78Onlinea place for everything: a guide to storage at home

An independent guide to storage and organising space at home. We do not sell furniture or carry out work, and we are not connected with the previous website on this domain. Leave complex installation to a professional.

Planning

Planning

A storage system is easier to think through on paper than to redo after buying furniture. A little time spent on an inventory and a plan helps you see how much space you really need, where each item should go and which of your ideas you will not need at all.

A storage plan starts not with a furniture catalogue but with an honest list of what you own.

— Food for thought

How this section works: we describe the general planning process, without sizes or ready-made layouts. Homes are too different, so a plan is always built around your own things and habits.

How to plan storage

  1. Make an inventory by group

    List the main groups of things: clothes, shoes, crockery, books, documents, tools, sports equipment, seasonal items. No details yet.

  2. Note how often you use them

    For each group, decide: needed every day, once a week, once a season or less often. This is the main guide for choosing a place.

  3. Sketch the zones

    Draw a rough plan of your home and mark where things are used: where you get dressed, cook and play. It is best to store things close to where they are used.

  4. Assign groups to places

    Daily items at hand height, seasonal ones up high or in the storeroom, heavy things low down. Mark where space is short.

  5. Decide what needs adding

    Only now draw up a shopping list: hooks, shelves, baskets, a wardrobe. Plan tall furniture with wall anchoring from the start.

  6. Test the plan in real life

    Live with the new arrangement for a few weeks and adjust whatever is awkward. A storage plan is a living document.

Zones and frequency: why it works

We spend our energy not on storing things but on finding them and putting them back. If the scissors live in another room, they will not be returned but left wherever they were used. That is why the best place to store something is where it is used.

Frequency suggests height and depth. What you need every day should be reachable with one hand without moving anything. What you need once a season can sit higher, further back and in a box — as long as the box has a clear label.

What to think through before buying

  • Where wiring and pipes run at the spots where shelves and wardrobes will be fixed.
  • What the walls are made of and which fixings they will need.
  • Whether there is enough light inside the wardrobe, alcove or future walk-in wardrobe.
  • How an enclosed space for clothes and shoes will be ventilated.
  • How you will reach things on high cupboards and top shelves.
  • Which furniture in a room used by children must be fixed to the wall.
  • Ideas

    Storage ideas room by room: hallway, kitchen, bathroom, children's room, walk-in wardrobe and storeroom.

  • Tools

    What helps with tidying and simple installation: spirit level, tape measure, wire detector, boxes — no brands.

  • Key concepts

    Zoning, vertical storage, frequency of use and the 'less on display' principle in plain words.

What we rely on

  • Furniture and fixings manufacturers' instructions
  • 78Online editorial materials

Our advice is kept general and is based on furniture and fixings manufacturers' instructions and on common household safety rules. Always check the fixing method, permitted load and the right wall plug for your wall in the instructions for the specific product, and leave complex installation to a professional.