These days everyone is looking for innovative ways to make the most out of their space. They look high and low, deep in the dark recesses of cabinets, cupboards, and pantries, oh my!

Yet one of the most obvious and easiest places to create copious amounts of customized functional storage is right behind the door. Sure, you’ve probably seen a shoe bag or two hanging behind a laundry room door, though this isn’t the only door worthy of installing innovative organization solutions for modern-day living. Just about any door can be transformed as a great way to make the most out of your available space.

This includes:

  • Bedroom doors
  • Kitchen cabinet
  • Bathroom medicine cabinet doors
  • Playroom doors
  • Laundry room
  • Hall closets
  • Garage & lawn shed

With so many doors to choose from, chances are you can use one of the following behind-the-door organization ideas to free up more living space in just about any room of your home.

Magnetic Strips & Velcro On Kitchen Cabinet Doors

These days salt and pepper just don’t cut it for passionate foodies who need to feed their seasoning obsessions. Thankfully modern-day magnets and fasteners have evolved to help you hold a myriad of kitchen equipment and spices.

Magnetic Strips For Cutlery & Metallic Items

Magnet manufacturers have come a long way in the last two decades to create magnetic strips that are far more powerful than the traditional kitchen refrigerator magnets. When mounted on the backside of a kitchen cabinet door, some are even strong enough to hold knives, peelers, and other metallic kitchen hand tools. This can free up a lot of space that might otherwise be eaten up by knife blocks and kitchen “Junk Drawers.”

Velcro For Lightweight Containers

There is nothing worse than the chaos of a disorganized spice cabinet when you are looking for just the right seasoning with a hot pan on the stove. Sure you can put them in a lazy Susan or a rotating spice rack, but that will eat up a ton of counter space.

One easy solution is to get some cheap, long strips of hook & loop Velcro. They have adhesive backers that let you stick the hook side to a lightweight seasoning container and a loop side stuck to the inside of a kitchen cabinet door. This lets you see and find what you need at a moment’s notice, without losing precious square inches in a kitchen cabinet or countertop.

Bedroom & Closet Doors For Functional Footwear

Even if you are a “Sneaker Head” or avid “Shoe Collector,” chances are good you still have a dozen or so pairs of functional shoes and boots for everyday wear. You wouldn’t want the tennis shoes or muddy hiking boots you wear when walking the dog to intermingle with some of your prestige pairs. Yet you still need to keep them where you can grab them when nature calls for Fido.

A behind-the-door shoe rack or shoe pouches can be used to hold a dozen or so pairs of functional footwear, without having them cluttering up your home’s entryway. You can put it behind your walk-in closet door, shoe closet door, or the foyer closet. They work, just about anywhere you need to keep shoes.

Medicine Cabinets & Bathroom Closets

A bathroom is a place where people need to keep a wide array of personal items. Though some are a little sensitive, or you simply don’t want them getting tangled up with random medications, curling irons, and other general hygiene supplies.

Placing simple Velcro strips behind medicine cabinet doors and bathroom cabinets lets everyone in your family stick away items that matter to them. If anything, it can go a long way toward preventing each person’s dental floss from tangling together. When something runs out, you can toss it away without worrying about losing the cost of a penny or two of Velcro.

Hooks, Hooks Everywhere When Not A Hanger To Hold

The ugly truth is that while hangers can help prevent wrinkles, they still take up a lot of space. Kids and spouses in a rush also have a bad habit of slopping their jackets, sweaters, and hoodies onto a hanger in the hall or entryway closet, only to have it tumble down to the floor, where you can trip on it later.

In reality, there are a lot of casual coats, jackets, backpacks, purses, and sweaters that don’t need to be hung on a traditional hanger. Hooks with traditional hardware fasteners or heavy-duty contact adhesive, attached to the back of foyer closet doors, will help give these everyday items their own place, while also encouraging everyone in your family to use them. It also frees up hanger space in the rest of your closets for items that truly do need to be hung up.

Lightweight Necklace & Scarf Hooks

The “Chunky Scarf” revolution took the world by storm and continues on to this day. Though these zephyr forms of neckwear don’t do well when crammed in drawers or pressed between hanging jackets.

Lightweight hooks with contact adhesive fasteners can be attached to the back of just about any closet, wardrobe, or walk-in closet door. This gives you a great place to hang chunky scarves, everyday-wear necklaces, and other light types of neckwear.

Behind Door Racks In The Laundry Room

A lot of laundry rooms are challenged for functional storage space. Especially if your laundry room also doubles as the furnace or utility room. Fortunately, wire storage racks have evolved to save the day. They are incredibly lightweight, yet the fasteners that hold them behind the laundry room door are robust enough to hold a staggering array of items. This can include things like:

  • Scent boosters
  • Dryer sheets
  • Color savers
  • Stain removers
  • Bleach
  • Detergent pods
  • No Door Left Behind

When you stop and think about it, your home has a lot of doors, with an awful lot of unused storage space just waiting to be utilized. With some simple hooks, Velcro tabs, magnetic strips, or hanging organizers, you can keep things organized while also freeing up more precious square inches in other important storage areas.