Tiny House Storage Ideas

“Have you seen my phone?”

Well, it couldn’t have gone far. The house we live in now basically has three rooms. The “great room” which seems to be a euphemism for our compact living room/dining room/kitchen, and two bedroom/offices. Of course, there are two bathrooms, one tiny and one even tinier, and yes: her phone could be in one of those.

There are some wonderful things about living small, and one of them is that things are not lost for long. All I have to do is call her phone and we will hear it. Problem solved.

The bad news about living small is that it’s hard to find a place to put things. Anything. Everything.

Forgotten Storage Areas in a Tiny Home

Using every inch of tiny house storage is a must. Organized storage areas actually make being home more enjoyable. Having your cleaning supplies organized into one container can make your chores easier. Your life will run more smoothly when you know where everything is.

Let’s take a look at some less-obvious opportunities for where to put your stuff. Don’t worry- it still won’t be hard to find it!

Doors

Doors are often blank spaces just screaming for shelving. Here are some simple shelving systems that hang on the door. A hanging shoe organizer can be used for more than just shoes. My wife uses one for scarves and accessories. Another friend uses one for a spice rack.

Check out the clever cargo net pockets from Organized OBIE shown below. These are perfect for inside kitchen cabinet doors. They keep items secure even when your RV is moving.

Organized Closets

Organized closets are a must to make the most of tiny house storage. When we downsized these storage systems relieved the stress of trying to make everything fit. Organized storage also makes everything easier to find when we need it.

Clip-on metal baskets make use of space just under a shelf. See if this area in your closet is being used.

Making Closets More Efficient

We used this wire rack kit to turn our closet into drawers.  ClosetMaid had all kinds of wire and wood racks and storage furniture ideas to make the space you have more efficient.

Easy to slide design for items like toiletries, towels, canned goods, books, crafts, folded clothes & more.

Even More Efficient

 

I made the closet more efficient by adding shelves.

My wife added plastic bins, sorted everything and labeled the bins on the front so we could find it easily.

 

 

In-Floor Storage

 

 

An often forgotten area, in-floor storage boxes have the advantage of keeping the weight low which is best for towing. Except for the loft, a tiny home has very high ceilings. The floor between the wheel wells can be raised to hide the wheel wells and offer storage space. The downside is a step down into the area under the loft.

 

Mounting Appliances Under the Counter

Some appliances can be mounted under the counter. Black & Decker® has made a number of under-counter mounted coffee makers. However, they have all been discontinued. The solution is to buy a used one from E-Bay®.

If you need an electric can opener E-Bay® is also a good source for that. Here is a link for an under-counter toaster oven.  Getting appliances off your limited counter space is always a great idea.

More Under-Counter Storage Ideas

Look at this clever under-counter storage net. Net Pockets are great organization tools. Cargo Net Pockets can be used to add valuable storage to any open wall space. Storage Net Pockets are lightweight, heavy duty, and easy to install.  Net Pockets are also available in a variety of styles and colors to suite your needs. Perfect for RV and tiny house organization.

Check out the Organized OBIE website for all kinds of clever storage products. Take 5% off using coupon TINYLIFE at checkout.

Storage Beds

Our beds have drawers underneath for additional storage. This works fine unless your bed is in a loft with minimum headroom.

Drawers can be added to both sides. However, we left the side against the wall for long things like skis boots and poles. The bed is light enough to pull away from the wall when we need to get to those items.

Click image to see more.

Lifting mattresses

We’ve all seen the nifty mattresses that lift up. That’s a great idea if you have limited headroom or side area to open drawers. Check out this DHP Cambridge Upholstered Linen Platform Bed with Wooden Slat Support and Under Bed Storage.

Under the bottom edge of the bed

Frequently, in an RV, the bed mattress goes beyond the frame at the bottom edge like the one shown here.

Use these creative shoe storage clips to utilize that space.

You can screw them in or use military grade double sided mounting tape for installation.

Your shoes will be out of the way but within easy reach when needed.

 

Toe-Kick Drawers

Most cabinets you buy are raised 4″ off the floor and have a recessed “toe-kick” trim. This under-cabinet area can be useful with the addition of toe-kick drawers.

The drawers shown, provided by Kathy Steiner, show slide brackets. I have also seen them with simple felt sliders on the bottom.

Many bathroom cabinets have loads of wasted space around the sink. Custom drawers can be made to use the space to the sides of the sink and even the shallow area in front of the sink.

Every inch of storage counts in a tiny house.

Sliding Bathroom Cabinet

Here is a YouTube® video of a lady who built a cabinet on a sliding bracket in her bathroom. It slides into the shower most of the time but when taking a shower she can slide it out over the toilet. Cleverest use of space I’ve ever seen.

More bathroom storage ideas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creating Additional Tiny House Outdoor Storage

I added a shed to hold the gardening supplies, lawnmower, and snow blower. It keeps the yard looking neat. I also keep one of our bean bag chairs there so it’s out of the way until company comes.

Our shed measures 6′ wide, 3′ deep, and 9′ tall. It has a large door on the front. I designed it to match the house. It took me about a month to build in my spare time and cost about $900.00 in materials.

We also have a plastic, snap-together shed in which we store firewood. We brought it from our other house. It’s ugly but snaps together fast, without tools, and keeps the yard looking neat. Home Depot has a lot of nicer-looking ones now. The one shown in the widget section is $240.00*. It provides fast storage space.

See more clever convertible furniture that will save space on this page.

Here is a YouTube® video showing a lot of clever storage areas in the tiny house.

Here’s another YouTube® video of  one of my favorite tiny homes with lots of unique storage ideas. This tiny house was built by D’Arcy McNaughton of Acorn Tiny Homes.