Storage/Display Opportunities: in Furniture, Along Walls and in Hidden Places

This travel trunk from the 1970s is now a reimagined family heirloom storage trunk that fits well into any room and offers a “home” for magazines, books, blankets, and more.

Finding more space to store and display all the “stuff” used for day-to-day living, as well as life’s pleasures, can be an adventure that ends with everything in its perfect place. Woodcraft can help you with a few ideas to kick-start your space hunt and then suggestions for tools and supplies to make your storage projects successful.

Small tables with enclosed storage underneath, chests and trunks that provide seating, benches with built-in storage, beds with built-in space underneath or in the headboard, and kitchen islands with concealed nooks are all options to manage “stuff.”

In the kitchen, add drawers to the space (toe-kick) beneath lower cabinets to store rarely used items. Shelving and bookcases, either built-in or freestanding/open or enclosed, will transform unused wall areas or sections of large closets into instant storage for a wide range of items. Nooks cut out of the wall and covered by pictures offer one of many concealed storage options that also include nooks or drawers in the sides of enclosed staircases.

Ideas for storage and display projects are almost endless and can be found through Internet searches and on woodcraft.com in books like Stanley Built-Ins & Storage by David Schiff, in Woodworking Adventures, the Woodcraft blog, and in free videos and articles.

Plan for Painting up Front

“When choosing where to develop storage and display space, you have the opportunity to rethink the colors in rooms where changes will be made,” Woodcraft Public Relations Manager and blogger Lori Harper said. “By using paint in building, buying or repurposing storage pieces, you can change or supplement an existing color palette.”

Paint is an easy way to “color” a room or an area, and today you can find or mix almost any color you can imagine.

Woodcraft stocks a wide selection of finishing and paint products, including the versatile General Finishes Milk Paint, General Finishes Flat Out Flat Topcoat, Black Dog Salvage Furniture Paint and Black Dog Salvage Guard Dog and Show Dog Topcoats. General Finishes offers 33 paint colors, while Black Dog Salvage has 16 premixed signature colors and 57 color recipes.

Building Made Easy

Pocket-hole joinery is a quick, easy way to join wood pieces for building projects. Kreg makes it simple with a pocket-hole jig for every application to create very strong joints. Check out Festool’s CXS Compact Drill Driver Set for drilling pocket holes and adding pocket screws, as well as handling other day-to-day drilling and driving challenges with comfort. Tight spaces, dark spots, and corners are no match for it.

Kreg jigs (K5 here) work together with a drill to make pocket holes for pocket-hole joinery. Special Kreg screws are then placed in the pocket holes to create strong joints quickly.

For projects that require using nearly invisible fasteners, the industrial strength Grex 23-gauge Headless Pinner leaves only the tiniest of entry holes, making it ideally suited for finishing work, detailed woodworking, light wood assembly, decorative trim, dowel and joint pinning, and picture frame assembly. To provide air pressure for the pinner, Rolair’s JC10PLUS Compressor is a good choice. The oilless machine features a 1 HP, single-stage, two-cylinder motor/pump and a stainless steel reed valve that runs on low RPM for optimum quiet operation.

Building drawers is easy with the Kreg Drawer Slide Jig that supports drawer boxes while mounting slides to the drawer. The jig works with ball-bearing, epoxy-coated, and undermount slides for perfect positioning every time. Whether you’re boring shelf pin holes in a new entertainment center or adding adjustable shelving in an existing cabinet, the Kreg Shelf Pin Jig will help you get the job done quickly and accurately. The Kreg Cabinet Hardware Jig makes it easy to install knobs and pulls on drawers and doors.

Shortcuts & Safety

To save time when building drawers, check out the Ready-to-Use Prefinished Birch Drawer Sides at Woodcraft. Sides come with square edged banded or round tops.

For some really made-to-order storage units, use WoodRiver Cubby Cube Connectors. Available in three shapes – cross-style, T-style or L-style – these handy connectors allow for quick and easy construction of multiple cube storage using 3/4"-thick material in any size you need.

Tailor-made Storage with Cubby Cube Connectors

The storage unit pictured above was constructed using all three connector shapes. You can see the L connectors at the corners of the top, while the cross connector is visible in the center of the top. The T connector is used along both sides except for the very top and bottom. Cubbies fasten with the included screws; no joinery required.

Protect your ears while using power tools with ISOtunes Professional Noise Isolating Earbuds – OSHA approved hearing protection and Bluetooth technology so you can connect to a smartphone and listen to music. If protection is all you need, consider the Pyramex BP 3000 Banded Earplugs.

We hope this helps you discover new storage options that work for your home, whether it’s a small apartment or a two-story house. Once you have a plan, Woodcraft can help with tools, supplies and advice.

Does anyone ever have enough storage space?