Storage Suggestions for Apartments
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 4:22 pm
Originally posted by I'm-working-on-it, at Fluwiki (Hat-tip IWOT, for some really GREAT ideas!)
http://www.fluwikie2.com/pmwiki.php?n=F ... ntPreppers
Having lived in an apartment for a number of years and now in a small condo, I understand the space constraints and have a few suggestions.
First, you all know how to fill up every drawer you have that you don’t really use....the one in the kitchen that’s your junk drawer can hold a LOT of tuna cans! The little drawer in the bathroom in that cute little corner table can hold a lot of matches, etc.
Also, I think someone mentioned that you can replace your coffee table with 4 plastic buckets with a piece of plywood on top & a tablecloth over it and also have space underneath the plywood for other buckets of supplies.
Another thing is to put a false back in your closets (you may have to make the coathangers hang at an angle, but you can take 1′′x6′′ boards and attach them to the back of the closet and fill them up with canned goods. If you’re afraid of someone seeing them (like the bug spray man that has access to your apartment) then buy a piece of sheetrock and cut it to fit your closet and put it in front of the narrow shelving for cans to hide the entire back of the wall, basically making a false wall.
If you can convince your landlord to let you, or just do it and worry about your security deposit later, you can cut in between the studs in the walls, add small board pieces for shelving & store food, money, supplies, etc. in between the studs.
Put an empty can that held asparagus on your refrigerator shelf (with spare keys, money, copies of family phone numbers, bank account info, or any other information that you can laminate, roll up & store in the can — I’ll bet 9 out of 10 people will NOT pick up a can of asparagus!
For larger and more reachable storage, use the ‘puddling drapes’ idea to decorate your windows. Hang a decorative rod over your window and let it extend out from the window on both sides, as wide as a 5 gallon bucket — about 12′′ on either side. Fold yards and yards of fabric (the thicker the better, like a tapestry material — that will still ‘hang’ properly but have enough body to not give away your secret. Let the fabric puddle on the floor a little and behind the vertical panels stack plastic boxes on top of each other to the top of your curtain rod, using the fabric to hide the buckets from sight inside the room, and from view outside your window, you could even cover those buckets with that contact paper that looks like woven wicker so that if someone sees them they’ll think you’re using them as columns or something. Work with the idea until it fits your window.
As time draws closer, put a wooden shelf on top of your bathtub — I use our guest bathroom in this way to keep our pet carriers handy but out of sight & I’ve found that having 2 pieces of wood that fit one on the left of the tub rim and one on the right makes it much easier to remove the 2 pieces from the tub without whacking off the water faucet or something. You can store items you don’t really think you’ll need under the boards, and stack up toilet paper, food supplies, etc. up to the top of your shower curtain. Then take sponge baths or set up a camp shower type thing, using one of those square pans that you put under washing machines to keep them from ruining your floor if they leak. You can get one at Home Depot or Lowes for around $30 — they’re pricey but they work and you can empty it and store it behind a door for your next shower.
Decorate your house with decorative tins — find ‘em at your thrift store and set ‘em on tabletops, desks, kitchen counters, over the fridge, in the bathroom, etc & fill with whatever supplies you can use in that room......they’re great for rice, beans, gravy packets, or whatever comes to mind. Be sure and load up your mantle display with them if you have a fireplace.
If you need to hide something sort of large (propane tanks, etc.) get one of those mesh laundry baskets that have supports in them so the basket stays open. With some thread, baste clothing from the thrift store around the inside of the basket to make it appear full, then slip whatever you want to hide down into the bottom of the basket — it could be those ‘vittles’ holders someone mentioned that hold dog food and stack on top of each other(from Petco & other type pet stores). Put as many as you can into the ‘laundry basket’ and just toss a clean sweater or sweatshirt on top to hide the fact that the hamper really isn’t being used for clothes — you can get away with having up to 3 of these since people tend to sort clothes into whites, lights and darks! Same with recycling bins.
