Finding Food Storage Space in Your Home
Вставка
- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- We discuss places to look and projects to do to create more storage space in homes that might be suitable for storing food supplies.
Links to storage articles:
www.bhg.com/de...
www.familyhand...
www.architectu...
www.architectu...
www.bobvila.co...
RoseRed Homestead Book Store: payhip.com/ros...
Website: www.roseredhomestead.com
Amazon Store: roseredhomeste...
RoseRed Homestead Channel: / @roseredhomestead
Trail Grazers Channel: / @trailgrazers3690
Any products we mention or show on our videos have been purchased with our own money and are recommended or not based on our own experience.
I live in a small apartment. In the living room I pulled the sofa away from the wall to house buckets. On top of the buckets I put cases of canned vegetables to the top of the sofa. To cover the cans I put a white melamine shelf from Lowes. Push the sofa back. Decorate the shelf with a few goodies. This gave me tremendous storage. Also, to one side of the sofa I stacked cases of canned potatoes, covered them with a thrifted table cloth. More storage.
That is so clever! Thank you for sharing this idea.
Thank you for that tip. I’m gonna try it
Brilliant!!
And also hidden away
Great ideas !!
There is a lot of unused space behind books in a bookcase. Pull the books forward and they look better too. That's where we store jam, jelly and preserves. Priorities. LOL
Same!
Yes!!
That sounds like really keeping preserves in the dark. Jim
Great idea! Thank you so very much!! xo
You mean you don’t already use that space for more BOOKS?
I have a tall book shelf that is placed catty-corner in a corner of the room. So it creates a big open space behind the bookshelf. Every time I go to the store I buy a package of toilet paper and throw it behind there 😂 It's stacking up high now. Lol.
Just going through and donating things you haven't used can free up a ton of room.
Excellent idea!
Absolutely and it is so freeing to get rid of that stuff that is weighing you down. I did it a couple months ago and it was amazing 😊
Look at every item and say “is food more important than this item”?
Shelving can be adjustable in height as items of different heights are introduced over the years. And those requirements are subject to change as new items are acquired and old items are dispensed with. I arrange items in my shelves according to height rather than function. For example, an electric fry pan and serving platters may be approximately the same height. An Instant pot may be similar in height to a vase etc. I claim every inch of vertical height I can.
Amen.
In my home, formal areas are large wasted spaces. Being directly off the kitchen makes these two rooms the perfect spot for a single, gigantic pantry. Everything is organized and it's easy to see what I have or need to stock more fully. My priorities have certainly changed over the years. Pantry is everything. I love it! Thanks for all the tips.
I am with you on changed priorities! Mine have as well. Our food and water storage has become more important than things I used to highly value in terms of decor!
We did the same, turned our dining room into a large pantry and closed it off. Never needed it for entertaining anymore and it worked out great & right off the kitchen!
My children thought i was nuts! But, i did the same thing to my formal dining room. My kids are all grown up and have their own families. Even when I entertain, I usually use the eat in kitchen and family room.
@@lagunn327 Good for you! Yeah! Funny you mention it. I was made fun of for a long time. That is, until the Pandemic came. My son said, "Mom, I bet they aren't laughing at you now!" Was he ever right. Long live the wisdom to be prepared.
Valli....lovve your phrase "pantry is everything!":)) im trying to imagine the set-up....how many walls, how deep are shelves?..
We are empty nesters and decided to convert a bedroom to our extended pantry or long term storage area. It has enhanced our ability to organize and store our food extender equipment (example: freeze dryer) as well as preserved foods. Such a relief to have a place, eases our minds to keep clutter away.
We did the exact same thing! A year prior to my retirement we bought a freeze dryer and I started bulk-ordering staples. We converted one bedroom to hold the freeze dryer (and supplies). We lined the walls with shelving units and stack our 5-gallon buckets (full of dry grains) in the middle of the room.
did the same and put in shelves, another freezer
We are going to make the small bathroom in a pantry in a year
@@melodyperry6163 You will love it! It is great having a "store" in your house! Buying in bulk, catching sales, it is easy to fill it up quickly. Good luck!
When my husband passed I turn my office into storage,still working on it.
Talk of coincidence. Husband and I took our mattress/box spring off the queen size guest bed yesterday, I threw down a long plastic table protector and we stacked 10 boxes filled with pint jars of proteins, and 12 post offices boxes filled with canned goods, marked with info on case sides of contents, then remade bed. You cannot see a thing as I have a bedskirt on that bed. YESTERDAY. 😄
LOL! Excellent. Thanks for sharing.
I did something similar with one of our beds. My daughter had bought a metal frame for the mattress that’s fairly open when the mattress is removed. I put boxes of various cans in that space and before I replaced the mattress I took some pictures of what was under there. Then added the bed skirt and replaced the mattress and no one would ever know. And I have a photo so I don’t forget what’s under there and where.
@@amiready505 i should have taken a photo too. I figured that writing everything on the box sides, I would know but if they're covered it's hard to see. If I take the mattress back off you bet I will.
Now that barn door hardware is cheap and easy to find, I removed drywall from portion of an unused wall, built storage between studs and covered it with a barn door - it's storage and art all in one. Loved your idea of behind door storage. I am going to look into my situation and use your idea.
