Whether you use your shed for storage, as an office, a guesthouse, a studio space, or children’s playhouse, this list of tips and tricks will help you make the most of your tiny space.
We’ll start with a few tried and true answers for keeping and storing your smaller knick-knacks:
Glass jars: use this inexpensive and simple solution as a visible way to store your various bits and pieces—nails, screws, nuts, bolts, etc. You can even buy or make your own magnetic lids and stick them to a metal surface.
Magnetic knife strips can be used in your shed as well as in the kitchen. Perfect for keeping small tools and gardening items like screwdrivers, pliers, paint brushes, scissors, and pruning shears handy and easy to find.
For all the bigger stuff:
Racks, hooks, and shelves—you can never have too much. This may seem obvious, but many people do not use their shed space effectively. A good rule of thumb is: anything that doesn’t need to be on the floor shouldn’t be on the floor. You can even install hanging wire racks into the ceiling and make full use of the shed’s height, just be sure to invest in good stepladder.
Pegboards can be made in any size and are great for hanging anything from bicycles and sleds, to sports equipment, to rakes, shovels and other lawn care essentials. Get all that stuff off the floor and on the wall where they’ll be easy to keep organized and accessible. If you have a lot of hard to hang items, like footballs and basketballs, they can be stored in a laundry bag, which will hang nicely.
For items needing long-term storage, like Christmas lights and other seasonal items, stackable, color-coded bins are highly recommended. Repurposing buckets, baskets, and milk and wine crates are also good ways to keep things together and organized—get imaginative.
Some additional creative ideas you can use to make your shed space work better for you, as well as making the shed your own:
Chalkboard paint is a cool effect that can be applied to any wood surface— doors, drawers, or right on the wall, and it’s a fun and functional way to make labels, lists (projects and materials), or a way to just create a place for some improvisational art.
If you can buy or make rotating caddies for your larger cabinets and shelves. With a caddy, you can simply spin the surface to get at the otherwise hard to reach or hidden items.
Wheeled carts are super helpful, and can provide mobile storage both in and out of the shed, and can also be used as a versatile work surface.
One final thought: keep your shed clean and remove the clutter. If you find don’t need something, the shed shouldn’t be its final resting spot– recycle or donate it!