Clothing travel bags (you know the black vinyl ones that zip up over your coathangers - you can hang hospital scrubs or full body coveralls and masks in them and hang on that hook on the back of the bathroom door that you don’t ever use (the hook, not the door!).
If you have planters, take a piece of styrofoam & cut it to fit just inside the top of the planter, then cover it with florist moss, stick some artificial ferns or flowers in it and set it on top of the planter, using the space below to hide supplies. This is easy to do in a bathroom where you want to hide medications!
Line your bookshelves with those cardboard boxes made for photo storage — look at Michaels or a party or paper store, etc. and store supplies there instead of photos.
Oh back to the fake wall at the back of a closet, if you have the money to throw at this, you can buy those tall white plastic coated wire pantry baskets and nail them into the back of the closet (you can get them at any Home Depot store) and use the narrow baskets as your shelves so you don’t have to cut and install narrow wood pieces for shelving. Once they’re full, cover up with that piece of sheetrock - you can also cut that piece of sheetrock down the middle for easy removal later, just tape it together with sheetrock tape, paint it the color of the other walls in your closet. You can even caulk around the edges to give it that finished look and no one will know it’s a false wall.
This is sort of elaborate and ‘out there’, but if you have stairs, and can somehow remove the treads without damaging them, you can attach those white wire baskets that hang under your cabinet shelves that give you more storage. Attach them to the underneath side of the treads, load up, set the tread back in place & reattach it carefully.
If you have a fireplace, load it with supplies, take art and cut out a “fireplace screen” and cover it with decorative fabric that you attach with spray adhesive. Anything to keep people from seeing into your fireplace and that will be an easy to reach storage place — unless it’s freezing weather!
Decorative baskets along your kitchen cabinet tops........a stretched canvas painting on wooden stretcher frame hanging on the wall could have shallow pocket shelves built into the stretcher frame with skinny things hidden there — how much pasta and cheese & mac pkgs will one canvas painting hold!? Or you could use those vinyl shoe caddy things that hang on the back of a door and store stuff in the pockets — lotions, shampoos, toothpaste, etc. - just make certain the stuff in the pockets isn’t thicker than the stretcher frame because you don’t want the painting sticking out from the wall. These could also be stitched into the top back of a tapestry wall hanging or a hooked rug hanging.....anything that is stiff enough to hide something behind it without it’s shape showing through to the front.
Inside your washer & dryer is space (if you have those in your apartment).
Stack up modular storage cubes that have solid sides, backs, tops, and bottoms, and alternate them for shelving against a wall. One cube turned outward with cd’s in it, the next one turned backward, hiding bottles of alcohol, the next turned out correctly with your battery operated tv, the next turned backward with toilet paper, the next turned out correctly with your wind up radio & a candle, and the next turned backward hiding 10 lbs of flour. Then start the next row up and the next and the next!
The one thing to remember in an apartment is that you’re not the only one in there — management most likely has the right to enter the apartment at any time, so does any pest control people or maintenance staff, AND they probably have the right to show your apartment to prospects out apartment hunting — I used to be in the apartment business so I know — especially if you plan on moving sometime & haven’t renewed your lease! One way to avoid being the ‘showhouse’ is to keep the front room slightly messy with ‘unsightly’ things like dirty socks, Kleenex on the floor, soda cans turned on their side (washed out first of course) — make it look like you’ve turned into the bad side of the Odd Couple!
That’s all I can do for this brainstorming session. What other ideas can YOU come up with??
I forgot to add that if you’re forgetful, at least make a master list & hide that where you’ll be able to find it easily.....possibly in the dark if there’s a weather emergency. If you have a collection of something like pet rocks for instance, instead of grouping them together, leave one on top of each tabletop throughout the house to remind you that there’s food in the piece of furniture it’s sitting on. No one will wonder why they’re not together & you don’t have to scratch your head wondering what you did 6 months ago when hiding your supplies in the first place!
http://www.fluwikie2.com/pmwiki.php?n=F ... ntPreppers
Having lived in an apartment for a number of years and now in a small condo, I understand the space constraints and have a few suggestions.
