Hidden Storage Spots You Haven’t Thought of for Your Apartment

As apartment size is generally trending down, space in rental apartments comes at a premium, particularly when it comes to storage. That’s why, even for longtime apartment dwellers, finding innovative storage solutions for your precious possessions can be challenging. If you feel like you’ve exhausted every potential space, think again. There’s always another place to transform if you’re crafty. Consider these 14 hidden storage spots you may have overlooked.

1. In Your Headboard

Books, tissues, reading glasses, booklights: these bedtime essentials can take up space and make a bedside table look cluttered. If you want to streamline your bedroom (or have no space for a table), consider buying a headboard with hidden storage on the sides. Crafty DIY-ers can build their own headboards with bookshelves and compartments on the sides.

2. Inside Stair Treads

For multi-level apartments (with landlords who give the okay), adding storage to your stair treads can happen in one of two ways. Add a hinge to the back of the stairs and create individual boxes, or build in drawer slides and drawers instead of the standard kickboard in the front of each stair.

3. Behind the Shower Curtain

Install a second curtain rod inside your shower curtain or against the wall to hang baskets for shampoo, soap, lotion, and other bath accessories. These can hold extra supplies and don’t require any significant DIY experience.

4. Above Door Frames

Installing a shelf above a door frame utilizes an often overlooked area. The shelf can be wide enough for books, knickknacks, or things you need to keep close at hand but don’t use every day.

5. Behind Cabinet Doors

Cabinets in the kitchen and the bathroom are more than just the shelves they contain. Consider adding hooks or wall racks to the inside of cabinets to store things like cutting boards, pan lids, and cleaning supplies. In the bathroom, cleaning supplies, hair dryers, and brushes fit these neglected spaces nicely.

6. Inside Kitchen Kickboards

One of the sweetest spots to sneak some storage in the kitchen is behind the kitchen kickboards (that area below your bottom kitchen cabinets, also known as a toe-kick). Skinny drawers installed under your cabinets are perfect for long, slender items like baking sheets, cooling racks, placemats, cutting boards, and rolling pins.

7. Under Floorboards

Stowing stuff under the floorboards is more than a Hollywood device in murder mysteries. There’s space between the floor joists that can handle your important documents or anything else you might like to store (or hide from prying eyes). Don’t go cutting into your floors without permission, though. Not only could this cost you your security deposit, but some pipes and wiring may be under the flooring, too. You need to be very careful about this particular spot.

8. Inside the Bathtub Panel

Some homes have their bathtubs set up with a panel for easy access to the plumbing; it’s usually a square on the other side of the wall where the bathtub sits. This area sometimes has space for small items like sponges and cleaning products. The panel is easily pried off but may leave a mark on the wall — be prepared to paint over it when you move.

9. Near the Fridge

Although there is a required clearance space in the back of the fridge for ventilation and efficient operation, there is usually a slim space beside the fridge. A skinny rolling cart is great for storing canned or dry goods in this area. Avoid storing oils (which can go rancid in the heat of the fridge’s exterior) or dry goods in bags or containers that pests can access.

10. Inside Wall-Mounted Artwork

If you have a favorite painting that follows you from place to place, why not put it to work as storage? If you’re handy, you can create a frame with more depth that can act as a place to store keys, mail, or other small items. This can work really well especially if you have the bad luck of having bad roommates who don’t understand boundaries, and you need to hide certain things. Alternatively, you can also buy a simple wall-mounted shelving unit the same size as your painting, add a hinge, and hang it on the wall.

11. Under Kitchen Cabinets

Making the most of cabinet space in the kitchen is critical, and an excellent way to do that is to install hooks or a curtain rod underneath the cabinets. Hooks are great if your cabinets don’t sit between two walls. If you can use a curtain rod, S-hooks can hold kitchen utensils, towels, and cups and can slide out of the way as needed.

12. Lazy Susans Inside Cabinets

A great tip for maximizing storage space inside the cabinets is to utilize a lazy Susan. These ingenious merry-go-rounds can hold one or more levels of spices, oils, and other kitchen essentials in a smaller space. They are also great for using all the space, even in the back of the corner cabinets.

13. Shelf Risers in Cabinets

Don’t like the look of a lazy Susan or prefer to see everything at a glance? Then shelf risers are a good option for you. These can be tiered or sit directly on top of each other to hold foodstuffs or plates of different sizes.

14. Adhesive Hooks

Adhesive hooks have come a long way since they were first invented, and they make great sense for renters who don’t want to deal with holes in the wall. Adhesive hooks are suitable for every room in the apartment and come in various styles that either stand out as a design element or disappear into the background. You can use them on the back of doors, inside closets, or directly on walls. Be careful when you remove them, as you don’t want to damage the paint because of the adhesive.

Whether you’re already scoping out a discount real estate broker to buy a place, or you’re planning to spend many more years in your newly organized unit, you can make sure your belongings are sorted and well-organized. Don’t be discouraged by smaller apartments. With a bit of creativity, you can maximize all the areas in your home.