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Double Duty Furniture: Making Space for Storage

Anthony Cuomo • Nov 25, 2014

When storage space is at a premium, it can be difficult to find a home for some of the items that you need to keep in your home. I know that in my home, it’s often difficult to keep blankets under control: During the chilly winter months, we keep them piled on the backs of the couches in the living room, but when it’s warmer, they tend to migrate to various closets, laundry baskets and the very top of the linen closet. It can be hard to find places to store things like candles and flashlights, extra boxed foods that you pick up on sale, clothing that you’re waiting for a child to grow into and seasonal items that only see the light of day for a few weeks per year. If these types of items are cluttering up your closets and you don’t have anywhere else to store them, it might be worth considering an investment in double-duty furniture. These are furniture pieces that you would use anyway, with built-in storage space for anything that you have to keep contained. Here are some types of double-duty furniture to think about:

Beds with drawers
Some beds are built with trundles underneath; you simply pull out what looks like drawers, and there is another whole mattress in that space. You can also buy a bed that looks just like a trundle bed, only the drawers are actually drawers! This is a great place to store sweaters during the summer, or extra blankets anytime. They can even take the place of a bedside drawer, if your night table has no storage space; you can keep the book that you’re reading, pens, a journal, a flashlight and other bedside items in the under-the-bed drawer.

Hollow coffee table or ottoman
What are you using for a coffee table? If yours isn’t offering up any storage space, then you are missing out! You can buy a coffee table that comes with shelving or drawers, or you can use an old chest, such as the type used as a hope chest in days of yore. Fill the inside of the chest with board games, pillows, extra bedding or just about anything else you can think of, and use the top as a coffee table. You can do the same with an ottoman that opens up. When it’s closed, it’s a handy seat or a place to rest your feet, but when it’s open, you can access CDs, DVDs, toys for when children come to visit, etc.

Murphy bed
If you need not only more shelving and drawer space, but also a place for overnight guests to rest their heads, consider having a wall bed, also called a Murphy bed , installed. You can use the attractive shelves and other storage space for whatever you need to keep in that room, and when visitors come calling, pull down the bed for comfortable accommodations. This is a great way to make your home office, playroom, library or den function as a guest room on occasion, so that you don’t have to send faraway relatives or friends to the local motel.

Finding creative ways to store items is a must if your home is low on storage space or if you simply have a lot of stuff to store. Whenever you buy new furniture, always think about how the pieces can do “double duty” if necessary.

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