When to Use Vertical or Vice Versa. Horizontal Storage and Organization
I believe there are two ways to store things at home: vertically or horizontally. Obviously there are all sorts of variations and approaches, but if you think about it, you’re either distributing things or putting them together in some way – it’s just a matter of what will work best in any given space.
When to store vertically
Vertical storage is the best option when you have limited space. That’s why I, a small apartment dweller, like to hang my bags on a chain instead of trying to organize them on a shelf in a closet or use an ” organization wall ” to utilize open wall space and turn it into storage. It’s great for using up unused space, but doesn’t always look pretty, so vertical storage is usually used in a closet or somewhere inconspicuous. When you put everything on top of everything else, your goal is functionality, not necessarily aesthetics. This is the best approach for categories of items that you have a lot of, such as shoes or books.
There are actually quite a few tools for vertical storage, but finding them requires thinking outside the box. There are classics like tiered hangers or hanging shoe racks , but you can use them in more creative and unique ways. As mentioned, you can hang your bags on chain hangers, but these hanging shoe racks are perfect for all other categories like hair accessories, writing utensils, and kitchen utensils. My favorite vertical storage purchase of all time is the Quad Tier Shoe Rack , which holds shoes upright and rotates so you can access the ones in the back. It saves so much space in my closet because it takes up so little space and when it goes up it takes up about the same amount of vertical space as one or two coats. It’s a lot better than putting shoes on shelves or worse, throwing them at the bottom of a closet, and at $40.50 it’s a pretty inexpensive way to save a lot of space and keep all your shoes together.
When to store horizontally
You can also store things horizontally, but I would recommend doing this when you have space, fewer items, or something that really needs to be displayed. Since I live in a small space, the things I have the most – shoes, bags, makeup and cleaning products – are always stored vertically to save space. If you have less of something, you can use shelving for it, but keep in mind that if you do it right, you can even display it for everyone to see.
Pick up some decorative storage boxes to hide the contents, as they look better on shelves than all out in the open. Also remember the rule of three , an interior decorating prescription that encourages you to group items in groups of three along any horizontal surface.
Things to keep in mind
There is a lot of overlap between these two approaches. For example, if you stack uniform storage boxes along a shelf in your kitchen: is it horizontal or vertical storage? If you hang floating shelves on an empty wall to utilize vertical storage space, will it turn into a collection of horizontal storage? Sometimes your storage fits into both categories, so just use the rule of three and carefully choose what you put on those shelves. This is not a big deal if you are organizing for a specific purpose. If your goal is to make use of limited space, choose vertical storage whenever possible. If your goal is to store items you don’t have much of or to make storage more aesthetically pleasing, choose a horizontal layout.
Ultimately, remember the rules of the organizational triangle : everything you own should be kept together with like items and have a designated place. Figure out how much space and capacity you have for each category of items you have, and then go from there.