That was a great idea. Very creative!
Love it! And I love the sliding barn door look and if I was designing a kitchen from scratch, that is the direction I would go.
After my husband passed I ended up, after several downsizings...living with my son and family at their request. The Nanny Granny. They let me do my canning and gardening because they enjoy eating it. Except for 1 dresser drawer and a few things in my closet, my entire space is now long term food storage that I do covertly!! There is a massive amount of food in here!! But you'd never know it...
Love that!!!
Hahaha I love it!!!!!
That's how I am. My tiny two bedroom house has food stashed absolutely everywhere and you cannot tell it at all! I use the shelves on the sides and then stack linen around it so no one will see it.
I converted a bedroom into my foodio (food studio lol)! Now I have soooo much space for cookbooks and extra food pantry storage! It’s by the kitchen so it’s very handy! Just graduating culinary school and remaining self employed I can spend hours in it. Thank you for sharing so much knowledge with us!
Your home office. 😊
Love that! I am going to steal that word!!!
What a great idea!!!!
That made me chuckle. Foodio. Thanks
Oh, that word! Foodio is now a Prepper Pantry term. I am lifting for my use. Thanks for the joy this site can bring.
We live in a double wide mobile home. We use the spare bedroom for our pantry and craft area. Under the beds, in closets, and night stands all work for us! Thanks for all your tips and hints. You and Jim are amazing!
Sounds like you have made excellent use of your available space. Thanks for your comments.
Great ideas and your tips gave us ideas to rethink storage ideas in our home. Thank you and take care.🙏♥️👍
I've decided to utilize the back of my lower kitchen cabinets. I'm older and not real agile. Reaching the back of those cabinets down close to the floor are hard for me to reach so pots, pans, plastic bowls etc, get shoved back and out of reach. So, I'm cleaning out the clutter and putting jars of vacuum sealed dry things and extra cans of everything back there. Still using the front of the shelf gir everyday items. I'll make a list of what's on each shelf.
I think that is a great idea! Thank you for sharing.
Amazon or Walmart have sturdy acrylic “cones” which raise a bed 4 or 6 inches. Huge found space!
"Bed risers".
Great idea!
Absolutely they are ugly but work wonders n no one really notices w a bed skirt lol
Very Smart. In the old days the beds were up high because warm air rises. So there's two advantages of having a bed elevated. Storage and Warmth!! Great idea...😉
I placed 24-five gallon buckets as the platform for my queen bed mattress, that was a godsend in my 800 square food home.
I pray and ask the Lord to help me organize well the space that we have. Ideas always come up that I hadn’t thought of. Thank you so much for your help too!
You are welcome.
I live alone and my house is small.. I can something seems like every week.. I took everything out of my backroom except my washer and dryer and freezer.. then I headed to Menards with a big stack of 11% off checks and bought cabinets..
I also store under the bed, went thru all my kitchen cabinets and Goodwill got lucky.. took out a hallway sink and put in shelves.. I had a closet that was a junk catcher.. put shelves in and that stores all my appliances.. where their a will their is a way..❤
Great video thanks ⚘️
You are a wonder! Well done!
I have one of those fabric and mesh over the door shoe hangers on the back of my pantry door. These are inexpensive and very handy for providing more storage! They are quick and easy to hang up, and you don't even need any nails or screws. You can put all kinds of small or tall and skinny grocery items in those compartments. Boxes of gelatins and puddings, cans of tuna and chicken, mason jars, jar lids and rings, pectin, spices, cups of applesauce, snack items, boxes of sandwich bags, freezer bags, trash bags, TONS of things! Don't just think shoes when you see those in the store. Think outside the box. I've had one hanging on the door of our coat closet for nearly 20 years. It is so perfect for gloves, rolled up winter scarves, soft hats, small umbrellas, wool socks, etc. Each family member has a row for their gloves, hats, scarves, or whatever.
That sounds great. How often do you inspect, use, rotate, and restock your foods? Jim
Buy two galvanized garbage cans. At Lowes they sell a round plywood that will fit on top of the can. Put cans on either side of each bed or your sofa. Fill with food storage. Put a floor length table cloth on and a lamp on top. Looks just like a round table.
I do not know if I would by galvanized trash cans, but would buy plastic cans for same purpose. Jim
I've used galvanized for 40 years. Food is in cans and packages. I have never had a problem. Plus mice can't get through metal. I've heard several times of them getting through plastic
I recently purchased a platform bed that requires no box spring. I decided to flip box spring I already had over and cut open .. tons of storage. Added a thin plywood top and put mattress on it. Can’t see a thing when bed is made up. I also thrifted a large solid faced China hutch to fill with food as a hidden in plain site pantry.I reinforced the shelves do I could store heavy items like flour and sugar in larger quantities.We gotta be creative and continue helping and sharing with each other. We’ve got this 😊
I learn so much from reading the comments section and appreciate that very much.
We love our community! So much to learn from each other!
The honesty with which you share your struggles-and possible solutions mirrors those that we all face. I have a basement perfect for food storage, it I can barely manage the stairs. If I store food down there, will I use it? My trade-off has been to store only long-term items there. Everything else is upstairs. You’ve given me lots of ideas, Rose. From one retired educator to another, I enjoy very much learning from you!
