The Good Design Journal
Before You Buy Another Basket: How to Choose the Right Storage for Your Home
Storage is often bought in the wrong order. We see a basket we like, check the dimensions and only afterwards decide what it might hold.
The useful question comes first: what is causing the mess? Shoes beside the door call for a different response than the small objects spread across a bedside table. One needs structure; the other may only need a boundary.
This guide works from the way you use those belongings back to the storage itself. We’ll look at when something should remain accessible and when it’s better contained, then match the solution to the habit behind the mess.
The aim is to give every rack, hook, box or basket a clear job before it comes home. Including, yes, that beautiful basket you already have your eye on.
Put Away but Still in View
Frequently used belongings are more likely to be put away when their place is visible and easy to reach. Shoes can go directly onto a rack, while a book stays upright on the shelf until you pick it up again.
Open storage gives these items a defined position without adding another lid, drawer or door to the routine.
DESIGNSTUFF FORMA Shoe Rack
With shoes, the action is immediate: off the foot and onto the rack. The FORMA Shoe Rack holds up to eight pairs across two wire-grid tiers, keeping the pairs you wear most within sight and off the floor.
Its 80cm width makes capacity obvious at a glance. Once shoes spill beyond it, the floor becomes the unofficial third tier.
FERM LIVING Lager Bookends
Books need a different kind of open storage. They’re already part of the room, so the task is to keep a shorter row upright and contained.
The Lager Bookends use two brushed-aluminium forms to support the books from either end. Each one stands 20cm high, with a geometric profile that remains visible on the shelf and gives the row a defined stopping point.
When You Know Where the Lamp Will Stay
Portable lighting is useful while placement is still flexible. However, once you know a console or sideboard needs light every evening, a corded lamp can take up more space and spread light across a wider part of the room.
This is where scale matters. The lamp needs to relate to the surface beneath it while leaving room for the objects used there every day.
BLACK BLAZE Ink Dish, Calacatta Viola
Sometimes the storage problem is no bigger than the things emptied from a pocket.
The BLACK BLAZE Ink Dish gives jewellery or keys a fixed position on a console or bedside table. Its 11cm square marble form contains a shallow circular well, so the boundary remains obvious even on a crowded surface. Calacatta Viola veining changes from piece to piece, giving each dish a different pattern.
How Much Needs to Hang?
Hanging storage is easiest to choose when you begin with the item that keeps being left out. One recurring bag may only need a hook placed where it’s usually removed. A larger collection of coats calls for more capacity, with the available wall or floor space determining the form it takes.
DESIGNSTUFF ARC Hook/Knob, 34mm
If the same tote keeps landing on the same chair, a full coat rack may be solving a problem you don’t have.
The 34mm ARC Hook/Knob creates one hanging point for an item with a predictable drop spot. Install it near the door for a bag or beside the shower for a robe, using the position to make putting the item away part of the action. Its compact size also allows more hooks to be added later if the need changes.
KRISTINA DAM STUDIO Column Coat Rack
When several items need to share the wall, the Column Coat Rack offers more hanging room across a compact width.
The oiled solid-oak design measures 20cm across and projects 5.5cm from the wall, which makes it particularly useful where the passage beside it needs to remain open. Its shape draws on conical pillars, with the black finish emphasising the row of rounded forms. Additional racks can be placed alongside it when more hanging space is required.
HAY Knit Coat Rack
A freestanding coat rack suits outerwear that needs a shared place, particularly when drilling into the wall isn’t practical or the furniture arrangement may change.
Designed by Jin Kuramoto, the Knit Coat Rack joins three powder-coated steel tubes with visible bolts. It stands 161.5cm high and occupies an area of roughly 50cm by 50cm, so it’s worth checking the floor space at full scale before ordering. The structure provides hanging points around the frame, allowing it to be approached from more than one side.
Know When a Lid Helps
A lidded box works best when you can name what belongs inside. If the answer is “anything small”, you may be creating another place to rummage through.
Once the contents are defined, think about how often you reach for them. Items used throughout the day are easier in the open, while those needed less often can sit behind a lid and leave the surface clear.
FERM LIVING Nova Storage Box Range
The Nova range lets the contents determine the size. Its compact formats suit smaller personal items, while the longer boxes provide more room for stationery or the loose pieces associated with a particular task.
