Elementary and preschool teachers inadvertently teach us one important thing about housekeeping: vertical storage is the way to go when you have very limited floor space. It also gives you plenty of room to get creative and express your personality in your living space. If you think this statement is grasping at straws, think for one moment about how preschool classroom storage looks like. In most of them, the wall at the back is devoted to plastic lockers, drawers or cubbies — one for every student in the class.
Rather than leave their bags and books cluttered beside their desks, children learn to tidy up and keep everything they don’t currently need in their lockers.
Adults can take a page out of their book and apply the same rule at home, particularly if your home is a small apartment or condo unit that’s no bigger than 40 square metres.
You Get More Space When You Go Up
Vertical storage, the way it’s done in preschool and elementary classrooms, serve apartment residents very well because it utilises air space that would stay empty otherwise. Suppose there is a nine-foot space between your floor and ceiling. Imagine how much closet space you can get if you maximise every inch of that distance for storage. Instead of a three-shelf dresser, you can have five or even six levels of shelves occupying the same floor space.
Besides doubling or tripling your storage space, vertical storage solutions can also give you other perks:
1. It becomes easier to tidy up.
It’s easier to put things away when most of them are kept in an accessible area in your house. It beats having to stow your luggage to the farthest corner under your bed, for example, or keeping the vacuum cleaner in a cabinet under the kitchen counter while the detachable suction stick leans behind the door (because it doesn’t fit anywhere else).
2. Your room will look more spacious.
Clutter can make any room feel crowded and smaller than it actually is. With that problem solved, you’re instantly left with a studio or bedroom that feels spacious. Moreover, visible vertical storage units like exposed shelves or wall-mounted cabinets create the illusion of height. Even if your room doesn’t have a nine-foot ceiling, it could feel that way because the design of your storage draws the eyes upward.
3. You learn the value of your belongings.
While accessible, the highest cabinets or shelves in a vertical storage system require a bit more effort to reach, i.e., pulling out a chair and keeping your balance while standing on it. You learn to prioritise and decide which things to keep within your arm’s reach. Those you don’t use that often go on the topmost shelves, while the items you like to wear or use the most stay in the lower shelves.
4. You learn to love your place more.
Disorganisation and mess can breed negativity. Most apartment dwellers don’t like where they live because it doesn’t match what they have in mind, which is a comfortable and stylish home. By keeping things tidy and removing clutter, you might find nice things about your apartment or condo that you didn’t see before. You’ll appreciate the place more and feel happy living in it.
Storage matters might seem trivial, but they have a bigger impact than most people realize. Make your life easier and happier by exploring vertical storage solutions.
