring my truck to your house and help ya thin that out a bit 😉
Like I told Debbie, I only wish we could do a home decor swap. That would be so fun!! Between us all, we’d have a STORE!!
Wow ! I would love to shop in your storage room ! So much great stuff !