My husband bought heavy duty food service wire racks for my filled canning jars. We measured the spacing to put 9 shelves of my filled jars onto them and also put front and side guards to prevent them from falling off. The top shelf is for light weight storage. We had extra frames but the shelves were used on my assembled units. The extra frames have fewer shelves but I keep plants with lights on those. My husband really wants to learn to bake his own bread so I bought your book. You have very good and concise instructions and I feel he will have a good foundation with his endeavor.
Oh my, my brain is going crazy with storage thoughts. Thank you!
You are so welcome! JIm
Thank you for this video, I've been overwhelmed because my husband thinks I'm a hoarder. My house has no basement and I struggle to find a pantry place, I feel better now though
I have the same issue and no basement or garage.
I used my linen closet. My extra summer/winter blankets, bulky items I store in vacuum bags. They shrink down to nothing. Cleared up two full shelves and the floor. Yippee. When we remodeled the HVAC unit was moved to the attic. Gained another closet. Yes you can think outside the box. Thanks Pam.
Great ideas, Donna. Thanks for sharing.
@@RoseRedHomestead Most people have a lot of unused stuff in their linen closets. I emptied ours and put 2 sets of bed sheets in every bedroom (drawer), and store a few towels in each bathroom. All of the unused items were donated. Now have storage for toilet paper, tissue, hygenic products, etc.
With empty drawers in dressers which is a good idea, but people need to remember the weight limit for that drawer to prevent the bottom of the drawer from breaking or popping out from the weight of the contents.
Yes, good point.
Or just put one row of cans along the back of every drawer behjnd your clothes. One row behind towels and blankets. Keeps the weight distributed and life looking normal.
@@carols1030
AWESOME IDEA! 👍🏻👍🏻
Save the back-of-the-door shelves for lighter weighted goods like spices. I do like the baskets on the upper cabinets idea.
Thanks Ms Pam! My Granny was the queen of storage. Her kitchen had cabinets that always started at the celling down. Most were about the size of a standing cereal box, and the doors always flipped upward from the bottom. It's the most wasted space in every single home. If there was a wall in her house, it was used, floor to celling, when possible. There was never clutter. When she passed away..OH BOY it took days to clean that house out! She even had removable walls upstairs, that were part of the eves. There she stored all of her decorations, and extra bedding. She taught me WELL about using every space. If you really want to see how much empty space you have, walk room to room and look at where the ceiling meets the wall. How much room is there that would hold a 14 to 20" cabinet or shelf? 🙂🙂
Well said! Thank you.
Our closet ceilings are quite high. My husband measured the length of each closet, purchased plywood and cut to size, an extra shelf in the top of each closet. That really added alot of extra storage space!
Very nice! Thanks for sharing.
Great ideas that I never considered before. I stocked up when we had shortages due to covid. However, some things go bad after awhile and I lost about $1,000 of meat when the freezer door was left open. Now I’m buying less perishable food, and focusing on staples like you discussed in one of your videos. Also household goods, soaps, shampoos, etc
Keep in mind that shampoos and conditioners and lotions / potions do go bad after about a yr. I’d bought extra of my favorites during COVID only to find 18 mos later that some aren’t useable. 😢
Over the last 6 months I have removed all cleaning products from my broom closet and those are now in the garage. I’m using the broom closet for canned food storage. I just cleared out the bottom 1/3 of our coat closet and it houses my bulk flour and sugar in gamma buckets and the top shelf is my canner and food mill. I still have a kitchen pantry but having space for food when it is on sale and only buying bulk of what you use does help with food security. Thank you for all your great advice. I have learned a lot from watching your channel! 😊
My living room coat closet is next to my kitchen-it is now a pantry. Since almost everyone enters our home through the garage mud room, we use the closet in that room for all of our coats.
Great ideas Pam. When we move into our small house we plan on building a bed like ones in trailers and motorhomes. The mattress lifts up and has storage under it. Thank you for giving us more ideas. Cheers Lyn 🌷🇨🇦
Start with putting "risers" under the bed. It will give you room to slide storage drawers underneath--like a waterbed. You would be surprisedhow much you can fit in.
Thanks, Lyn!
Love the idea or risers for beds!
As for whether or not to put doors on your new shelves, under the window. Maybe you could put dowel rods under the top shelf to hang curtains from. That way you could even change them with decorative curtains for different holidays. I would make each section have its own curtain, or set of curtains so you can get to what you want quickly. That will at least help keep the dust out while you make up your mind and they're easily washable. 😁❤️
Great ideas, and most people can use them; even in small living spaces. I liked your end table idea for the wheat barrel with a round piece of plywood on top and then completely hidden with a table cloth💡
Thank you. Glad you liked the ideas.
I use under bed plastic boxes. Mostly I use half pint jars. I cut dowel rod sections 1/4 inch taller than the jars and glued them between the jars on the bottom so I can do a 2nd layer using the original cardboard flat. I can safely store 44 half pints in a cheap plastic box from Walmart. Double stacking with no touching between the layers.
