Secret Places to Store Things

"Furniture can double as storage, like antique trunks used as tables and Ikea's slipcovered white benches with hinged lids." —Myra Hoefer, Interior Designer

In library of a California home she designed, a large table serves as both a desk and formal eating area.

"Up is where you'll most often find space. I saw a high-ceilinged room where the fellow put shelves all the way up, and bought a library ladder on rollers from eBay so he could get to everything in a stylish way." —Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, Interior Designer, Cofounder of Apartmenttherapy.com

"My house is 89 square feet—literally—and I also design small houses for others. I've designed couches with drawers in the bottom. I've put drawers inside steps, so that as you climb the stairs you pull the drawer out of the risers." —Jay Shafer, founder of Tumbleweed Tiny House

"Every closet door is a storage opportunity. You can build rows of narrow shelves inside the door of a linen closet. You can put rows of hooks inside a bedroom closet door and hang handbags there. Because purses have different-length handles and are different sizes, you should lay out all of them on the floor and figure out how you want to hang them, like a jigsaw puzzle—then install staggered individual hooks low and high." —Julie Morgenstern, Organizing Guru and author of Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life

In this photo, designer David Kaihoi created extra storage space in the closet of his small East Village apartment.

"I've lived in small apartments, condominiums, and houses my whole life, including the 800-square-foot house I live in now. But I really enjoy entertaining, which entails having a lot of things. One storage place that goes overlooked is the oven — and I don't mean it in a Carrie Bradshaw store-your-cashmere-sweaters-and-Manolos sort of way. I mean it's a great place to store pots, pans, and large serving platters. If you're like me, you use your range a lot more than your oven. And in those instances where you do use the oven to cook, you're probably going to be using some of those pots and platters anyway." —Chad Eisner, Interior Designer

Range by BlueStar.

"One place that's almost always underutilized: high kitchen cabinets, particularly the ones on top of the fridge. They usually have so much stuff blocking them! But they're great for vases, candlesticks, and wedding presents—things you don't need all the time. And if you've got space between the top cabinets and the ceiling, you can line up nice-looking storage boxes there." —Lisa Zsalow, founder of Gotham Organizers

Kitchen designer Emily O'Keefe did just that in this small kitchen to gain an optimum amount of storage space.

"My business partner, Frank Webb, has a house where he keeps a small washer and dryer in that hollow space under the stairs. It's hidden by a sliding mirrored door. You'd never know it was there." —Matthew White, Interior Designer