Make it Count: Smart Uses for the Space Above Your Doors
Think your apartment is totally out of storage space? Think again—and look up. You probably have at least one doorway in your home with a little extra space above it, right? Now’s your chance to turn it into something useful—maybe it will be your new mini library, maybe you’ll turn it into a garden, or maybe you’ll use it to store towels in your teeny tiny bathroom.
In any case, if you need inspiration for your new-found space, look no further…
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Store and Display Extra Books
If you have extra books stacked around and nowhere to properly put them, make use of a doorway like Desire to Inspire did in the photo above. Whether your shelf can only span the top of the doorway or you can span an entire wall, it’ll get your books up and out of the way (and on display!).
Grow an Above-Door Garden
Think you don’t have space to work on your green thumb? Think again—with the addition of a shelf, the space above your doorway might just make the perfect indoor garden. IKEA suggests using shelves that match the color of your walls, and letting vines and tendrils hang down and frame the doorway, like so.
Keep Towels High and Dry
If you’ve got a tiny bathroom that lacks storage space, you know how hard it is to find a place to keep your towels. Make use of the space you do have by installing a shelf above the door for stacking towels (and if there’s any room left over, other bathroom supplies and toiletries). Get the instructions for this particular shelf at Homedit.
Stow Away Memories and Files
This particular example from Patchwork Harmony isn’t in an office space (and it spans the whole wall, so your ability to copy that depends on the space you’re working with) but it would totally work in a home office. Everything here is neatly tucked away in simple but pretty storage boxes, and since you don’t need things like old photos and important documents all the time, it won’t be a pain to store them so high up.
Take Advantage of the Entire Doorway
If you have the ability to really customize your home (this example might not work for you if you’re a renter) a built-in option like this one from Lauren Rubin Architecture lets you use not just the top of the door, but the entire door frame to store kitchen supplies and display decorative dishes and cookbooks.
Sneak In Extra Pantry or Closet Storage
You can squeeze even more space out of a small pantry or walk-in closet by adding shelves above the door. Sole Satisfcation used GRUNDTAL shelves from IKEA to add overhead space in their pantry, but this could work equally well with linens or accessories like shoes or bags in a closet.