Are the half pints laying down, or are they wide mouth half pints? I had to put our bed frame feet onto risers to get my storage boxes to fit. They're not those big ones you buy, I just used a 2X4X4" with a little dent drilled in the center with a 1" spade tip drill. It's just enough height and the dent keeps the wheels from rolling off when we jostle the bed getting in and out. I think I used 4x4x4's at our old house once, too.
@@patti6194 hey Patti, wide mouth. Sitting (upright) normally. In a 16x22x5 1/2 tall plastic tote. A friend gave me some regular mouth pint jars. They look so strange to me because everything I have is wide mouth lol the support dowels really increased storage!
All the best, Patti!
I have bed risers under the corners of our beds for even more space under them.
Great comments! Thank you.
If you are in an area with a history of even mild earthquakes, think ahead. The added weight from the speed of items being thrown across a room could turn cans of food into weapons of destruction.
I have a tale of where NOT to store filled canning jars! We live in a 3BR modular; roomie has a room, I have a room, and the 3rd BR is a full-blown pantry with bookcases for dehydrated foods and heavy wire shelving for canned things. Every wall is lined with one or the other, and I recently put 2 more 4' shelf units right in the middle of the floor, with access from both sides. It's dark as a cave in that room with the blackout curtains I added. Those 2 additional shelf units came from a HUGE lesson learned this past winter. My grand plan last year was to store filled jars in the crawlspace: always dark, cool in the NC summers, and with no danger of freezing in the winter, or so I thought. I switched from metal lids to Tattlers late last summer so there'd be no danger of rust in the humid crawlspace. I was a slug about actually moving jars down there, however, and I'm so very thankful I didn't get it done! An acquaintance had the same idea and stashed his own crawlspace full of home-canned veggies he and his wife had grown over the summer. He DID make accommodation for diverting some woodstove heat. But we had big storms, went >5 days without ever getting above freezing, and even had some nights in single digit temps, virtually unheard of in central NC. They had no power and went to relatives' house w/ their 3 little kids, and so had no fire in the woodstove. They lost EVERY jar in the crawlspace...
I do have buckets of wheat, rice, beans, oats, etc. on pallets in the crawlspace, but no way no how I'll be putting any jars down there! I don't much like canned veggies (hence the dehydrating), so almost all of my canning is meat only. What a loss it would have been to put RoseRed Homestead beef stroganoff, beef stew, pulled pork, and a Swiss steak thing I found & tweaked for safe canning!
Wow--what a great lesson. Thank you for sharing this important information.
I would worry about rodents in a crawl space. I've heard they can chew through the plastic.
We are blessed to have a huge 150 square ft. unfinished basement that we turned into our "store". For those with basements, put shelving all around the perimeter of your basement. There are a lot of shelving options that are cheap and can hold a lot of product. I have heard of people hiding cases of food and water behind long curtains too. You can put things inside ottomans, benches, trunks, etc. When buying furniture, be sure to buy things that allow you to store things inside them.
I have over 600# of flour, sugar, rice, and beans under our king sized bed. I’ve started under my sons queen bed and then I’ll move to under my daughter’s bed. You can screw metal racks to the floor joists in your basement and store stuff between the joists. I have food stores all over this house and no one would ever know it’s there.
That is fantastic!
Putting doors on the storage shelves under the bay window would help with keeping light out and make the room look more tidy!
I like the look of the open cabinets, so "tidy" is not an issue. But you make an excellent point about the light. I am re-thinking! Thanks.
A heavy duty milk crate holds 32 cans. You can stack 4 on top of each other in a corner. I use these to store my surplus freqent use products to save space on storage shelves for variety of cans, and restock from the milk crate. Tomato sauce, soup cans, green beans, baked beans, etc. Label the crate with year and can type. Bought and old armoire and put in hallway to store my towels and linens. Now linen closet is my pantry. Use door hanging pocket shoe storage for dry mix packets and lightweight grab and go snacks. One behind master bathroom door to hold surplus toiletries and medicines and supplements. We have no small children, so this works. Clear shoe pockets allow you to see everything.
Great ideas! Thanks for sharing.
Further to @Kara Bishopuo 's idea of using milk crates for canned goods.... I have discovered that a milk crate hold exactly 9 quarts of home-canned food. This makes it easy to stack jars atop each other and not worry about weight on the jars.
I use milk crates for the same thing. The ability to store 100+ cans food in one square foot of floor space was a game changer. I purchased an armoire also, had my husband put shelves in it and now it is storage for boxed food items and paper products. Great minds!!!
Oh Pam and Jim your storage at the bay window area is wonderful! So happy for you both! Fun video friends!
Thank you. We are really enjoying it.
Ive pushed all my books close the edge of the bookcase shelves and put all my dried vacuum sealed vegetables behind it.
For folks concerning about weight on storage shelves, I cut 2x2 lumber to insert between my shelves where they are likely to sag and bend under the weight of what I'm storing. Some shelving units have a small space between the bottom shelf and the floor. I also put a cut 2x2 there as well. It works great!
