Including Built-in Storage to Add Value And Appeal

One of the things that prospective buyers look for in a home is available storage; there's no use buying a home if you can't fit all of your belongings in it, after all. There are many areas in your home that lend themselves well to having storage areas built into them so that you don't have to fill your rooms up with furniture to keep everything stored away. Built in storage options add value to your home and when well done, can really appeal to buyers. The entrances to your home are one area that is ideal for built in storage. It is common for homes to have a closet at the front entrancethough some homes don't even have thatand no shoe or coat storage at the other entrances. What can be nice options for a pre-existing closet are cubbyhole-type shelves above the rod instead of a single shelf and shoe shelves along the bottom of the closet to increase the amount of stuff that it can hold in an organized manner. At the more casual entrances to your home you can build in a more open area for shoes, coats, and sports and gardening equipment; this kind of storage and organization is ideal for a mudroom or laundry room entrance. 'Classroom' type cubbies work well in this type of casual setting. Some interesting built in storage that you can use in your kitchen could be a closet transformed into a pantry with close, narrow shelves to hold cans and packages or an empty bit of an interior wall excavated to provide space for a built in cookbook shelf. Any room with low-slung windows can benefit from a built in window seat if the room is large enough; this is particularly nice if the room has a bay window that a window seat can be tucked into. Any room can benefit from a bookshelf built into areas that aren't likely to be desirable to put furniture against; narrow strips of wall or areas above doorways lend themselves well to this sort of built in unit. Don't forget bedrooms in your quest for built in storage; a child's bedroom or a guest room can be ideal for creating a built in bed by the window with drawers and cupboards underneath for storing clothes, toys, bedding, and other items. For anyone lucky enough to have a dedicated laundry room, this area is ideal for built in cabinets to store cleaners in. Also popular are built in countertops for folding laundry, a sink for pre-treating laundry, and built in ironing boards. The best way to provide built in storage in your home is to look for spaces that would be awkward to put furniture against or have oddly shaped closet spaces in them. These types of spaces are great for built in storage; whether they are shelves, cupboards, drawers, or even wine racks. Let your creativity flow and you can come up with some very interesting and useful ways to increase storage in your home and really add a lot of value and appeal.