Most people think of their closets, pantries, mudrooms and laundry rooms as storage space – not as part of the furnishings of their home. In most cases, the standard is some wire racks or maybe a rod with a single wooden shelf above it. It doesn’t have to be that way. Today’s storage systems offer the opportunity to make your space more useful and efficient, while also increasing the aesthetic appeal of your home.

Take the pantry, as an example. For many people, it’s a reach-in closet or small room that’s used to store foods, linens, utensils and pots and pans. Shelves are typically locked into place, too small to handle cereal boxes and much too big for canned vegetables. The feet of the electric frying pan are constantly getting stuck in the gaps of the wire shelving. An updated pantry can give you a world of choices: adjustable wooden shelves that keep your things from falling through and can be changed as your needs change, wire baskets for onions and potatoes, racks for wine storage, and much more. Best of all, you have style and color choices, everything from clean and efficient white to rich wood grains.

Here in Maine, laundry and mudrooms are also prime candidates for a makeover. In the mudroom, those wire baskets that work so well for onions and potatoes are just great for the kids’ mittens and gloves. Shoe shelving keeps you from tripping on all the footwear that tends to gravitate toward the back door. Style choices are almost endless, from neat and efficient cubbies to replicas of the locker room of your favorite sports team. In the laundry, the addition of a folding station helps maintain efficiency, while cabinets with raised panel doors provide an attractive way to keep detergents and fabric softeners out of view. The addition of hanging or valet rods give you the option of drying delicate or permanent press items right in the laundry room. With enough space, you can even add a pull down ironing board or one that tucks neatly into a drawer.

These are just a few of your alternatives. Armoires for the bedroom, pull down beds that let you turn that guest bedroom into a home office, pull out spice racks tucked into the kitchen the list is limited only by your imagination. After all, who says storage can’t be efficient and attractive?

FMI, contact Walter Munsen, Closet Factory at 1-877-854-6538 or visit www.closetfactory.com.