I just got a taste of this this past week! I was at a Kroger here in Texas and had a cart half full with groceries. They only had one check out lane open with a few people already in line with full carts. I had 2 young kids with me (one fussy and one needing to go to the bathroom I might add), so I wanted to check out ASAP. I know I can scan and bag quickly so I went to self checkout. Well, I guess I was scanning a little too fast for the machine as it was still trying to add an item by the time I had already had it back and start scanning the next one. The attendant came over to me with a harsh tone saying I was scanning stuff too fast and missing items. So I had to stop and she had to count and rescan. I had missed one item which was an honest mistake. The register continued to lock up on me several times as it is slow to recognize the weight of an item that is bagged. The attendant had to step in another time and watched me like a hawk for the rest of it making me super anxious when I was already stressed. Those self checkout machines are painfully slow, wish they had the speed to recognize items as fast as the standard checkout registers.
I have a tendency to stay away from the regular grocery store self-scanners, except when the lines checker lines are long. But at Costco, I am very happy to let the scanner-persons (if that works as a term) do the work. and get out very fast. Jim
@@RoseRedHomestead Sorry, some how I typed this comment on the wrong video. 🤷🏼♀️ I must have been watching your video right afterwards and typed it there by mistake. But love and appreciate all your content and wisdom!
I actually had this question on my mind. Finding a 'perfect place' doesnt work, so I do what I can. Thank you so much for all your ideas!
You are very welcome.
Love the elevated shoes idea ! I’m gonna do that!
I found your story to illustrate what we see or don't see so interesting, and it really shows how having a different mindset can make a tremendous difference in many things!
I agree that your alternative of not storing food because the space is not ideal is not a good choice. We must all do what we can to store as much as we can, and rotating the food as you do will help preserve it wherever you need to store it. Thank you! Oh, I bought your bread book, printed it and have started looking through it. It has an amazing amount of recipes and information! 💕
Thank you for buying our bread book and your insightful comments. Jim
Thank you that was so helpful! It is especially helpful to see how you do in your own home. Many of us are living in very small spaces and I really appreciate your including us too.
One of the reasons we did this video was for viewers that have really limited space for storage. Jim
In our current home, the previous owners made half the dining room into a butlers' pantry accessible in the kitchen with a full door. This left a small room in front which we use as an office and our book cases fit nicely in there. We are moving to another state and we are going to do the same thing - cut the formal dining room in half and make a pantry for part of our food storage. You have great ideas and thank you for sharing them.
Since I began canning & preserving under your instructions, I have had a steady buildup of various items to be stored. Just this last week I began my project of converting the coolest, darkest of my guest bedrooms into the pantry room in my home. Thank you for your videos! The over the door shelves, great idea, not too expensive either, for my new pantry room. Wishing you a great day!
Thank you!
Just remember to mouse and rat proof your stash! I have the area behind the couch full of vaccuum sealed jars! Ready to forget for 5 years. Rice, beans, dehydrated eggs and veggies. Its amazing how much stuff you can get behind there!! And you cant see it!! Little bit at a time!
We agree about critter-proofing. I think we need to remember to use and rotate and check for spoilage on a regular basis. Jim
Oh my goodness. Another reason I just love you! You’re just one amazing woman. Thanks for sharing all your knowledge and being honest and transparent with your viewers. Excited to follow along and learn even more from you!
Out of season clothes and extra linens and blankets can go in covered plastic totes in the garage with moth balls or cedar blocks, especially if you use the vacuum compression bags. Frees up linen, coat, and clothes closet space. Likely a few items can go to the charity thrift store instead of being stored each year as you do the changeover from summer to winter. Just be careful not to garage fur-trimmed, suede or leather items if the garage gets hot in the summer (can dry and crack) or has high humidity in any season (can mold).😀 Love RoseRed Homestead, Pam and Jim are awesome!
I have a tall, narrow shelf between my bedside table and wardrobe where I keep canning equipment and bread baking tools. I found that using the delivery boxes in which it came helps save space since it fits perfectly and I can stack the boxes. I put the heavier things like empy canning jars and the cast-iron pot on the lower shelves to maintain a lower center of gravity and keep everything ss safe as possible
Two older folks here. We turned a bedroom into a walk-in pantry. This was before the current situation and possibly getting worse. It filled up cabinets extra fridge ect. So, we build shelves in a small closet, wasn't enough. Was gifted a good wire shelf and already have plans for the last usable closet.
That sounds so good!
I just bought shelving units and am using our unused dining room off our kitchen for food storage. I'm excited! I have food stored upstairs in an unused room and in the garage. I just figured I needed to make my home work for me.
I like the idea of making the home work for you, instead of the other way around. Jim
You and Pam has inspired me to do that!!
I live in an old house. I have a closet in each bedroom and a very small pantry in my kitchen. Now when I say closet, let me explain. Apparently, back in the 50's when my house was built (and way before), property taxes were assessed on the number and dimensions of rooms in your house. Since closets had walls and a roof (most also had doors), they were considered rooms. So, in order to decrease the amount of taxes you paid, you had either no or small closets and used armoires instead. Needless to say, I have become creative in finding storage space. Oh, did I mention that I also have 32 windows? Yes, mostly all windows, very little wall space. I'm in the (slow) process of converting my once-craft room into a pantry. I wish it was closer to the kitchen, but I'll make do with what I have. Thanks for discussing this issue that many, if not all of us face. You gave me a couple of ideas.
