Surprises in Storage: 14 Clever Compartments & Organizers

Storage Staircase

storage staircase

Taking advantage of vertical height in a room for storage can require step stools or even library-style ladders. This piece of furniture actually acts as its own staircase to the highest volumes that are out of reach when you’re on the ground, the bottom drawers pulling out like steps.

Strange Expanding Dresser

storage expanding dresser 1 storage expanding dresser 2

Before you can find everything tucked within its compartments, you’ll have to play around with the way everything opens, sliding things out in different directions. Designer Martin Saemmer intentionally makes the process of retrieving items more complicated and time-consuming to put a priority on the looks of the piece rather than hyper-functionality.

Portable Living Room

storage portable living room

This single volume contains a bookcase, room divider, table, couch, pull-out foot rests and drawers for storage. The mobile all-in-one living room by Nils Holger Moorman makes the most of a small space, and could alternately be used as a luxury furniture item on the beach or in other outdoor spaces.

Experimental Modular Storage Unit

storage experimental modular

Stack a bunch of blocks with oddly-shaped cutouts in whatever configuration makes the most sense for you with ‘ROOM Collection’ by designers Kyuhyung Cho and Erik Olovsson. The unit consists of 25 individual modular parts that can be moved around however you like; each has an opening suitable for a different kind of object you want to put on display.

Hallway Secrecy Table

Storage standing desk

What designer Daniel Schofield describes as a ‘hallway secrecy table’ could also be used as a sitting or standing desk, depending on how high you mount it to the wall. It looks like one solid piece from the outside, but when you pull it out, it reveals a bunch of storage compartments for paperwork and electronics.