4 DIY Living Room Storage Furniture Projects You Can Easily Make at Home

The living room is the power house of the home. It's where you entertain and often bring guests, but also is probably where your family spends a lot of their time together.

You might use a living room to sit and chat, to watch TV, or to lay back and relax. It has a lot of uses.

And sometimes family rooms need to store a lot of stuff. This could be extra blankets and pillows, board games and puzzles, or general household supplies. But these are usually not things you want to have on full display all the time and you'd rather have hidden away for the specific times that you need them.

Today I want to chat about hidden storage in the living room - and furniture that you can build to pack more furniture into your family's space! Figure out what you need to store, then build your own solution to your problem!

How do I optimize my living room storage?

Whether you have a small living room or plenty of space, the best way to optimize your storage is with double-duty furniture. This includes pieces like ottomans that open to hold blankets, TV stands with cabinets for electronics, or display shelves with built in cabinetry.

Additionally, you want to make use of vertical space. This could be on top of a cabinet, along an open wall, or even under the couch. Think out of the box and see where you can fit in a little something extra.

Finally, when in doubt - go with bins. Solid (non-transparent) bins and baskets are your best bet for living room storage. You can put them on a shelf, in a cabinet, or even in the open. But, they help to contain and organize mess and keep it out of sight!

And while there are lots of great organization options available for purchase, it's never likely that it's going to be EXACTLY perfect for your situation. So why not take a shot at building storage yourself to get the exact system you need!

Best DIY living room storage furniture projects

Here are some of my favorite tutorials for storage furniture that you can make for your living room!

DIY media console/side table with tile top

This side table has a pop-off front - making it perfect for hidden storage of electronics! It works great as a media console, but can be used as a side table for book storage.

When you look inside, this one is divided for a tall router, and two horizontal TV boxes. But your situation could be different and you could change the inside layout to fit exactly what you need.

The rattan front doubles as a way to let your remote control signal through and also keeps the space from getting overheated (the back is open too for this purpose and for cords to get in.

Plus, the tile top on this furniture is a beautiful way to customize your piece by allowing you to choose a piece of tile to match your nearby kitchen or floor!

Easy DIY coastal console table

A console table is a great way to add storage to a narrow area. This one has a lower shelf, perfect for bins or baskets!

While a console table is generally open-concept, you can still use it to neatly store items you need a lot of access to. A console table is typically inside a hallway or behind a couch where you pass frequently and need easy access to items.

The great thing about building a console table is that you can stain or paint it to perfectly match your aesthetic. Go for a two-toned look by staining the top a different color from the bottom, or make it all one color!

DIY dowel rod bookshelf

We made these small shelves with plywood and dowel rods to go under the bar overhand on our peninsula. They are perfect for storing toys in the living room!

You can adjust this style shelf to be as long as you need it because you're going to have supports along the way with the dowels. The dowels give a softer, rounded feel versus harsher straight angles and lines.

DIY plant stand with hanging bar

If it's plants you need to store, add a vertical plant shelf with tiered shelves to hold different size pots, plus use the hanging bar for trailing vines! You might be the kind of person with only a few potted plants, but other crazy people like us might have a lot. So they need to be neatly stored and displayed.

A plant stand like this one keeps your plants neat and tidy and really looking lush all in one place. This is a tall piece of furniture too, so it really takes advantage of vertical height you might not otherwise use.

There's lots of other great DIY living room storage solutions that could help you with your specific needs. If you're looking for storage ottomans, bench seat storage or more, there's bound to be a DIY solution for you!