12 Brilliant DIY Storage Hacks for a Tidy Home

Homes are great, aren't they? Finally, a place to put all your stuff! But what if the amount of belongings you have doesn't exactly line up with the amount of space in your house or apartment?

Well, that's where the magic of storage comes in. Containers, shelves, cabinets — all great tools, but the costs can add up, and their store-bought looks can leave your house seeming a bit generic. So, we put together 12 tips for creative home storage projects you can do yourself. Best of all? You can add your own personal spin to the process.

We aren't going to talk so much about storage supplies you can buy online because while many of them are nice and useful, the better ones tend to be expensive. What we're about is saving you money while making it appear as though you spared no expense.

Hanging Pot Rack

If you take cooking as seriously as I do, chances are a lot of your cabinet space is occupied by a wide variety of pots and pants. Well, get ready to free up that space — and find yourself a lot more organized — with a hanging pot rack.

These racks can be made in a variety of ways, with some as simple as mounting coat hooks in rows and columns on a bare wall. Those without wall space can achieve a similar end by suspending a grid, a length of pipe or small ladder from the ceiling and attaching hooks.

Door-Mounted Lid Holder

That takes care of your pots, but what about your lids? They often don't stack easily and can end up taking up just as much space as the pans! Don't worry; there's an answer for this one, too.

A pot lid storage rack can be mounted to the inside of a cabinet door – or a larger version on the back of a pantry door — and you can even build your own. Just make sure to measure carefully.

Cereal Box Magazine Holder

Speaking of the kitchen, here's an easy and fun project you can get your kids involved in — cereal box holders for your magazines and cookbooks. These aren't just a good-looking way to store your kitchen and DIY-related literature; they're also a great lesson in recycling.

All you'll need for this project are the cereal boxes of your choice — keep the sizes of the magazines and books you want to store in mind when choosing — and a utility knife for cutting. You can use some double-sided tape and wrapping paper to give your storage boxes a fun design.

Blanket Ladder

Ease the load in your overstuffed linen closet with an easy-to-make and pleasing-to-the-eye blanket ladder. Ready-made blanket ladders can cost over $200, but you might already have everything you need to make your own.

An old ladder from a set of bunk beds can become a blanket or towel ladder with minimal modifications, but you can also build your own ladder with some wood, screws, dowels, and wood glue. You can even stain or paint your blanket ladder to match your bedroom or bathroom.

Crate Shelves

In my experience, shelves come in two main varieties: shockingly expensive and frustratingly flimsy. Luckily, I recently learned about this third type, which is strong, extremely affordable, and can be made yourself.

You can use wooden crates or even plastic milk crates to create shelves in a number of different styles, from stacking them like cubbies to mounting them in unusual and artistic patterns. If properly mounted and reinforced, this is a great way to store books, vinyl albums, and just about anything else you can think of.

Coffee Can Bag Dispenser

For as long as stores have had plastic bags, we have struggled with where to put them. Maybe you had a bag filled with bags, maybe they were stuffed in a drawer, or maybe you tried a door-mounted bag holder (my family dabbled in all three).

One way you can keep these bags from being cluttered — and an eyesore — is to convert an old coffee can with a plastic lid into a bag dispenser by simply cutting an X-shaped slit into the lid. Remember that double-sided tape and wrapping paper? Well, get them back out and make your dispenser cute!

PVC Pipe Shoe Organizer

Anyone with more than what I'll charitably call “a few” pairs of shoes will tell you one of their biggest problems is keeping them safe, organized, and contained. A closet floor can quickly become a graveyard of mismatched, scuffed-up footwear.

The solution: A 6-inch-wide PVC pipe cut into sections about one foot long. You can then glue these sections together to form a shoe rack where each pair has its own cubby to keep them organized and safe. Your closet floor will thank you.

Wall-Mounted Clothing Rack

Don't you dare ever tell my sister I called her a “genius,” but the word did come to mind when she showed me how she had mounted iron pipes to her walls to compensate for the lack of closet space in her tiny Denver house.

You can do something similar, and perhaps a little more aesthetically appealing, with about $30 worth of pipes, flanges, and elbows. You'll be able to hang your clothes in a sturdier way than with a flimsy store-bought rack. And, to be completely honest, it just looks darn cool.

Under Bed Storage

One of the most criminally underutilized storage spaces in the home is hiding right under your bed. You're probably thinking it would be easiest to just buy an under-bed organizer since making one would be so hard, right? Wrong!

With just a little bit of DIY know-how, you can take ready-made drawers from that old wooden dresser your neighbors just put on the curb and attach casters to the bottom. Now you have under-bed drawers to store your linens, shoes, spare blankets, or anything else you aren't too worried about your cat finding.

Hidden Cabinets

Here's a fun way to keep some of your most private property safe and make you feel a little bit like James Bond in the process!

You can build a cabinet — or insert a pre-assembled medicine cabinet — between the studs in your drywall. You can then attach a painting or other artwork to the door to keep your secrets well-kept. Imagine the looks on your friends' faces when you show them where you keep the good brandy!

Filing Cabinet Garden Tool Storage

Garden tools are another category of items that can quickly go from “these are fine here” to a jumbled, cluttered mess. Preventing this is a simple matter of organization, and an old filing cabinet with the drawers removed can be perfect for this.

Lay the cabinet down on its back and fill it with cut sections of PVC pipe, using a similar philosophy as your shoe organizer. Rakes, shovels, and other items can now be placed in the cabinet without falling. You can even add a pegboard to the side, allowing you to hang smaller tools and gardening gloves.

Wall Mount for Bikes

One way to clear out significant space in your garage or mud room is to get those bicycles off the floor. You can keep your bikes safe indoors without occupying space that you could put to other uses.

All you need to build your own rack to hang multiple bikes are a drill, a few two-by-fours, some hooks, and a handful of screws. This will keep your bikes out of the way while also making sure they remain easy to reach.