First, you all know how to fill up every drawer you have that you don’t really use....the one in the kitchen that’s your junk drawer can hold a LOT of tuna cans! The little drawer in the bathroom in that cute little corner table can hold a lot of matches, etc.
Also, I think someone mentioned that you can replace your coffee table with 4 plastic buckets with a piece of plywood on top & a tablecloth over it and also have space underneath the plywood for other buckets of supplies.
Another thing is to put a false back in your closets (you may have to make the coathangers hang at an angle, but you can take 1′′x6′′ boards and attach them to the back of the closet and fill them up with canned goods. If you’re afraid of someone seeing them (like the bug spray man that has access to your apartment) then buy a piece of sheetrock and cut it to fit your closet and put it in front of the narrow shelving for cans to hide the entire back of the wall, basically making a false wall.
If you can convince your landlord to let you, or just do it and worry about your security deposit later, you can cut in between the studs in the walls, add small board pieces for shelving & store food, money, supplies, etc. in between the studs.
Put an empty can that held asparagus on your refrigerator shelf (with spare keys, money, copies of family phone numbers, bank account info, or any other information that you can laminate, roll up & store in the can — I’ll bet 9 out of 10 people will NOT pick up a can of asparagus!
For larger and more reachable storage, use the ‘puddling drapes’ idea to decorate your windows. Hang a decorative rod over your window and let it extend out from the window on both sides, as wide as a 5 gallon bucket — about 12′′ on either side. Fold yards and yards of fabric (the thicker the better, like a tapestry material — that will still ‘hang’ properly but have enough body to not give away your secret. Let the fabric puddle on the floor a little and behind the vertical panels stack plastic boxes on top of each other to the top of your curtain rod, using the fabric to hide the buckets from sight inside the room, and from view outside your window, you could even cover those buckets with that contact paper that looks like woven wicker so that if someone sees them they’ll think you’re using them as columns or something. Work with the idea until it fits your window.
As time draws closer, put a wooden shelf on top of your bathtub — I use our guest bathroom in this way to keep our pet carriers handy but out of sight & I’ve found that having 2 pieces of wood that fit one on the left of the tub rim and one on the right makes it much easier to remove the 2 pieces from the tub without whacking off the water faucet or something. You can store items you don’t really think you’ll need under the boards, and stack up toilet paper, food supplies, etc. up to the top of your shower curtain. Then take sponge baths or set up a camp shower type thing, using one of those square pans that you put under washing machines to keep them from ruining your floor if they leak. You can get one at Home Depot or Lowes for around $30 — they’re pricey but they work and you can empty it and store it behind a door for your next shower.
Decorate your house with decorative tins — find ‘em at your thrift store and set ‘em on tabletops, desks, kitchen counters, over the fridge, in the bathroom, etc & fill with whatever supplies you can use in that room......they’re great for rice, beans, gravy packets, or whatever comes to mind. Be sure and load up your mantle display with them if you have a fireplace.
If you need to hide something sort of large (propane tanks, etc.) get one of those mesh laundry baskets that have supports in them so the basket stays open. With some thread, baste clothing from the thrift store around the inside of the basket to make it appear full, then slip whatever you want to hide down into the bottom of the basket — it could be those ‘vittles’ holders someone mentioned that hold dog food and stack on top of each other(from Petco & other type pet stores). Put as many as you can into the ‘laundry basket’ and just toss a clean sweater or sweatshirt on top to hide the fact that the hamper really isn’t being used for clothes — you can get away with having up to 3 of these since people tend to sort clothes into whites, lights and darks! Same with recycling bins.
