7 Storage Solutions for Craftsman House Plans

The Craftsman style is elegant, simple, and replete with natural materials such as stone and wood. What many older Craftsman home plans often don’t have is storage. Craftsman bungalows are especially short on places to stash a family’s stuff. Living in a Craftsman definitely feels cozy—and with a growing family it can also feel cramped and cluttered.

Fortunately, with a bit of creative design, any Craftsman can be the paradigm of cleanliness and order. Here are seven ways to add storage to your old Craftsman home.

1. Create Spaces for Gear and Communication. Mail, shoes, jackets, keys—they’re all important, yet they tend to turn into disorganized clutter. That is, unless you create a special zone for each. We suggest a space for gear such as jackets, hats, umbrellas, shoes and backpacks. For wet items, we recommend lining a wall with oilcloth. Hooks in the entryway work great for keys, purses, backpacks, and hats. The key is to choose a spot for everything you use on a daily basis—and then challenge the whole family to stick to that plan. Don’t forget to reward a job well done!

2. Use Creative Ways to Store Books. Voracious readers may have stacks of books towering all over their Craftsman home plans. Mom and Dad can add more bookcases or floating shelves to add reading room. One tip: Look up! You may have space around the ceilings of many rooms where floating shelves can add storage for seldom-used books. Kids’ rooms can be equipped according to the age of the reader. Toddlers will adore shelving at their height. Older kids will appreciate short shelves with baskets of books.

3. Toy Management 101. If your kids have too many toys to display them all at once, box half up and store them in your attic, garage, etc. In a few months you can feel like Santa Claus as you bring out your little one’s old favorites! Shelving units with labeled baskets also work great for toy storage.

4. Use the Corners. Corners are a frequently overlooked storage area in a Craftsman home plan. To turn that little-used corner into helpful storage, consider building in a store-bought piece of furniture. You can use trim to seal off the unit in place, making it look like an original Craftsman built-in. Toys can also be stored in corners, with corner hammocks holding stuffed animals.

5. Consider Removing Lowered Ceilings. If a previous homeowner lowered the ceilings in your Craftsman, consider hiring a contractor to raise it back up. Doing so will make the room below feel far more spacious. You’ll also get all that vertical space for more storage.

6. Don’t Forget About the Space Around the Stairs. If your Craftsman home includes a staircase, consider maximizing its storage potential by adding built-in cabinets and drawers underneath. Mirrored cabinet doors are a great idea, as they’ll make the surrounding room look larger.

7. Create Space for a Command Center. A desk with drawers, bins, and cupboards is the perfect addition to the modern family’s shared area. To find a place for your family command center, look for an area that needs more defined flow. The back of the desk can act as a partition guiding traffic.

For more Craftsman storage ideas, we recommend working with an interior designer who specializes in organizing older homes. It makes sense to take this approach because every home is unique and has its own advantages and drawbacks. For instance, one Craftsman home we saw had a laundry chute at the top of the stairs, where family members naturally crossed from the bedrooms to the bathroom. The chute deposited laundry at the foot of the washing machine in the basement. This solution isn’t possible for every home, but it worked like a dream in this one! A home designer can help you discover similar storage solutions in your Craftsman home. Looking for a Craftsman-style home? View our new home plans!

Note: The home shown above is The Brentwood House Plan 21111A.