2012 Ideas For Storage in Charming Displays

Change your storage style with these creative displays that not only look good but are fully functional.

Picture Ledge Organization

Use corner space by wrapping a picture ledge around two walls. Use the shelves to display photos and dishes. A vintage wine or soda crate doubles storage capacity by holding pretty glassware, candles, or CDs.

Open Shelving Storage 

Give an old table a new look. Transform a console table from a surface where clutter gathers into a functional table packed with storage opportunities. Two big baskets hold coffee table books, while a throw and a box of games rest on the bottom shelf. Remotes and spare keys go in the small top drawer.

Alcove Organization

A recessed nook is the perfect place to show off your favorite art and display your collections. Remove a section of drywall to reveal a 4- to 8-inch-deep niche between wall studs. Consult a contractor to make sure it's safe to remove any horizontal bracing elements. Then add shelves.

Display and Store Headboard

This 12-inch-deep headboard allows for a large ledge space to display pretty flowers and candles. The side cubby holds other nighttime necessities such as books and magazines.

Mounted Bookcase Storage

For a fresh, modern twist, mount a ready-to-assemble bookcase directly to the wall and a few feet off the ground. Store books inside and decorate with flowers, picture frames, and candles. The divided shelves make organization easy.

Artsy Storage

A vintage rolling medical or drafting cabinet is the perfect space to store art supplies so they can travel all over the house. Paintbrushes, colored pencils, and pens are stored in miscellaneous containers on top. Larger supplies such as paint and glue guns are kept in the drawers.

Bedside Storage 

Refinish an old wooden vegetable bin and use it as a nightstand. Folded clothes stack neatly in each cubby. Or encourage quick cleanup and use it to sort small toys.

Headboard Storage

A reclaimed-brick wall serves as a secondary headboard and provides above-bed storage. Keep your favorite books and pottery in the small recess.

Peekaboo Storage

Repurpose an old desk as a new storage unit. Store party dishes on the bottom shelf and keep napkins and other linens in a wicker basket for easy access. Hide the shelf behind a festive curtain, and your buffet combines function and fashion.

Island Storage

Transform a basic table into a multipurpose work surface. Hang wine racks and baskets to store utensils under the surface, and build a lower shelf to hold larger items such as mixing bowls and cutting boards.

Frame Organization

Picture ledges make rearranging, adding, and changing favorite photos a snap. Vary the sizes and shapes, but keep the color neutral to make the collage look artsy, not cluttered. Rest some frames on the ledges and hang others for more dimension.

Dishware Storage

Glass shelves suspended by wires from the ceiling give the illusion that pottery is floating in midair. The display can be viewed from either side and has room to store dishes, vases, and glasses.

Chic Side Table Storage

Repurpose wood closet shelving as a storage-packed end table. A chic CD cabinet sits on top, and crafts supplies are easily stored below in thin, flat boxes. Keep ribbon accessible and untangled in a box with organizational holes. When you want to conceal the storage solutions, attach coordinating panels to the scalloped coverlet with hook-and-loop tape.

Armoire Storage

Make storage look like art in a glass-front armoire. The varying shelf heights leave room to display everything from large works of art to small books and vases. Layering the art and books in front of and behind each other makes the display pop and adds a touch of whimsy.

Slanted Storage

Diamond-shape cubbies instead of flat shelves in this wall unit decoratively store books and magazines diagonally. Angled organization holds rolled-up throws and other round memorabilia without letting it roll away.

Shelving Design

This storage unit operates like an accordion, similarly to Molo’s Softwall. The same functionality and flexibility applies to both Molo’s soft wall and de Jong’s REK bookshelf. Although different materials and operations are in effect, the idea is the same. The exterior of REK is finished with a white high gloss laminate and the inside in a warm-grey satin laminate. Even without the need for flexible storage, REK is a beautiful piece easily likened to a piece of art.

Throughout life we acquire possessions: from books and small objects purchased throughout travels to meaningful gifts. They end up stored in cardboard boxes, unappreciated or displayed somewhere within our homes. Rotterdam-based designer Reinier de Jong introduces a storage solution to accommodate our ever-changing needs: REK is an expandable bookcase that grows with your collection and is always full, regardless of the quantity of books and objects it holds.
Like the Toto’s expandable v-bed, REK grows with you and your space. “The more books, the bigger the bookcase,” according to the designer. Although the basic idea has been around for centuries, the application is entirely innovative. Kitchen bowls of varying sizes fit within each other for consolidated storage, and Russian nesting dolls which decrease in size, are placed one inside the other. These objects have the ability to be space-saving in their consolidated form, but individual components can be expanded out from each other to reveal themselves. The same ideas apply to REK whose five components are like puzzle pieces. “When in use, the zigzag shaped parts slide in or out to accommodate books in the resulting voids.” The relationship between solid and void changes as it is reconfigured, resulting in more or less storage and taking up more or less space. REK is anything from a solid sculptural object to a series of large open bookshelves.