Houses without storage

[Icantfindausername]

How do people cope when houses have little storage?

We are in a house with loads of storage, little storage cupboards here and there and a full understair shoe and coat cupboard, looking for a detached which is about 150k increase and they have no storage, how do people cope?

I am literally like where do people put their stuff????

Don't have so much!
Seriously we built an attic area in the roof for stuff like suitcases and Christmas decorations.
Our garage is half bike / garden storage and half utility room/ pantry...
But generally when DC were little with a big pile of toys and clothes I had a good sort out before birthday (Summer Born) & Christmas to make space for new stuff.

I also dispose of things that I haven't used within the year... including clothes, kitchen utensils and other gadgets.

Don't look at new builds.
Look at older properties which have under stairs cupboard and maybe something like larder or pantry. There should also be an airing cupboard upstairs which is useful for storage. Ex council houses often have good storage.
So,etimes houses with lift conversions have had good inbuilt storage put in.

Minimum needed is 1 good cupboard downstairs with room for tall items like. Ironing board, mop etc. You also need coat storage but that doesn't have to be in a cupboard. You also need a further cupboard upstairs like airing cupboard for towels and bedding etc. Inbuilt wardrobes are useful. Also useful are inbuilt cupboards either side of fire places in alcoves. and vanity units below basins in bathrooms.

What do you mean by no storage? No garage, space for shed or wardrobes? Very few cupboards in the kitchen? I’m struggling to imagine how bad it could be.

So my house has a big cupboard as you walk in where the alarm box is, I put hats scarfs gloves wellies etc in there, then I have a big cupboard under the stairs where I store all our shoes, bags and coats, then we have a large utility room which has cupboards in and so much space, a loft conversation with all built in space. The detached has none of this so I was thinking where would I put all our things, all it had was a cupboard where the boiler was upstairs.

We saw this is some detached houses that were less than 30 years old. Every inch had been maximised including loft to the point that there was literally only a few eves for storage. I spotted suitcases under the beds..
Decent storage is a must..

We sold our old 3 bedroom house with no storage and bought a big 4 bedroom house with plenty of storage with a difference of £170k.

The 1950 is so big that it can contain 3 times what we currently have with massive bedrooms.

Sell your house and buy a bigger house

Can you not add in storage - get someone in to add in built in cupboards or buy freestanding cupboards to store things in.

I tend to get rid of things we don't need every so often to minimise the need for storage and when we've had houses with not much storage have put in wardrobes / chest of drawers / bookcases etc freestanding ones to store what we need. Some things can go under bed in suitcases if you have under bed storage.

We live in a 4 bedroom, single storey new build with hardly any storage space. The kitchen has 4 drawers, 2 x double under bench cupboards, 1 x double under sink cupboard and the pantry (the size of a normal door and 40cm deep).

We have built ins in 3 of the bedrooms, a single door linen cupboard (same size as the pantry) and the garage.

No broom cupboard, no over head cupboards in the kitchen, no cupboards in the laundry - it’s awful.

We get around it by lots of shelving in the garage and lots of bookcases in the living room. I also built a large freestanding cupboard for the dining room. I sometimes think new builds are designed to look good, not to be lived in.

Yes, it does seem like we are being forced into minimalism. Is it an eco certificate thing or something?

Our house is about 50-55 years old. There is a cupboard into the kitchen which goes through to under the stairs, it's full of I don't know what as I have not looked in there in the last fifteen years. There's no other built in storage.

We have literally 1 large cupboard under the stairs (full of vaccum, mop, washing baskets, gym bags and other crap etc), we have no airing cupboard, no loft space, no porch or coat cupboard or anything like that.

I have a cost rack with a bit of shoe storage underneath in the hall, a kallax behind the living room door filled with shoes, a kallax full of DSs toys and that's about it for downstairs.

