5 Bedroom Storage Ideas

A king-size bed eats up 42 square feet of space. Why should the dust bunnies have it all to themselves? "Under-bed containers can hold the shorts and tank tops you’re not wearing in January and make more room for what you are wearing," says Kristine Becker of Closet & Storage Concepts in Voorhees, N. J. "Flipping your seasons is a great way to save space."

Ikea sells sliding drawer units that fit under beds, or you can buy storage bins that roll in and out. "I'm the queen of under-bed storage," says Denise Schipani, who spent the first years of her marriage in a small Manhattan apartment. "When we lived in that apartment — and especially after we shoehorned a baby and all his things into it — there was so much stuff under my bed, I never had to vacuum there. No room to!"

Lise Lingo stores luggage, backpacks and gear bags under her bed in compartments her husband built into their bed frame — basically a box with an overhanging platform and removable panels on each side. "He even ran rope light around the inside and hooked it to a motion sensor," Lingo adds. "So the light comes on when you need to find a specific bag."