It sounds like you have your work cut-out for you. (Armories in place for closets? Did I miss something in my parents' 1958, 3-bedroom tract home? My father had some war trophies from WW II, but I do not remember an armory.) Jim
@@RoseRedHomestead Not armory. An armoire is a piece of furniture used to hold clothing. They were also called wardrobes and came in varying sizes to fit the room. I have an antique one in my living room that I use to store random stuff.
I love how you have your containers stored under the window. I have about every inch of every room full of food or supplies. The only place left is up on the walls for storing paper products, but my hubby said no to that. I wanted to line the top of the walls with shelves to hold paper towels and toilet paper. Maybe some other time!
Love that full wall storage cabinet.
The cabinet guy just showed up to put the doors on it. I am excited!
One place you can store light goods (pasta etc) is on top of your kitchen cabinets. Especially if they have a lip. No one can see what's up there. Of course if your cabinets go to the ceiling you can't do it. I have a small 3 bedroom house but it's just me and my dog. I have a home office, so in that bedroom I had floor to ceiling shelves put in the closet in there. It holds a ton as well as my extra stuff on the floor like my canner, crock pot, etc as well as my plastic containers filled with rice and other freeze dried foods.
You have to get on a ladder and vacuum it every other week. Ask any jousekeeper.
Thanks for your idea!
@@girlnextdoorgrooming so? If you are trying to hide food, who cares if there is dust on it.
Thank you so much! I needed this video, I have bins and buckets of can goods, cluttering up with no place to put them. I will definitely use several of your ideas!!! Thank you so much!
Your bay window! Wow! Gorgeous!!! Oh my you have a lovely home. All great ideas.
Thank you. Glad you liked the ideas.
It reminds me of going through old home museums, there is a nook and cranny space in every corner
We recently tore everything out of a bathroom we never used and made it into a pantry, we just finished it yesterday! It's wonderful to have everything all in one place, including a chest freezer, pegboard on the wall to store all of my cast iron pans, it's so perfect!
That sounds fantastic!
Pam, such great ideas! I am in the process of designing my kitchen for remodeling and am being very conscious of no wasted space!
Absolutely! I wish I could have designed my kitchen from the start--would have been much more efficient and space-conscious!
Great video! SPACE is a problem. Especially, if you freeze dry and/or can along with commercial food storage. I need to build a room just to store it all. I have not seen any YTer address this problem. Kudos to you both!!
So glad the info was useful for you. And I agree that space, or the lack of space is an ongoing problem.
thank you so much ! I live in a cottage and talk about full closets! you have given me ideas that I just could not see in my home! Bless you.
Great video, thank you.
I am always looking for storage space!
That new shelf by the bay window is great. I wouldn’t put doors on it. But I would use tension rods to hold curtains to hide everything. I grew up in Germany and the Netherlands. We had a houseboat, and my mom got really creative in finding storage spaces. She then used tension rods and sewed curtains to cover it up.
Have you considered removing the door to the library? Then you could fill that whole corner with a corner shelf unit or build-in shelves.
Happy space hunting
Thanks for sharing your ideas!
Great micro moment. Here in Cali. $$$ for a 1,500 sqft place 6 sm. rooms total 4 for sleeping finding space is mind boggling. This was a great eye opener. ❣️
Glad it was helpful.
When hanging-esp on doors- be aware of weight. Possible warping of hinges or lighter weight doors can occur. Just be sure to secure anything not on the floor securely.... Canned goods get heavy and you don't want to lose them or damage your home.❤
I recently moved into a double wide mobile and put shelving on the back of my pantry door only to find out the door hinges were installed to the trim and the screws didn't go through to the frame work. I had to remove the short screws and put in long screws that went into the 2X4 frame and now it supports the shelves of spices. So that is something a person needs to be aware of!!
What an inspiration to be more creative for food storage. Thank you Pam and Jim
I agree heavy-weighted items are not appropriate for door storage. I find it’s a good place for spices, light weight pasta, crackers, freeze dried items & dehydrated items.
Good warning.
Great comments in this thread! Thank you.
Thanks Pam for some more great ideas. We are blessed to have a full basement with metal shelves and ample space for storage. But it’s an ongoing project to keep everything rotated and used in a timely manner. Since we are empty nesters, we may not always have this much space…so I’ll keep your storage ideas in mind. Thanks Pam and Jim for your helpful videos!
I would love. basement, but they are not common where we live. I think rotating food is pretty challenging as well!
Space is everywhere. Corners in rooms can have 8 5-gallon buckets stacked 2 deep with a piece of wood on top as a corner table. Just cover it with a large cloth and a lamp and you have a corner table and no one is the wiser. Gamma lids can be bought for 5 gallon buckets. A room with no bed can have 6 large storage bins arranged like a bed with a large press board on top. Finish it with a mattress and bedding. The linen closet is a great place. The floors of closets, drawers, under the bed and yes! suitcases are great. Use towels and decorative fabrics to cover the shelves below by placing them on the shelf above and holding it in place with items. A large empty tool chest is also a great place.
Great ideas! Thanks for sharing.
I'm grateful for this "finding space" 👁️ eye opening micro moment. I love my water bricks under my queen size spare bedroom. It's a great hack verse a wasted book spring mattress. It's so great & allows food preps too!
Thank you for your comment!
