Built-In Storage Ideas From Our 120-Year-Old Farmhouse

If your home is short on storage like ours was, these built-in storage ideas can provide a much-needed upgrade without taking up too much precious square footage.

Storage space isn’t normally one of the most exciting aspects of home design, but it’s one that affects your enjoyment of a space, quality of life, and even how beautiful and stylish your home appears on a daily basis. The right efficient storage spaces allow you to keep your home clutter-free, helping your home decor to shine without distractions. There are certain times of the year when we all seem start to think more about organizing and decluttering our homes at the same time, like back-to-school season in the fall, and early in the New Year after the holidays. During these times especially, closets and shelving units, custom built-ins, boxes, bins, and baskets seem to be extra appealing as we get ready for a fresh start in our homes. I love this time of year, and taking advantage of this burst of organizational energy always seems to have very positive effects on my home that I continue to enjoy throughout the rest of the year. If you’re starting to feel the push to clean, organize, re-assess, and beautify your spaces, here are some of our best built-in storage ideas that have really helped us create a calm, orderly home in our 120-year-old farmhouse.

Built-In Storage Ideas: Bookshelves Add Style and Control Clutter

Pictured above: Rug | Bookshelf Lights | Coffee Table | Similar Marble Table | White Velvet Curtains

Although it may look like this wall of shelving has always been in our living room, this was actually previously a blank wall, and we added the fireplace and symmetrical built-in bookcases just a few years ago. The glass door cabinets below allow us to store things away while keeping them on display. Built-in storage solutions like this with space-saving designs can improve home organization and maximize space.

In one of our upstairs bedrooms, we filled an awkwardly angled wall with useful floor-to-ceiling shelving and a cute built-in desk area for browsing books or getting a little work done, adding multi-functional storage and helping us maintain a clutter-free home. Trim and millwork make this new addition to the room feel like it’s always been there.

Both of these decorative storage shelving units brought so much style and utility to these spaces while taking up just a few feet of floor space.

Stylish Storage Ideas: Entryway Storage for Beauty and Function

Entryways can be a great place for adding utilitarian storage of all kinds. These spaces are often used as mostly passageways, but can boast hidden storage potential under stairs and tucked away behind doors. If built-ins aren’t an option for these spaces, wall mounted shelving units can provide ample storage without sacrificing any flooring square footage at all.

In our front hall, we tucked a semi-hidden storage cabinet under the stairs with built-in shelving inside to house the board games and puzzles we often like to use nearby. This custom solution would almost disappear into the woodwork if it weren’t for the beautiful decorative gate hinges we used.

Pictured Above: Runner | Cubby Baskets | French Market Basket

Our main mudroom serves as the most frequently used entryway into our home, so this large space features drawers, hooks, cubbies to store boots, hats, coats, gloves, and sports equipment. Long benches are used for throwing down armloads of shopping bags or for sitting down on while putting on shoes. Custom cabinetry can allow you to dream up creative storage solutions for small or unusual spaces where pre-fabricated storage pieces might not fit or make sense.

Pictured Above: Door Knob | Cubby Baskets | Shelf Baskets | Boat and Tote Bag

The back hall mudroom was previously just a small hallway out to the backyard, but has turned into a storage filled dream with wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling cabinetry, a long bench, basket cubbies, and a wall of hooks.

We used inexpensive, modular cabinetry from the hardware store for the cabinets, and left open a little counter area trimmed out with a custom arch to give this hallway the feeling of being original to the home.

Additional Shelving Ideas for Utility Spaces

As much as I love beautiful built-in cabinets, vintage storage solutions, and shelving units that allow you to store things beautifully in the main parts of your home with hidden storage, I do think it’s important to have some more utilitarian storage areas as well. Heavy duty shelving in basements and garages can take the pressure off other storage areas of your home and can handle just about anything you can throw at them.

I use our basement shelves to store extra pantry staples, snacks, and beverages that I like to keep in the house, but that don’t necessarily fit comfortably into our kitchen cabinets. These shelves are also the perfect place to tuck away small appliances and serving dishes that don’t get used very frequently.

Along with the seasonal decor bins and sports gear that you’ll find in most basements and garages, I also store an ever-growing collection of vintage finds that I just couldn’t walk away from. I might not have the perfect place for them now, but one day I’ll know just where to use them, and they’ll be there waiting for me on these utility shelving units. Using strong utility shelving means that I never have to worry about the weight of things I put on the shelf, even when my ceramics and china collections start to get a little out of hand.

If you’re looking to maximize storage in your home and create a livable, functional space, a combination of built-in decorative storage and utility storage spaces is the way to go.

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