We asked Cocoon Home Therapy to be our storage and organisation guest experts. They are a down to earth, friendly and affordable alternative to hiring an interior designer. Their mission is to style the joy into their clients' everyday lives, so that they leave them feeling energised, happier and above all, ‘at home’.

We are often asked by our clients about storage, and I would say our three most common requests are:
1. Where to store coats and shoes so that the hallway doesn’t become cluttered?
2. How to hide away the kids toys so as to enjoy the living room in peace at the end of the day?
3. How to gain more storage in a master bedroom?

The challenge with storage is that our homes are often smaller than we might like and don’t allow for bulky free standing cupboards to hide things away. Plus as our families grow, so does the clutter that comes along with them. So here are some storage solutions that solve these dilemmas without compromising on style."

The first thing to say is that a bespoke built in solution always maximises storage in any given space as you can use up every nook and cranny with shelving for shoes and bags and hooks or cupboards for coats.
However, where space and/or budgets don’t allow for this there a many simple free-standing pieces that offer a similarly practical yet beautiful solution. Vintage wire shelves are great for placing your keys and phone as you come through the door, and wooden crates are a stylish and characterful way to hide away shoes, and pretty woven baskets that tie in with the colour scheme in your room are ideal for storing scarves, gloves and hats- one per family member is usually a good idea! And do make the most of your walls; pretty hooks can be used to hang up your coats, and you can hang your baskets here too to save on floor space. Lastly, a small hallway bench seat is always a pretty and practical storage feature; it provides somewhere to perch whilst putting on your shoes, and a lift up seat lid to hide your winter coats come summer or summer shoes / buckets & spades in winter, for example.

We are big fans of the footstool, not only because you can sit down at the end of the day and put your feet up on them, but you can also place a tray on top of them to rest a drink, thereby functioning more as a coffee table. They bring a feeling of comfort and relaxation into a living room and also provide an opportunity to cover in a favourite fabric. But crucially in our quest for storage there are some lovely pieces that have a lift-up lid and open up to reveal an empty box to store the kids’ books, toys, jigsaws and board-games. For these reasons we always urge our clients to upgrade from a coffee table to a more practical and beautiful footstool with storage.

Once again, baskets have an important role to play in hiding way unsightly plastic toys or overly colourful DVDs in a living room; select a style that suits your personality and room scheme and enjoy looking at that, rather than the neon plastic within. These are ideal for sitting within a bookcase or media unit, or indeed can stand along on the floor next to your sofa.

An end of bed ottoman is a great storage opportunity; they provide a little glamour and sophistication to a bedroom and are ideal for storing shoes, a handbag collection, or extra bedding. Wall hooks are also ideal for bedrooms, you can hang a basket off one containing your scarfs or ties, and necklaces off an other. Hang a trailing plant off a third to create a pretty feature.
Finally, make the most of the concealed space under your bed with under-bed drawers or vacu-packed bags; this is the one storage solution that need not be beautiful! Pack a plastic drawer on casters or line a shallow wicker box with paper and then carefully fold away your summer/ winter clothes or clothes that one child has outgrown until the next is ready for them. They are out of sight but stored safely until you need them once more.

Check out Cocoon Home Therapy’s Instagram page to get inspired and find new storage ideas! Get creative and use the multitude of shapes, sizes, and colour options to create a neatly organised haven of your own.