When we moved into our little rental, we knew we would have to come up with some super creative storage ideas. In the room that belongs to Baby Wagon, there is one tiny closet and absolutely no space for more furniture after we placed the crib and dresser and changing table in there.
The problem is, I LOVE books, and in order to foster that same love in my little one, she needed to have books at her level, without taking up too much precious space.
Therefore, a bookcase was out of the question.
To Pinterest, I went and found some great ideas that didn’t take up much room, but most of them involved drilling into the wall, which I am uncomfortable doing, as we are renting our house.
I ended up using this tutorial from Penny Carnival with a few modifications so I could hang them from Command Hooks (which are one of my favorite rental home DIY accessories). I also took several liberties with the sewing, and measurements, as I was doing it by hand, and had random wall measurements to work with.
DIY Book Storage – How-To
For this DIY project, I used 3 yards of fabric, six 1/2′ dowels, ribbon, and of course, Command Hooks. I sewed the fabric to form a tube and hemmed down all the edges. I then cut my dowels to size and threaded them through the fabric and folded it in half to create a file, or pocket, if you will.
Following this, I created 3 inch loops in six pieces of ribbon, to loop the dowels through and hang from my hooks. They can be sewed, but since I was unsure of the exact measurements I needed, I knotted them instead. I added them to the end of the dowels and presto! Hanging book display magic!
This is so much better, and I’m really pleased with how they came out.
I even managed to fit some space for books behind her door where there is maybe three inches of space!
Baby Wagon loves that there are books at her level now. She constantly brings me books to read to her, and it’s now a favorite bed time ritual. Because she does have a ton of books, we make sure to rotate them every month or so, so we dot get bored.
Do you have any other space saving ideas for small rental homes? Let us know!
