Finding a place for all those little bits

When you live in a small place, you may find that you have more stuff than you have space to store it away. So, hide away everything that really is ugly and then look for interesting ways to display everything else. 

Before you go out and buy another new bland container to hold the kids' crayons, kitchen utensils or toothbrushes, think about whether you already have something that could do the job, and in a much more visually interesting way too. In our kitchen, I turned this giant wine glass into a funky container for serving spoons, etc.

And when the last occupant of this fish bowl swam off to new shores, our hair accessories moved in. 

This vase now contains our crayon collection. So much more attractive than the old ice-cream container that they used to live in.

And this cute light bulb vase looks great filled with colourful buttons and knitting needles. Things that would normally take up space in a cupboard or drawer, become almost a piece of artwork in their own right.

Read on Where to put all those toys

What do you think of these innovative containers? Have you come up with any interesting open storage solutions? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.