Small Space Saturday: Hooks

On Saturdays I write about strategies for living in 300 square feet

Hooks are a great way to make use of small or narrow storage areas. They also can help control clutter by supplying a "place for everything and everything in its place."

Because of Odyssey's unusual layout, we have a wall right behind our driving positions. We installed a couple of hooks there and they hold hats, umbrellas, and jackets. Sean's hats are starting to overwhelm his hook, so I'm thinking about adding another one to the right of this one and slightly higher up. That space right above the seat isn't being used at all otherwise.



In most rigs, there is either a slideout walls or nothing behind the seats, but what about the wall space to the sides? Any room there for a nice hook to store hats?

In the bedroom, we have a wall that faces the back of the coach. This is the aisle to walk around the end of the bed, so there is no room for a cabinet. A couple of hooks, though, don't take up any space. We hang clothing that's been worn but isn't dirty enough to be washed yet here. It can't be seen from the rest of the bus and helps keep piles of clothes from appearing on the bed or bedside tables. Brushing up against this clothing while walking around the bed isn't a problem.



Doesn't that look neat and tidy? Of course, I removed three other pairs of pants, a sweater, a scarf, my ratty exercise t-shirt, and two miscellaneous bungee cords from the hooks before taking the photo. You could barely see the hooks otherwise!

For these permanent hook installations, we chose brushed nickel hardware to match our color scheme. Nice hooks are available in bright nickel, brass, white, and black to complement any RV interior. I've even seen a few special colors like blue and green. Hardware stores are much less expensive and have a much better selection than RV parts sources.

These plastic hooks are not permanent, and are designed to be used over a door. They're really versatile. When we have something really wet to hang up, like bathing suits, I put the hook inside the shower so the water drips into the drain. If we're parked near the ocean and have our beach towels out, I flip the hooks to the outside of the shower so the towels are easy to grab. If I want to hide the beach towels, I put the hooks on the inside of the bathroom door.



These clear plastic ones practically disappear visually, so I don't mind them living in the shower enclosure most of the time. The dark circle you see on them is a rubber bumper foot, the kind that usually sticks on the bottom of something you don't want to slide around. The hook is designed for a standard household door, so it is a little loose on our doors. The bumper keeps it from rattling around too much.

I have at least three other locations in the bus where I am thinking about putting hooks. For me, the tradeoff to consider is whether having stuff hanging around on hooks is too much visual clutter. I look for hidden, unused small spaces and think if a hook would solve a storage problem. I'm particularly fond of them inside closet and cabinet doors for that reason.

I'll share some of our basement storage hook solutions in another post.