Share your home storage hacks with IKEA - £300 IKEA voucher to be won

[JustineBMumsnet]

Despite their size, children manage to take up more space in a home than many parents ever bargain for, making ample storage space an even more precious commodity than it was before children for many parents. With this in mind, IKEA would like to hear about the ways you make the most out of your storage spaces and how it’s made your life easier.

Here’s what IKEA has to say: “The house can often feel crowded after the festive period but a few small changes can make a big difference. Adding hooks and storage solutions at a lower height gives children the freedom to tidy things up by themselves. Remember children love spending time where you are so a small kitchen trolley can make a perfect mobile Art & Craft or play station that can be moved tidied away quickly.”

Maybe you have a creative way for storing lunchboxes or tips for fitting more into cupboards without them overflowing? Perhaps you swear by hangers on doors, boxes inside drawers or folding your clothes in a specific way? How have you used IKEA furniture or accessories to make the most of your space?

Whatever your home storage hacks, share them on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 IKEA voucher.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

The slim depth Pax wardrobes are great for a utility room as you don’t lose stuff at the back. I had 2.5m run in my last house, with drawers, shoe cubbyholes and shelves. Absolutely everything went in them. The study had full depth ones across one wall which held all the house paperwork, guitars, music kit, Current house has no utility room (sob) but the smallest bedroom now has 2 full depth Pax, one of which is divided up so I can fit the vacuum cleaner in and all the cleaning kit, and the other has overflow hanging plus drawers for linen. I may be slightly obsessed with Pax wardrobes....last house had 17 of them!

Love kallax and pax.
I've just rejigged a pax wardrobe we first built 12 years ago and love that it's so simple to buy new accessories for it.

We have some storage challenges in our home, however each bedroom has a double built in wardrobe, which we have utilised to the maximum by putting a Kallax inside each one (complete with fabric drawers) to use instead of a chest of drawers, as it still leaves space for items to be hung from the rail above!

I fitted four Ikea stainless steel kitchen rails to the inside of my wardrobe doors and they are the perfect place to store all my (many) scarves. Previously all the scarves were squashed into bags and it was hard to find any particular one in the morning rush.

When my children were small I was a big fan of a stackable, lidded transparent tub for their toys. It was easy to see what was in them and the lids kept the spiders out. (If you've ever rootled about in a large toy box and disturbed an Aragog you'll appreciate a spider-proof lid.)

I have fitted shoe cupboards in the hallway for winter hats and gloves. Shoes are stacked on top- the individual Ikea ones are great for this, and toddler shoes are a great size for 'outside the box' 👍

I have one of those half cylinder plastic things that are for storing plastic bags but I use mine for storing wrapping paper. I’m not sure if that makes many sense at all!

Hacks or listing IKEA products we own?

My hack - a shelf above the door (inside the room). Brilliant for sport trophies/signed balls/ POP figures/ things they want and don't get down very often.

Hack 2 - hang outfits on the same hanger (invest in decent ones) - trousers folded over, t shirt and jumper on top.

Oooh I hacked our hemnes coat hook into a cat perch using foam and some ikea fabric

No storage hacks - my house can attest to this! Might need a trip to ikea to rectify after reading this thread

I used one of those wooden spice racks to store books in DD's room.

We have the over the door hook things on nearly every door for jackets, hoodies, bags etc.

Stuva kids bedrooms! Great storage, really sturdy & looks good too!

We're also good at hiding stuff under beds, in & on top of wardrobes and in cupboards no one dares open!!!!

I'm a big fan of vacuum packing bulky stuff where possible. Winter duvets and spare pillows are vacuum packed and zipped into under bed storage, along with spare duvet bed sets for each bedroom. Same goes for bulky knitwear when it's no longer needed.

Under bed storage boxes are great for all my ds's Lego.

Utility room full of Kallax units - it has revolutionised what was a disorganised messy space.

Everything now has its own place (including the cat who has commandeered a space in one of the units and sleeps there)

Also have kallax cubes, used for toy boxes when the kids were little, now as shelving/bookcases for teens. Hooks on doors work well for teens who have a propensity to hang all their clothes neatly on the floor.

Packing cubes are useful in drawers for things you don't use often like hats and gloves.

I have also Kondo'd the life out of all of our drawers. I found folding everything so that it fits in the length of the drawer is a big task but once done all I need to do is shove the stack along and add the folded clean t's/pants/socks to the end of the stack.

I use the hanging shoe holders on the back of doors to hold all my my cleaning products. It’s saved so much clutter and it’s so easy to find things.

All food cupboard staples (flour, sugar, pulses, etc) are stored in glass storage jars.

Knagglig boxes are used in so many places to organise smaller things and for papers and documents.

I have tubs in the fridge, one for snacks - I know they aren't eating something I had plans for, and they don't have to pester me for snacks, then tubs for lunch -
Dairy - Yoghurts, cheese etc
Fruit/veg - various fruit (portioned if necessary) veg like cherry tomatoes or bagged/tubs of carrot/pepper/cucumber sticks
Main - sandwiches, tubs of leftovers, pasta

Treat box in cupboard with crisps, fruit roll ups, cereal bars, little cakes etc

They get their lunch box and take one main, one dairy, 2 fruit or veg and on Friday 1 treat. Means they pack their own lunch, there is no "I don't like this, why did he get that and I got this" etc and I know it's a balanced lunch without having to make 3 lunches myself

We’ve made a king sized bed with Kallax using 3x4 units. Gives us 12 boxes for storage and the centre space for stuff we hardly ever use. It’s such a good use of the space I’m going to do the children’s beds.

Only a very simple hack but I think painting the cheap lack shelves in zinnser bin primer and then the same paint as the walls makes them luck much nicer and built in!

I have made a lego station for my 5 year old with trofast.

A mid sleeper bed with kallax underneath for toys and a reading nook.

We love IKEA storage solutions.

In the bathroom I have wetwall and didn't want to drill into it. So we came across the amazing push fit storage for shampoos and bodywashes. Amazing!

In my living room a trofast is my TV unit and in my craft area its full of kallax 😂. I have a 5x5 with shelf dividers and 2 2x4 kallax with worktop surfaces and a computer hutch which houses my papers etc...

I adore the trolley which houses my card blanks and inks for my card making.

I too love Kallax units and Billy bookcases. I have them all over the place. I found putting legs on the Kallax provides a nice space underneath them for storing awkwardly shaped/sized toys in the kids' rooms and also looks really nice.

A big load of Ikea jars (KORKEN) for all our grains, pasta, flour, etc. They stack together nicely, and you also protect against weevils this way!

@junglie what did ye put across them to support the mattress?

I have Kallax in the garage so I can find tools and bits and bobs like nails and screws easily

We have Kallax units in every room- some as book shelves, some with storage boxes fit junk that can be hidden from view, and done with the drawer inserts for socks/underwear.

They are perfect, easy to keep clean, can change to how you need them to fit in the room (longways or upright).

We also have a few of the Raskog carts that are fab! One in the kitchen for fruit/veg/spice jars. One in the kids room for art supplies. One was used in the living room for a while for mags/piano books/extra storage.