How to Max Out the Storage In Your Closets

The two upstairs closets in our current home were vacuous, awkward, and hard to use in their original configuration. So I made a few (easy) upgrades that turned all the open space into serious storage for games, toys, books, and costumes. If you have under-utilized closets in your home, these same three (actionable!) strategies can help you use up every last inch too!

Strategy 1 – Remove Closet Doors (If Necessary)

Our two upstairs closets are actually quite large, but you wouldn’t know it because they were covered by huge sliding doors. 

We were “fighting” with them from the second we moved in, so we took them all down. And by doing so, we instantly gained unobstructed access to ALL the space inside.

Suddenly, we didn’t have to worry about what could fit through the (half) opening or how we’d reach into certain corners. We now had a wide open canvas into which we could add (more optimal) storage.

Try It: If your closets have sliding doors, experiment with removing them. If you don’t like having the inside of your closet on display, consider hanging a curtain as a “door” instead.

Strategy 2 – Fill In ALL the Blank Space

A big empty closet has a lot of space. But that space is often wasted if you only rely on the standard setup of a hanging rod(s) and shelf.

If you have a lot of items to hang, sure – use the rods. 

But if you don’t, fill in all that open space with extra shelving (or drawers, if you’re feeling fancy!) 

Our kids don’t hang much, so we filled in that open space with two easy, budget-friendly solutions. 

Quick Cubbies

First – we had enough vertical clearance to slide IKEA Kallax 4×2 units under the top rods in each closet. 

There’s three things I love about this:

1. The unit takes up floor space, preventing piles on the floor.
2. A ready-made shelf requires zero installation. No holes in the wall, no drill, no dust. Slide it in, and you’re ready to organize.
3. Eight cubbies worth of storage means actually usable space between the floor and the rod!

Little Boys’ Bedroom Closet

Mounted Shelves

The second way we created more usable space was to install floating shelves above the lower half-rods. 

These are nothing fancy: just brackets and boards from the hardware store. 

Again, without needing this space for hanging items, adding two extra shelves per closet gave us space to perfectly store games, books, and costumes that would have otherwise sat on the floor, been too high up, or required additional furniture elsewhere in the room.

Little Boys’ Bedroom Closet

Playroom/Game Closet

Try It: If you aren’t using your closet for hanging items, fill in the back (open) wall with some sort of additional shelving, cubbies, or drawers.

Strategy 3 – Don’t Forget the Top Shelf

Speaking of high up…don’t overlook the highest shelves inside closets. 

The space between the top shelf and the closet ceiling can be quite substantial, but it is so often overlooked.

In the case of our game closet, our LEGO bins stacked all the way to the ceiling so that not a single inch was leftover (how about that for luck!) This keeps our LEGO sets safe from curious hands while keeping them visible and buildable.

Love our LEGO storage? See more about the bins here and labels here.

In the boys’ bedroom closet, we place their school/memory bins on the top shelf. Although there is some wasted space to the ceiling, the “roominess” allows us to get these bins up/down more easily (which means we actually put the keepable stuff away!)

Even though we didn’t need any more shelves in these closets, I wanted to point out that you can also add yet another shelf ABOVE your top closet shelf (just like I did here and here). 

Adding another shelf lets you use up every inch up to the ceiling while preventing awkward or hard-to-reach stacks that can quickly topple!

Try It: If there’s a lot of space between your top shelf and ceiling, how can you fill it? Cubby units, stacking drawers, and floating shelves can all help you take advantage of that open space!

Key Takeaway

Taking off the doors to these closets and adding in lots of (affordable and easy!) shelving ultimately made these two closets look and function more like built-in storage nooks instead of cluttered black holes.

Our kids are able to see and access their books, games, and toys with complete ease while the rest of the rooms remain free and clear for other furniture and play!

Dive Deeper Into This Project

Looking for more info on this project? Below are my voice notes about the “micro” organization solutions shown in this space (e.g., drawer cart, lidded bins, hangers, and acrylic dividers) that help the big systems function even better!