Nicola Kelland - Storage

Home and apartment purchasers love space for storage, and it is often high on their lists of priorities. So how can you create more efficient use of the space you have available when presenting your home for sale?

I have been on a mission lately, cleaning out my storage cupboards in order to create space and more efficiency of the area I have. I don’t have lots of large storage areas, but I have found that planning out my spaces, and the items to be stored in them, has given me tidy, well organised cupboards, and extra room.

Firstly, remove everything in one cupboard or drawer, and then group the items together, for example, all the Christmas decorations, all the computer cords and software.

Secondly, I measured roughly how large a plastic storage box I could buy to store the items in their groups in the space I had available. Using plastic storage boxes with lids keeps everything neat and tidy, and they can stack on top of each other. With labelling on the outside to describe the contents, the transparency of the plastic makes each group easily identifiable.

Some of the boxes may need to be large, others might be small, so try and utilise the space by stacking efficiently. There are so many different storage options available, and even shops that are specialists in selling storage solutions. One of the major advantages of packing things into your boxes is that when the time comes to move out of your home, everything can be lifted out, named, and ready for the movers and your new home.

The garage is another huge area that can easily turn into a massive junk area with a mix of tools, storage items, sports equipment and bikes all piled in together. Storage racks that house tools, bikes, surfboards etc. make the entire garage look clean and tidy, and display to a purchaser how much they could store.

So get cleaning out and organising. I am trying to do at least one cupboard per week, and I love using my new tidy cupboards.