Each box is made from FSC-certified bamboo with a high-gloss lacquered finish, available in Picante Red and Light Celedon. The colour gives the practical shape a decorative presence on a desk or shelf. Choose one size around a defined group of objects, so opening it gives you exactly what you came for.
FERM LIVING Pebble Box
The Pebble Box takes a more sculptural approach to concealed storage. Its glazed stoneware form draws on the rounded shapes of coastal pebbles, with the lid incorporated into the stacked profile.
Available in medium and large sizes at DESIGNSTUFF, it can sit on a shelf or bedside table as part of the objects already on display. Several sizes can also be stacked together, though the contents remain hidden once the lids are closed. This makes a clear purpose especially useful: you’ll want to remember exactly which pebble is holding what.
Will It Stay Put?
Before choosing a larger container, think about what happens once it’s full. Laundry has to reach the washing machine, so handles matter. Belongings kept beside the bed usually stay in the same area, which may justify storage built into the furniture itself.
ENKEL STUDIO Storage and Laundry Basket, Set of 2
When the contents move, the container should make carrying them easier.
The ENKEL STUDIO Storage and Laundry Baskets have a tall, open form with handles on both sides, allowing a full load to be lifted in one go. Each set includes two baskets measuring 31cm across and 34cm high, so they can be assigned separate roles instead of becoming one large home for unrelated belongings.
Their usefulness comes from following the task. The basket can collect laundry in the bedroom, then carry it directly to the washing machine when the time comes.
FERM LIVING Isola Storage Table
The Isola suits belongings that are put away and used in the same part of the room.
Its 35-litre compartment sits beneath a rattan lid, with the top providing a surface beside the bed or elsewhere in the home. At 50cm wide and 46cm high, it should be measured as a piece of furniture, especially if it will replace an existing side table.
That dual role is most useful when the same patch of floor needs to provide a surface and concealed storage. The position is permanent, so the contents should belong to the part of the room around it.
Before It Comes Home
Finding storage you like is the easy part. Before checkout, ask what it will change once it comes home.
Do I need more storage, or do I have too much stuff?
Look first at what has nowhere useful to go.
If an item is used regularly and gets left out because there’s no sensible place to return it, new storage may solve the problem. If the cupboards are already full of things you rarely touch, going through their contents will give you a more accurate idea of what remains and how much room it needs.
Storage works best once you know which belongings have earned the space.
Should I choose open or closed storage?
Think about what happens each time you use the item.
Open storage suits belongings that are picked up and returned frequently, because the action stays direct. A lid or door can help when a group of smaller objects looks untidy together and you already know what belongs inside.
The useful test is whether seeing the contents helps you put them away. Reddit discussions around practical organisation repeatedly favour systems that reduce effort in daily use over containers chosen for appearance alone.
How do I stop a basket becoming a junk basket?
Decide on its contents before choosing its position.
“Charging cables beside the desk” gives the basket a usable role. “Miscellaneous” usually means the sorting decision has been postponed.
When unrelated objects begin sharing the same container, empty it and assign the contents again. The basket may need a narrower job, or some of what has collected there may no longer need storing.
How do I choose storage for a small home?
Begin with the smallest solution that removes the problem.
One bag left on a chair may need a hook. Several coats require more hanging capacity. A storage table is worth its footprint when you already need a surface in that position.
This keeps the decision tied to the available space, instead of treating every storage problem as a reason to add another cabinet.
What storage works in a rental?
Freestanding racks, baskets and storage furniture can be introduced without altering the property.
Wall-mounted hooks and racks need a closer look at the tenancy agreement. Australian rules vary by state and by the type of fixing involved, so check the lease and seek written approval where it’s required before drilling.
How do I know what size storage to buy?
Measure the contents as well as the available space.
Count the shoes intended for the rack. Stand the books together before choosing the bookends. Gather the smaller objects before deciding which box will hold them.
Choose capacity around what belongs there now. A large amount of spare room can quickly attract objects that were never part of the original plan.
Now You Can Buy the Basket
We’d never tell you to stop buying beautiful storage. That would be deeply hypocritical.
Just give it a job before it comes home. Decide what it will hold and how you’ll use it, then choose the form that supports the habit you’re trying to create.
So yes, buy the basket. Just make sure it solves the mess you already have, instead of becoming part of it.
Keep this guide bookmarked for the next time an irresistible storage piece starts making promises. When you’re ready to find one with a genuine role in your home, the button below will take you there.