It's the first of your videos I watched and you seem to be such a nice and warmhearted person. So glad I found you. Greetings from Germany 🙋🏼♀️
Thank you and welcome to roseredhomestead.com. Jim
Years ago, my father cut into a hall wall (the hall was only 3 foot wide), framed it out, added shelving and made doors out of plywood. Painted it to match the hallway. It was about 5 foot wide and 4 foot tall, and about 3-4 inches deep, inset into the wall. While he used it to store his VHS library (i did say a long time ago, didn't I? Lol), I always thought it would hold a hell of a lot of standard can goods. Storage where there was none. That can be done all over the house.
Awesome place for a built in triangle, floor to ceiling shelf.
Now to make it a reality! LOL!
Loved the story about the lichen. " We see what we know."
Great ideas. Thank you. We put our beds up on risers so totes can be put under them. I use a cute little stool to get into bed.
Loved "cute little stool" LOL!
Some great ideas. I'm buying baskets and a tall step stool so I can use the area above my kitchen cabinets.
Yaaaaaaaaaay! I've been waiting for this video! Thank you, Pam, for you guys' great ideas - and for fostering a good community for even more. I rent one room in an apartment and don't have much community space, so I've been doing what I can. I'm hoping to move into a triplex soon, and then I'll have my very own kitchen space 🤗
So glad the information was useful for you.
Love this video and so many of the comments. What got me to reminisce, is that end table description you created for your wheat. Same trick I used in my 20's to have a kitchen accessible worm tower. Right off the kitchen, next to the table. Worked beautifully! A friend staying in the house for a few weeks was absolutely floored to see me access the worm bin. She could not believe that my serving side table, all this time, was a worm bin. :) We see what we expect to see.
For food storage, my focus is usually to get other things not constantly accessed up and away, to inconvenient spaces. Especially away from anywhere near the kitchen. Leaving food storage in easier, cooler, lower access points. Anything that can tolerate excessive heat and humidity goes in the attic or crawl space. Like excess backup canning rings go in the attic, and I hope the boxes protect them from any humidity not burnt off up there. Powder coated metal items can hopefully tolerate the crawl space humidity, and should easily tolerate the heat.
I don't trust our cabinet tops to hold say overflow canned goods. So while I do have the entire tops covered in a variety of woven baskets, what is in the baskets are once a year type kitchen items, empty overflow canning jars, and things that tend to only need accessing a few times or less in a year. The baskets are covered with backup kitchen clothes and lovely napkins, even beautiful handkerchiefs. Easier to grab those for the wash occasionally vs dusting and washing each item in all the baskets.
We have narrow, but tall, door width shelves behind doors that are typically open. I'm not giving up my books. That's one place where I justify having my more narrow or paperback books. Fabric handed down, or bought special from various events over the years are carefully arranged, in old sheets with herbs, like mint sprigs, between mattresses and box springs. They come out with no damage. Fabric with a current cutting planned, is hung on a hanger. Like a pair of slacks. Thin lengths draped around the hanger shoulders like a scarf, and so on. A certain amount of fabric can be carefully stored under seat and sofa cushions. For me, and probably other planning in advance type sewers, these methods free up food storage space.
I've seen people raise their bed frame up to where the box springs normally start. Lay down a big slab of plywood, and just use the mattress, to increase storage. Seems like something that would depend on the sleeping persons' back health, mattress life expectation and so on for good sleep, but it looked like an interesting idea. That slab of plywood price might be a sticking point though, at this point in time. Alternatively, it's a good place to store a slab of plywood, indoors away from the humidity. Provided you have some sort of indoor dehumidification.
I think my favorite "this is not the clutter you are looking for" are those old houses with really long narrow cabinets, in areas nearby, but not too close to the kitchen. Fitted flush between interior wall studs. Using magnet close doors, matching the surrounding wall. Perfect to keep bulk spices or dried veggies/herbs cooler, and dark. If you can stop children and much bigger ahem children, from constantly opening them, like exciting secret wall spaces! Not certain how to install those, neatly, within my current home's modern drywall. They are on my hopefully one day list.
Our suitcases are where we store travel things. Like a full set of extra toiletries, first aid, under things and basic classic city clothes/shoes. As in nicer things that don't need to be hung up in bags, but no way are we wearing them to get anything done at home. Those also don't take up space in our closets during the interim. On a schedule, I go in to update and rotate out the first aid perishables, and toiletries. Plus any medications. If we travel, it's sudden, not planned and often difficult for us. Having the suitcases already mostly packed helps. We don't end up at the destination, missing anything important. Even if we got on the plane in overalls and boots, the suitcases will have the situation under control.
Found some more storage space while watching your video! Woo hoo! Thanks for expanding my thinking. Now I can get more stored goods out of our hot Florida garage!
Glad it was helpful!
we bought a new bed frame that was extra tall (we are both tall people, and it made the bed easier to use for sitting) we now have 5 gallon buckets under the bed
We just had our kitchen remodeled and I totally removed our dining room(we never used it, except for Holidays) for more space. My home is only a little over 1100 sq ft and there are 3 bedrooms, which are all being used. So, having the extended kitchen and LOTS more cabinets added, gave me a TON of extra space. All my closets, under beds, corners, etc. are all taken up with storage containers or canned/dehydrated, medical, you name it, I have it lol But the kitchen made a HUGE difference. I LOVE IT! Waited 22 years for that project and was the BEST decision EVER! TY Pam & Jim, for all you do for us! Have a great year!
