Where do you store bigger household items?

[Lovemycat2023]

I have an average 1930s semi and am struggling with storage. Things like clothes airers, vacuums etc don’t have anywhere to be put away. The cupboard under the stairs is split in two so just about big enough for ironing board etc but not for anything else.

I don’t have a garage or a downstairs loo either. Any smart ideas?

Do you have attic storage? A potential for a cupboard to be built over stairs with an access point?

I'd swap out the ironing board and store your vacuum in that cupboard - then get a smaller handheld steamer and use that to iron (can be stored in the bottom of a wardrobe!) if that would work for your lifestyle.

Odd question, do you actually need everything you have? I'd maybe start with a giant declutter to see if you can free up space that way.

Can you unsplit the cupboard? We have a row of fitted wardrobes and we use one as a cupboard.

We definitely do need both the airers and the vacuum. I’m pretty good at de-cluttering (the winter duvet has just gone in the loft!) but it’s more the size of these things.

I didn’t explain the cupboard very well - half of it you access from the hall and it’s very low and a small hatch (think Privet close!) and the other half you access from the kitchen and it’s tall, not very deep, and narrow. But I probably could declutter that a bit for the vacuum if I’m honest (I’m not getting rid of the ironing board!) so challenge accepted!

My mum has a small flat but it has a really useful hall cupboard for all of these sort of things which we are missing.

Can airers fold flat under a sofa/bed?
Or stand then against the back of the wardrobe on the inside, behind the clothes?

You’ve just given me a really good solution - behind the sofas! Thank you!

I live in a 2 bed flat that has no cupboards for storage at all. We got a big 3 sliding door wardrobe and one section of that is now my vacuum and other stuff cupboard 😂

@Devilsmommy - that’s a good solution but it’s so annoying they don’t have anywhere built in! (My mums flat is a 1960s one and actually pretty well designed)

OP, we have an overdoor hanger, basket for the iron, two hooks for the ironing board brilliant. Overdoor hooks are ideal for limited space.
The large foldaway airer is behind the living room door which is propped open against the wall, the vac (Henry) is in a square large wooden box which doubles as a side table in the living room, just lift the lid, hoist him out, easy. He used to be in the hall cupboard creating a tangle, now only the rigid part is in there.
Mop and bucket was a challenge, now dispensed with in favour of a steamer mop.
Our kitchen is not a walk thru, floor swept often, seldom needs a thorough clean, also have large floorcleaner wipes.
I look on IKEA for storage ideas, ie Kallax in the hallway, baskets for shoes, etc, hooks for whatever - they are design geniuses.

We bought an IKEA rail for coats and macs, winter coats and accessories in the loft now until Autumn. I find shoes, boots, large umbrellas particularly space hogging items for their relative size, shelves and hooks on the wall sorted this out, otherwise everything ends up on the floor or propped up.
We bought two Mulig clothes bars for coats, Grejig golden shoe racks with under shoe mat, in the porch.
Delivery is free over £60.
Cleaning stuff is in different rigid bags under the sink. I stopped hoarding ‘spares’
when having a clearout, found I had 3 of most things.

It sounds as though you like a challenge, have some design fun with this !

@Lovemycat2023 I just couldn't believe when we moved in that there really wasn't any place to store stuff. It's a 2 bed flat so that means usually there's definitely going to be more than one person living there with all the crap that brings 🤣

Thanks everyone! The large airer is now behind the sofa (it’s only a two seater so not massive) next to the Eufy, and the smaller airer is underneath a sideboard as an interim measure.

I'm definitely going to declutter the under stairs cupboard in the kitchen so the vacuum can fit there and also add some hooks for the iron and board as @SOxon suggested!

Only two of us in this decent size space so everything else is ok (Kallax with doors for the shoes was a game changer) it was just awkward things!

Also meant to say, but not sure if this would work for you - in our last big Victorian semi we had an underthe stairs cupboard with the door at the tallest part,, opened out so no one could access the kitchen if one of us was rummaging in the wedge part for anything.
Came home one day to find OH ripping the wall (wood panelling) out - exposing Plastic bags, paint tins, odd tools, old shoes, vases, junk, all our openthedoorchuckstuffinclosedoor /itwillcomeinhandyoneday contents now on display.
We spent the whole weekend moving everything outside, cleaning, painting, rewiring, spotlights, shelves from the long end cut down to short end, Kallax shelves bracketed to the wall, everything labelled, tools on the wall with nails low down out of the way, jackets moved out to hooks near the frontdoor - the end result looked quite artistic, made a huge difference, wondered why we had not done this years ago!
13 years in that house, 8 of them struggling with the understairs cupboard and a daily drama.
I should say though that easily 70% of the original contents were binned.