16 Creative Ways to Make the Most of Your Vertical Space

"With little room for more obvious furniture storage in a small area, don’t forget to use the vertical space," says Kim Vargo of Yellow Brick Home. "Hooks, rods and built-ins can lend so much additional storage while adding a punch of personality." Kim needed an organized space to store shipping materials for her online shops. Shelving over the worktable and conduit pipes for holding wrapping and packing papers keep everything within reach. Plus, notes Kim, the "paper pipes" lend a cool industrial vibe to an otherwise feminine spot.

"When there isn't much floor space in a room, the walls become an integral part of the scheme," says Kristine Franklin of The Painted Hive. In small spaces, Kristine says, walls need to do double duty, making up for the lack of floor space by being both stylish and useful. "We needed an efficient area to house all our books and the computer and to act as a neat, little home office," Kristine explains. "As we have no spare rooms, this wall nook had to be it! It's in a prominent location in our house just off the kitchen so it was important for it to look pretty, as well as be practical. The eclectic gallery wall is perfect for injecting a sense of style and also works to help camouflage the computer monitor."

Motivated by the need for stylish book storage that didn’t occupy much space in her son’s room, Ashley of Domestic Imperfection got crafty with colorful fabric and some hardware. Not only do these fun book slings hold a lot and take up zero floor space, but "my boys can see the front of the books instead of just the side, which means they can easily pick a book without pulling every single one off the shelf," she says. We love this easily customizable idea for magazines in a living room or cookbooks in the kitchen, too.

Angela Neese Rathbun of Blue i Style wanted to create a special space for her sons in the unused alcove beneath the stairs but was stumped by the limited floor area. "I wanted to leave it open for play which meant I needed to put the walls to good use," she says. "I love the impact of the records covering the entire slanted ceiling, and the gallery wall provides a perfect combination of style and function." Amongst the eye-catching decor elements in this rocking room, check out the wall-mounted magazine racks, clips to display the boys' art and the rails and baskets along the bottom of the wall to keep the small instruments and toys from cluttering the floor.