Upstairs we have a tall unit in the bathroom with some towels and toiletries in but tbh it's not big enough and I still have a basket of towels in the spare room (needs to be gone for the baby though so who knows where it will end up, I'm thinking of a slim line cupboard for the very tiny landing), it's also filled with junk and stuff for the baby that we can't use yet like toys, jumperoo etc if we had a loft it would all be up there. DS has a wardrobe and a small kallax for his clothes but I intend to get a much bigger wardrobe in the near future which will help get rid of some of the junk on the babies room. DH And I have a ottoman bed which you can fit loads in, it currently has all the bed sheets, winter coats and boots (that need to come out) and some other bits and bobs. We also have 3 large Ikea wardrobes with all our clothes in and space for suitcases on top (which are also full, but it doesn't look the best tbh).

We have a very high ceiling on the stairs and have considered lowering it to fashion some sort of mezzanine storage space but it might be a bit awkward to access due to the layout. We've also thought about adding a porch on the front of the house to give more storage for shoes and coats to free up space in the hall and living room (for other crap).

Oh and our garage is full of the Xmas tree decs and other stuff you'd normally have in the loft really.

When we look to move, storage is an absolute must. Utility room, porch or coat/shoe cupboard, airing cupboard, loft, built in wardrobes, the works! Haha.

I understand. In new builds with no storage where do people put the Hoover, the filing cabinet, the basket to put wet clothes in when they come out of the washing machine, so that you can hang it out. Where does all that stuff live?

It's the most annoying thing isn't it? We rent and have a lovely little apartment with huge balconies. It's lovely except there is not a single nuck or cranny of storage, which means that, even through my best efforts - installing slimline shoe storage, a cupboard for towels, a wardrobe for winter coats, a lift up bed for sheets, and kondo levels of minimalism - the house is never as tidy as I'd like, as there is still the flotsam of the vacuum and a washing basket. Needless to say, we move house in December to somewhere with a long corridor of storage and built in cupboards galore!

@Oblomov20

I understand. In new builds with no storage where do people put the Hoover, the filing cabinet, the basket to put wet clothes in when they come out of the washing machine, so that you can hang it out. Where does all that stuff live?

We don't have a basket for wet laundry, I just take it out and put it on a garden chair. The Hoover is in the kitchen by the back door, so is the ironing board.

We have one cupboard under the stairs (upstairs is a different flat) and that is it!
There are some things you can do without, instead of a laundry basket use a bag for life, or get a collapsible one. Use over door storage shelves for cleaning products, batteries, lightbulbs, extra kitchen space ect. We also have a thing set of shelves on wheels that firsts into a tiny space in the kitchen.
I don't have a mop and bucket, the kitchen and bathroom are small, so a cloth and spray work just fine. Maximise your under bed storage. I'd recommended something like the pax wardrobe system, we have the extra hight ones then have extra storage boxes on top of that.
It's completely doable but can be frustrating at times and is going to get more difficult for us as we need to turn our spare room into a nursery soon too.

Use it to your advantage when making an offer! But have in mind where the storage space will go and just build it in!

We're just finishing a bungalow conversion, we're putting storage in the eves of the roof accessed by hatches cut into the walls in the attic room, having the cupboard under the stairs shelves, putting extra shelving into the utility room, two large shoe racks in the cloakroom, also got coat hooks from IKEA that have a shelf at the top so can put gloves, scarves, summer hats etc in boxes stored on top of these shelves. We have a boiler room which has extra space so stacking plastic hard boxes in there with longer term storage in. You can also invest in a shed or plastic garden storage solution for other items

I realise my house is perhaps larger than average, but because we have built a room in the attic we have much less storage then before so we've found nooks and crannies to store things

This is what I did at my old place which had almost zero storage and was tiny to boot.

1. The understairs cupboard (only half height) became a pantry with a pull out shelving system where I stored all 100 of my Indian spices, rices, and flours (which I often need to buy in bulk). It also contained surplus tins.

1. Root Veg and tins I needed everyday was stored in a nice butchers trolley in the kitchen. Everything else in the garage.

1. Suitcases on top of cupboards or in the attic.

1. Vacuum - handheld and installed in corridor. Mops etc in garage. Cleaning products in the garage. We could have had our utlity area there too.

1. All wardrobes in the box room which also was the office.

We were so smart with storage that I didn’t realise how much stuff we had. Bought a house twice the size with more storage space but had to junk a lot because the kitchen cupboards / garage isn’t as big.

