Smart Home Storage Solutions

Say goodbye to needless clutter and hello to a well-organized home that reflects your own decorating style: that’s right, we’re talking about smart home storage solutions!

Whether you’re living in a cozy apartment, a spacious house, or somewhere in between, the struggle to maximize space while keeping belongings tidy is a common challenge. Fortunately, with some amazing smart home storage solutions from Ballard Designs, you don’t have to sacrifice style for functionality.

In this decorating blog post, we’ll explore the advantages of embracing home storage solutions room by room and explain how they can help you transform your space into a haven of order and functionality.

Entryway Storage Solutions

The entryway of a home is more than just a passageway from the outside world into your living space—it serves as the first impression of your home’s interior.

In this small and busy space, things can quickly become messy without proper storage solutions. Luckily, there are a few stylish and smart storage solutions to help you control the chaos:

• Entry Cabinets: One of the most efficient and beautiful solutions to entryway storage, an entry cabinet provides all the space you need to store shoes, jackets, and whatever you may need going in and out of your home. Our Huron or Alcott Entry Cabinet provide easy access to your essentials without taking up valuable entryway space.
• Entry Benches: If your entryway is too small for a standing entry cabinet, the next smartest solution is an entry bench. Our Hampton Entry Bench provides excellent shoe, bag, or hat storage with a sleek, modular profile.

Living Room Storage Solutions

The living room is the heart of any home. However, this multi-functional space often becomes a magnet for clutter, making it challenging to maintain a clean and organized atmosphere.

Every home’s living room needs its own unique storage solution, and the Ballard Designs catalog has quite a few smart solutions to choose from:

• Coffee Table Storage: One of our all-time personal favorite smart storage solutions, the Claudia Hidden Storage Coffee Table is an expansive round-top coffee table with a top that swivels on its balanced axis a full 360 degrees to reveal a hidden storage compartment below. Many of us at How to Decorate use this table in our own homes to hide books, remotes, spare blankets and more.
• Ottoman Storage: If your living room has a big, modular sectional (like our Keaton Sofa) but not enough storage for blankets or extra pillows, the Graham Upholstered Storage Ottoman is the smart solution you’re looking for. The added benefit of using an Ottoman as a living room storage solution is that it doubles as a moveable footrest for couch-sitters.
• Media Cabinets: Don’t let the name fool you—Media Cabinets are designed to do more than just hold your television and Blu-Ray movie collection. Our Greta Media Console, for instance, provides a resting place for a television or decorative item above two generously sized clipped-corner cabinets.

Dining Room Storage Solutions

The dining room is a place where friends and family come together to share meals, laughter, and heartfelt conversations. However, when it comes to storing the various essentials that make these gatherings possible, organization can be a challenge.

We have a few ingenious offerings that not only rise to the organizing challenge, but also look great too:

• Serving Cabinets: These iconic anchor pieces are almost as essential as the dining room table itself. Our Paulette Servers, equipped with a display hutch on top and large storage drawers on the bottom, allow any host to proudly display family heirlooms or decorate pieces while keeping any hosting essential neatly tucked away within an arm’s reach.
• Banquettes: Another great option that keeps hosting essentials out of sight yet within reach, Banquette benches like our Breton 3-Piece Corner Banquette are a beautiful solution to any home’s dining room organization challenge. Simply lift up the seats to reveal deep, easy-to-reach storage spaces.

Laundry Room Storage Solutions

Although many consider this room to be “out of sight and out of mind,” a well-organized laundry room saves hours of unnecessary headache between washing, drying, and folding your household’s laundry.

Since these spaces are generally small in size, our product development team had to get vertically creative with our storage solutions. Here’s a few of our favorites:

• Drying Racks: If you don’t have an old school clothesline in your backyard, the task of air drying delicate clothing items has probably been an organizational challenge. Luckily, our Beadboard Drying Rack provides a simply solution to this ubiquitous problem—simply  pull down the drying rack when needed and push it back into the wall when laundry day is over.
• Wall Shelves with Rods: Another great laundry room storage solution comes in the form of our Valet Shelving Units. These wall shelves not only provide you with additional, easy-to-locate storage space for detergent and fabric softener, they also are equipped with a clothing rod for hanging delicate items that absolutely can’t be wrinkled.

Bathroom Storage Solutions

A bathroom is the one area of a home where organization not only looks good, it’s critical for properly hosting your guests. Making sure your towels and toiletries are always where they should be is easier than ever with a few smart home storage solutions from Ballard Designs.

From storage towers to wall cabinets, here are a few of our our favorite offerings:

• Storage Cabinets: When it comes to keeping all of the essentials in one easy-to-see place, you can’t go wrong with the Adam White Bathroom Storage. This chic cabinet keeps all of your toiletry items dry and in sight, and has a small enough profile to tuck away into any bathroom of the home.
• Storage Stools: Give yourself more than just comfy place to sit and dry off after a relaxing shower, give yourself a place to store the after wash essentials. Our Courbe Storage Ottoman is essential for any washroom storage system and comes in over 300 different fabric options.

Home Office Storage Solutions

As remote work and flexible schedules become increasingly common, more and more people are carving out dedicated spaces within their homes for a functional, organized, and beautiful home office.

Whatever your style, our Original Home Office storage solutions will bring your unique decorating vision to life while keeping things organized. Here’s a few of our favorite offerings:

• Hutton Home Office Collection: There are many amazing aspects about owning our Hutton Home Office Collection, but our top three have to be its ability for full customization, infinite modular layouts, and sleek, practical storage solutions. Seriously, this home office collection will give you the look and organization you never could achieve at your actual out-of-home office.
• Credenzas: these modular storage units are a great solution to whatever office supply storage needs your job requires. Our Hutton 79 inch Credenza is just one of many offerings, but the sheer amount of cabinets and drawers tucked into such a defined & beautiful space offer a world of organizing opportunities for every type of home office.

Any Room Storage Solutions

Some smart home storage solutions are so practical they can’t be confined to just one room of the house—Here are a few of our favorite storage solutions that could be used to organize any room of the home in any style you might need:

• Stackable Storage Units: Some areas of the home require a unique approach to organization that can’t be described in one word, and that’s where our Abbeville Stackable Storage Units come into play. These stackable, modular storage units can be morphed into any shape your heart desires, and re-arranged on a whim when spring fever kicks in each year.
• Storage Towers: Just like skyscrapers in big cities, sometimes the most efficient way to organize a lot of things in a small space is to go high. Storage Towers like our Sarah Storage Tower offerings are a simple solution to big organizing challenges, wherever they may be around your home.

In a world that seems to be accumulating more and more stuff, smart home storage solutions are an absolute must. From storage units to modular approaches, there’s always a solution to your home’s organizing needs that doesn’t have to break from your unique decorating vision.

Need more decorating inspiration or smart storage solutions? Check out a few of our other How to Decorate blog posts on this topic to find the answer you’re looking for, or ask us anything in the comments below!

• 4 Ways to Give Your Storage a Quick Update
• Storage for a Tiny Bedroom
• Home Office Ideas: How to Work from Home Enjoyably
• Podcast: Expert Organizing Tips with the N.E.A.T. Method

To stay up to date with all things How to Decorate, sign up for our monthly newsletter.