I have not had a garage for the vast majority of my adult life, so out of necessity, I have become creative with storage solutions. The best piece of advice I can give you is to reduce the amount of stuff you own. Simply put, just keep the stuff that you actually use. You might not even need additional storage, if you are able to donate or recycle things you are no longer using.
Like most people, we have certainly had too much stuff. However, over the last few years, my husband and I have embraced a more minimalistic design vibe. Now you might think of minimalism as cold, empty spaces, but it is truly about having just the right number of things for your space and lifestyle. One of my favorite design authors, Shira Gill wrote a fantastic book called Minimalista, which explains this concept beautifully.
Closet Space
We have plenty of closet space in all the bedrooms, plus we have a linen closet and broom closet. In our primary bedroom, we have a double reach-in closet, as well as a large walk-in closet. These two spaces are plenty for our entire wardrobe, including summer and winter wear. To see details about my closet, check out the link below:
Six Tricks to Organize your Closet and Rock Your Personal Style
Attic Space
What we needed was a space to store things we don’t use most of the year, e.g., Christmas decorations, camping gear, and tools. We took advantage of attic space in our last home (Coastal Cottage), but we needed to add better access to the Coastal Modern home. Being able to add pull-down attic steps is a luxury that we did not have in the cottage. In the cottage, Jim had to use a ladder and pull himself up into the attic.
Luckily, we have lots of attic space in the modern home, but we needed to move the attic access from a linen closet to the hallway. To accomplish this task, Jim would also have to do some structural work on a single truss. In addition, we needed to create an attic subfloor. Once the truss was adjusted, we were able to install the steps using the instructions, which were pretty simple and clearly outlined. DO NOT attempt to cut or remove support systems, like a truss without getting an engineer to sign off on the work.
This project is definitely a two-person job, but you should be able to complete it in a weekend. Once completed, we added approximately 80 square feet of storage space to our Coastal Modern home.
Pro Tips:
- In addition to the stairs, we also created bracing between the truces, then placed 1/2″ plywood on top to create safe and easy storage in the attic.
- As you can see from the pictures below, we used 2x4s to help hold the stairs in place while we made adjustments. This allowed us to properly shim and secure the stairs with screws.
- Be sure you do your research and completely understand where you can actually place the stairs before you even buy them. You’ll want them between the trusses and running perpendicular to the trusses.
I can’t tell you how thrilled we are to have this extra storage space. Please share your creative storage solutions in the comments. If you found this post helpful, please share it. You will find lots of great tips throughout this site, so take a moment to browse through my other posts. To ensure that you will never miss a new design, DIY, or travel tip, subscribe below:
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