Well, when I lived in a flat, my suitcases and other things were under beds but I also had valance sheets so they wouldn’t show. The hoover, a mini ironing board, all Thelma cleaning stuff etc only needed one tall cupboard. No laundry baskets as clothes went into the washing machine and then straight into the dryer.

We’re now in a v large house but try not to clutter the place up so we only have one big box of Christmas decorations for example. Still no laundry baskets either. We do have tons of books (so had shelves across an entire wall built) and lots of leisure equipment (bikes, kayaks etc) and those live in the garage.

I think the only real bugbear I find in many houses is a narrow hallway and no space for a big wardrobe for coats and shoes as you come in. That does end up looking quite messy in many houses with on walls etc.

We have very little storage except the loft. House never looks as tidy as I would like despite us not having that much stuff. We're building in some floor to ceiling cupboards.

The next time we move, storage is going to be a priority. I want the whole lot...understairs cupboard in hall, garage with storage above it, utility, walk-in pantry, under eaves storage in loft, decent well-designed linen cupboard, floor to ceiling wardrobes in each room, a large shed in the garden, wine cellar (ideally ).

Sometimes I dream about storage.

Moved to a big semi detached old house. No indoor storage at all. I’ve no idea where they put coats or shoes or the Hoover and ironing board. There’s one half height cupboard under the stairs.

We are building an extension so will have utility room and coat/boot room designed into that.

The, very big, hall looks so messy with coats, boots, whatever we do.

We are building an extension so will have utility room and coat/boot room designed into that.
I'm going to do the same, with side access. I am swooning on Pinterest basically!

Lots of people mention lack of house storage but keep things in garage or shed. If you’re in a flat or lots of houses you probably don’t have a garage or shed.

Ikea is good for helping with storage _ boxes with lids that can go on shelves above doorways or under beds with wheels on them. Those wall hung vacuums can work well for flats or small houses but not good for big houses. I’m not a tidy person and needing to tuck everything g into very specific boxes etc would be tricky for me. I like a big cupboard I can just shove stuff in and close the door (lazy and a luxury I know)

I guess in the end it is about reducing stuff _ no keeping 8 sets of duvets covers and 4 spare duvets but just 1 spare. 1 small box of Christmas decs. No hoarding old exercise books or birthday cards or things from a student past or old clothes or spare bits of carpet and curtains or spare kettles, saucepans, water bottles etc. It’s a different way of living.

Ex council houses often have lots of really good built in storage _ at least 2 big full length walk-in cupboards in a flat and more in houses. They might have downsides and not be worth so much but they were certainly built with living in mind (sensible sized rooms and storage) whilst a lot of new builds seem all about looking good in a brochure not the actual living itself. As someone said, you can get 4 bed houses with utility rooms which still don’t have any decent storage.

Wombat, our house is ex council. It has tonnes and tonnes of storage. 5 cupboards including 1 huge one by the front door that stores all out coats and shoes. Plus a front shed, attached extra cupboard. Cupboard by the back door that stores filing cupboard, Hoover, washing basket. Shed. 2 garages. Loft. Upstairs cupboard filled with clothes. Another cupboard filled with towels and bed linen.

It's only When you see new builds that you realise how much storage I hedge, that I kind of take for granted!

Often I think the cupboards take years to build in. Our house is 1980 built. Previous occupants have added enormous built in wardrobes to a couple of the rooms, and we have a utility which didn't come with loads of storage space but we added it. Also hooks on the back of every door and inside every wardrobe door. It all helps, and it's all doable unless you have seriously tiny rooms.

Also bear in mind kitchen cupboards. Older houses tended to have smaller kitchens so you did need extra cupboards elsewhere. Kitchens in more modern houses are bigger on average and sometimes that means there is space for a broom/vacuum cupboard. But the popularity of IKEA Kallax tells you most of us are always wanting more! I would think your current house is a bit unusual, OP, in having 2 big cupboards in the hall and a utility room.

You generally accumulate stuff to fill the space you have. I used to be able to move house myself with a hired Transit van...

Now I have a boarded attic in the house that is nearly full & a separate attic above a double garage that is feeling cramped :D