That sounds wonderful! Congratulations on your remodel. Ours is still dragging on. We will be thrilled to have it done!
@@RoseRedHomestead I know you will :) And congrats on all the remodeling you are doing and getting to enjoy also :)
I had a very good friend tell me when you look for space ask yourself”which would you rather have food or clothes” or “ is this going something going to feed me or am I going to have to dust it?” Good sage advise.
I agree!
My husband and I have been using just dresser drawers for clothing and our quite large closets for pantry storage. Again PLEASE be aware of weight on shelving units and anywhere you are storing food stuffs. I check ours regularly and this winter discovered the heavy duty plastic shelving TWISTING under the weight. I've also had to pair back on heavy duty bookshelves as one gave way, but thank the Lord I was sitting next to it and my husband was home to help me save about 30 jars of canned goods. Super Glad I caught it in time because it was all my hard work canning meats and such. That would have been tragic and messy
We agree about the weight related issue with canned and glass jars (and other heavy objects) in clothing drawers. Yes, check frequently and/or limit the number of heavy objects. Jim
My parents had a small vacation home and my Dad cut out wallboard in interior walls ( being careful of plumbing and electrical work) and built in shelves. He used it to display artwork and books, but it’s certainly deep enough for home canned goods. I’m thinking of doing this in a stairwell.
*RoseRed* *YOU* r Beauty Full, w/ Beauty Full assistance for us All. Thank *YOU* 💖
You can also hang shoebags behind your doors. I have several with packages of soup mixes etc.
I never considered wasted wall space for storage ideas. 🧐 Time to start looking around again with a new perspective!
Good for you! Happy hunting!
Thanks for sharing ideas & articles.
Recently moved smaller home; still unpacking. Made spare bedroom into pantry, which has me struggling to find a home for other things.
*Soffits above cabinets = wasted area;
*got taller bed-stored 8 totes;
*to add/remove items from top ft of closet must remove doors (still working on solution);
*suitcases store quilts;
*like idea layering closet floor;
*put baskets atop tall chest & bath upper cabinets;
*have rounded, open shelf under TV, need to figure out what fits & doesn’t look atrocious.
On to-do list as can afford:
*shelves above doors;
*wall cabinet in dining area (no > 8 in deep)
*barn doors to increase usable space in bedrooms;
*floor some attic for things that can handle the heat.
Thanks for your comments--good ideas.
One thing also I have done is I have used shelving systems that use vertical rails and brackets supporting wire shelving. I have placed the hanging rod as far up in the closet as it can go to hold my hanging clothes above. I have been able to put shelving below so with the shelves and the floor in the closet I basically have three shelves for food storage.
Do like these, if you live close to railroad train, with frequent trains, they can shake the brackets loose, just FYI. I check them monthly
Great idea! Thanks for sharing.
We use to live in about 4,500 sq ft with a 4 car garage and now live in about 1,440 sq ft with a two car garage. We downsized a lot, but are always still looking for extra storage. We are considering building a pantry in our dining space as we never use it all, it was made for a large table and we just have a small one. I think that is better use of the space. Love this idea. I have stuff stored on the walls behind the door in my office (we do not like over the door storage as that can warp the door). And I use under the bed storage all the time.
Formal only areas are a huge waste of space.
Wow--that really was a downsizing! I like your idea for the dining room space.
Maybe a freestanding folding room divider could help.
I love that cabinet in your dining room. I’m copying that idea!!
One of the ‘Best Buys’ storage I have found are ‘entertainment cabinets’. No one wants them anymore, I have purchased beautiful wood ones for as little as $40, even got a pine cabinet free. A few added shelves, and they will hold 4-500 quart jars? Some have drawers which are great for canning supplies!
People who live in tiny NYC apartments are experts at using every square inch of space. I have had all my pots and pans in the bottom of my small entertainment center for years.
Love it! Thanks for sharing.
My grandmother was a Swedish immigrant. She had 2 Swedish corner cabinets in her dining room. I understand that such cabinets were a concept from Sweden.
I live in an apartment and have shelving units along the hallway and in every room except the living room that we use to host company. Because of this I dread the thought of moving. 😅 I have some hidden too behind the TV stand in the nonworking fireplaces that have furniture in front of them. The closest and suite cases are great ideas.
I took a tac from my m. I. L. And store food under my bed. I loved the story you told.
Thanks!
Love this great ideas. Such a nice surprise to see your smiling face, You always make my day a happier one.
Thank you for your kind words--glad you liked the ideas.
I guess you can also expand your house, if you own it, and your budget allows for it. Or you can make certain areas like attics and crawl usable.
Even if you're not allowed to expand outwards, sometimes you can build a basement or two. I saw a documentary about it being very popular amongst wealthy people in London.
Expanding your cabinetry all the way to the ceiling also feels sensible to me. I don't know why most houses have kitchen cabinetry that leave that empty space open collecting dust, or closed without doors. We always have items we don't use often that would go perfectly in such spaces. Or seasonal items.