Hang in there! Simple storage solutions
Sometimes the best solutions to life’s challenges are suspended. No, I don’t mean you have to wait for them—I mean they come from above. For instance, think of the famous Golden Gate Bridge and how it overcomes gravity by supporting nearly two miles of concrete and steel with cables anchored at the tops of two huge towers. A genius engineering design that handles six lanes of traffic in one of America’s busiest cities might not apply to home improvement projects, but the general principle of “suspension” surely does.
Here is one creative way to increase interior space with a gravity-defying approach.
Two areas of the home tend to get cluttered quickly: the kitchen pantry and the basement workshop. Whether it’s too many spices, herbs and snacks; or random nuts, bolts and tacks, both of these places are seemingly always in disarray because of limited shelf space. If you don’t have magically expanding shelves, it may be time to find a new storage system that doesn’t rely on support from below.
For an innovative, eye-pleasing solution to space restrictions, you can make a simple “lid board.” Never heard of it? That’s because I just made up the name. (Maybe I should trademark it!) Anyway, a lid board consists of screw-top lids glued to a wooden board. Sound simple? It is! When the board is secured to an overhead surface or wall with the open lids facing downward, storing your containers is a matter of simply screwing them back into their lids and letting them hang.
Many dried spices come in containers with small screw lids, so they make ideal candidates for lid boards. Sure, a simple spice rack is a space-saving solution, but it still takes up lots of space. Instead, glue the container lids directly to the underside of one of the higher shelves in the pantry so you can store your spices in mid-air! To make cooking a breeze, take it a step further and label the spice jars. Now, see, reach, unscrew!
You can use the same technique for your basement or garage workshop. To store nails, screws, bolts, tacks, nuts and other small hardware that accumulates, a lid board is perfect. Use medium-sized glass preserve jars. But remember, screw lids only!
This blog post has been reprinted with permission from Enjoy magazine, a beautifully crafted lifestyle publication for industry professionals. If you’d like to download the full issue of Enjoy, click here now.
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