Clothing travel bags (you know the black vinyl ones that zip up over your coathangers - you can hang hospital scrubs or full body coveralls and masks in them and hang on that hook on the back of the bathroom door that you don’t ever use (the hook, not the door!).
If you have planters, take a piece of styrofoam & cut it to fit just inside the top of the planter, then cover it with florist moss, stick some artificial ferns or flowers in it and set it on top of the planter, using the space below to hide supplies. This is easy to do in a bathroom where you want to hide medications!
Line your bookshelves with those cardboard boxes made for photo storage — look at Michaels or a party or paper store, etc. and store supplies there instead of photos.
Oh back to the fake wall at the back of a closet, if you have the money to throw at this, you can buy those tall white plastic coated wire pantry baskets and nail them into the back of the closet (you can get them at any Home Depot store) and use the narrow baskets as your shelves so you don’t have to cut and install narrow wood pieces for shelving. Once they’re full, cover up with that piece of sheetrock - you can also cut that piece of sheetrock down the middle for easy removal later, just tape it together with sheetrock tape, paint it the color of the other walls in your closet. You can even caulk around the edges to give it that finished look and no one will know it’s a false wall.
This is sort of elaborate and ‘out there’, but if you have stairs, and can somehow remove the treads without damaging them, you can attach those white wire baskets that hang under your cabinet shelves that give you more storage. Attach them to the underneath side of the treads, load up, set the tread back in place & reattach it carefully.
If you have a fireplace, load it with supplies, take art and cut out a “fireplace screen” and cover it with decorative fabric that you attach with spray adhesive. Anything to keep people from seeing into your fireplace and that will be an easy to reach storage place — unless it’s freezing weather!
Decorative baskets along your kitchen cabinet tops........a stretched canvas painting on wooden stretcher frame hanging on the wall could have shallow pocket shelves built into the stretcher frame with skinny things hidden there — how much pasta and cheese & mac pkgs will one canvas painting hold!? Or you could use those vinyl shoe caddy things that hang on the back of a door and store stuff in the pockets — lotions, shampoos, toothpaste, etc. - just make certain the stuff in the pockets isn’t thicker than the stretcher frame because you don’t want the painting sticking out from the wall. These could also be stitched into the top back of a tapestry wall hanging or a hooked rug hanging.....anything that is stiff enough to hide something behind it without it’s shape showing through to the front.
Inside your washer & dryer is space (if you have those in your apartment).
Stack up modular storage cubes that have solid sides, backs, tops, and bottoms, and alternate them for shelving against a wall. One cube turned outward with cd’s in it, the next one turned backward, hiding bottles of alcohol, the next turned out correctly with your battery operated tv, the next turned backward with toilet paper, the next turned out correctly with your wind up radio & a candle, and the next turned backward hiding 10 lbs of flour. Then start the next row up and the next and the next!
The one thing to remember in an apartment is that you’re not the only one in there — management most likely has the right to enter the apartment at any time, so does any pest control people or maintenance staff, AND they probably have the right to show your apartment to prospects out apartment hunting — I used to be in the apartment business so I know — especially if you plan on moving sometime & haven’t renewed your lease! One way to avoid being the ‘showhouse’ is to keep the front room slightly messy with ‘unsightly’ things like dirty socks, Kleenex on the floor, soda cans turned on their side (washed out first of course) — make it look like you’ve turned into the bad side of the Odd Couple!
That’s all I can do for this brainstorming session. What other ideas can YOU come up with??
I forgot to add that if you’re forgetful, at least make a master list & hide that where you’ll be able to find it easily.....possibly in the dark if there’s a weather emergency. If you have a collection of something like pet rocks for instance, instead of grouping them together, leave one on top of each tabletop throughout the house to remind you that there’s food in the piece of furniture it’s sitting on. No one will wonder why they’re not together & you don’t have to scratch your head wondering what you did 6 months ago when hiding your supplies in the first place!