A place for everything

Spaced out? Ten storage secrets

Architect Jonathan Clark admits that the more storage space you have, the greater the temptation to hoard. It can prove self-defeating: you equip your home with plenty of cupboards only to see them quickly fill up. But even the most diligent hoarder would be hard-pushed to exhaust the storage space in Clark's Maida Vale home, where discreet white cupboards line one wall while others, in a moody black American walnut, run floor-to-ceiling in the bedroom and kitchen. To say nothing of nifty cubbyholes built into bathroom shelves for storing such unsightly clutter as hairdryers, or a narrow table behind a glam, mushroom-coloured sofa in the living area to accommodate the style magazines pored over by Clark and his wife, Rashna, art director of House & Garden.

'I'm a total hoarder,' confesses Clark, before gallantly crediting Rashna with being 'more tidy and practical'. Indeed, Rashna has managed to fit an entire home office, iMac and all, in one of the white cupboards. To use it, she opens the cupboard and pulls up a chair.

But these storage systems only came into being after Clark made radical changes. Rather impressively, his projects have included stadia for the Sydney Olympics, work for Future Systems' Media Centre at Lord's and for swish Covent Garden boutique hotel West Street. Not that the smaller-scale alterations to his home were a doddle. 'The place had been converted in the Eighties into a cramped, gloomy, three-bed flat with partitions and dropped ceilings,' recalls Clark, who was hellbent on transforming it into a one-bed.

The couple wanted their flat (bought two years ago) to be filled with light. 'We were looking for a first-floor flat. They tend to have high ceilings and tall windows,' says Rashna. Not that she'd bargained on Clark ripping out their new home's extraneous partitions and low ceilings and installing a massive steel structure to support the floors above. Indeed, Clark shows me a snap of Rashna staring incredulously at steel girders being shoved through the windows. In the event, Operation Steelwork was glitch-free: 'A structural engineer oversaw the whole thing and it all went like clockwork.'

Once the original lofty ceilings had been restored, Clark installed horizontal planes of plasterboard around the edges of the living room, almost at ceiling height, to create visual interest. These prevent you seeing where walls end, fostering an illusion of greater space. A dining area can convert into a spare bedroom, thanks to a full-height, sound-insulated door that swings round and closes off the space. A bed is stored in a cupboard near Rashna's 'office'. Opposite, a walnut panel doubles as a bedhead. A sense of space is created by etched-glass panels as well as 'vistas' - slender gaps between walls allowing you to peer into the adjoining room. These also mean that the couple can chat to each other more easily when they're in different spaces.

Most - but not all - of Clark's storage ideas were designed to squirrel away specific items. He dreamed up a large cabinet for CDs and booze. The row of white cupboards incorporates a space tailor-made for a stepladder. There's a logic to the kitchen units, too. Those at near-ceiling height store rarely used utensils; those at head and waist height house frequently used ones. Dishwasher and washer/dryer are concealed behind walnut doors. Two cubbyholes set into mosaic-tile shelves in the bathrooms (which separate the bedroom from the living area) keep toiletries out of sight. Opposite one of the bathrooms is a walk-in wardrobe. More clothes can be stashed in the bedroom's floor-to-ceiling cupboards and a unit built into the bedhead.

Some possessions are stored in no particular order, however. Clark deliberately retained one of the old flat's dropped ceilings above both bathrooms to create a cosier environment. Part of this low ceiling penetrates the bedroom, providing a 5ft x 11ft platform for storage. A TV perches on its edge. Behind it is a jumble of suitcases, old files, and, say self-confessed magazine junkies Jonathan and Rashna, an ever-expanding collection of glossies.

'In all honesty, a lot of stuff there should go to a car-boot sale,' admits Clark, a little embarrassed about this out-of-sight, out-of-mind clutter. But why bother when you have what must be every hoarder's dream - plenty of good cupboards.

Jonathan Clark Architects: 020 7286 5676