Tack Room Storage Ideas?

[Winding_Down]

I have a very small tack room with an enormous amount of stuff, and I really need to make this work. I used to have 5-8 horses in at a time but I have downsized to two of my own and one in training. It is time to let go of some of that leather.

Tack room is 8x8 with high ceilings. One side has five saddle racks - lovely old wood, not going anywhere. One side has bridles, the third side has extra equipment, leather stuff main, and the entrance side has a shelf on one side and the saddle racks overtaking the other. I also have a glorious bit collection spanning two rows around three of the walls, up high.

So I need to get ideas on space efficient shelving, trunks, and what not. I also have way too many tall boots (hunt boots, cubbing boots, winter boots, dressage boots, field boots) and have purchased boot racks that will eventually go somewhere.

Trunks? Shelving? Websites? I have looked on Pinterest and gotten a sense of direction.

I also have two storage buildings for way too many blankets but how can you discard a blanket that may fit a future horse? Same with halters, girths, and more. I need ideas on how to store blankets (different racks, home-made designs?) and ways to hang girths economically.

Ideas, projects, websites, designs… most welcome!

[ElementFarm]

I use a ton of the big rubbermaid bins.
I try to get the same one or two models, so they all stack well and stably (is that a word?) and any unused boxes all nest and take minimal room.

I use big ones for extra bridles, one for halters, some for various types of saddle pads, and all the blankets, sheets, etc, get folded up and put in those. I label everything (a label maker works, or I use sharpie on stick on printer labels – just don’t write directly on the boxes). Everything is labeled in detail (size, color, brand, etc) so I can directly find what I’m looking for and open just the one, correct box.
I keep a stack of the boxes I use least in a closet in the house. The boxes I use more (the in-season blankets, saddle pads, etc) are stacked in the barn, along one wall, with shelves and cabinets overhead. The cabinets have fly sprays, shampoos, vet stuff, tack cleaning, etc and again, all shelves are labeled so it’s easy to find where stuff is.
To keep bits organized and prevent them from getting tangled (I have a bit addiction, and I have quite the collection) I use the white/clear plastic drawers from Target/wallmart/etc. I use the top drawer for accessories (curb chains, lip straps, bit loops, hole punch, ruler --for measuring bits, and misc ear poms, etc.) The next drawer down is for D rings, the next one, full cheeks, the bottom one for “other” like loose rings, 3-rings, hackamore. It’s heavy to move when full, but I can just pull open a labeled drawer and find the bit I need. And it takes minimum space while maximizing accessibility.

So, in your case, you may not need as many saddle racks now that you have fewer horses. Maybe take down the non ‘lovely old wood’ ones and use that wall for shelves? You can keep boots (people and horse boots) in rubber tubs.
Again, you can store the girths, old blankets, etc that you don’t need now in tubs and stack them. Put the tubs you use least often on the bottom of the stacks. I have an amazing amount of stuff, but through my stacking tub method, it takes a surprisingly small amount of space. The bigger issue is keeping the ‘every day’ stuff accessible in the tackroom, and we keep getting more horses. But so far it’s working. Try drawing it out on scrap paper – you can see how things will fit and the trick is to keep specific stuff you use regularly at arms reach, and put the seldom used stuff on the bottoms/in corners/up high.

[Schatzi09]

I have a ton of girths - some in current use and others that I might need again some day. I have a small area to hang them so I attached a piece of baling twine to a double ended snap and loop the twine over a hook on the wall. The girth gets attached to the other end of the snap. One hook holds 10+ girths. I do let my girths air dry before hanging them up since they do lay on top of each other. So far it’s working!

[Blume_Farm]

I have two of these:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/omar-shelving-unit__30461_PE118905_S4.JPG

Then bought a bunch of plastic bins at Walmart. The bins are organized by items, labeled and stored on the shelves. I take all blankets/sheets/etc not in use and after cleaning place them in those bags that you vacuum the air out of so they are super flat. I can then store a ton of blankets stacked on the other shelving unit. I hand “S” hooks on the sides of the shelving units to hand some strap good. I also hand spray bottles on the edges of the shelves. The fact that they are metal wire are really handy for hanging all these things and don’t collect dust like solid shelves. Lastly they have wheels on them so periodically I wheel them out to sweep underneath.

[tpup]

Go to Pinterest.com and Houzz.com for ideas. Type different things to search on “small tack room storage ideas”, “tack room storage”, etc.

[keysfins]

You could also take a photo of the contents of any container/tub and include that on the label. And/or number the containers and keep a list of what is in each.

There is good and bad about transparent tubs vs. “closed” tubs. Transparent: you can see what’s in there, but that alone might mke the space look cluttered. “Closed” or opaque tubs look neater, but then you don’t see what is in them and you might either forget what you already have, or waste time trying to find something.

If you are having twangs about not wanting to part with things, like blankets that might fit a future horse, think about liberating those things now. Styles change, technology changes, and there might be someone who can use those items now. The longer you keep them, the greater the chance for damage, mold, fittings rusting, etc. and you’d have to replace the item anyway.

Some ‘professional organizers’ say you should take photos of things you find hard to part with, so you will always have those items with you.

I speak from seeing boxes and boxes of halters thrown together, hardware parts of strap goods rusting together and unusable, panic clips from crossties cut off in a bucket (why???!), twenty year old polos and bandages, ancient buckets that are so brittle they break if you move them, dry piles of stirrup leathers, etc. Better to have fewer, quality items and keep them serviceable with annual cleaning and inventory, than to be overwhelmed by what might seem like piles of leather spaghetti!

But save those double ended snaps, especially the brass or stainless ones. You can never have too many of those.

[keysfins]

Schneiders has some nifty storage aids that make use of racks mounted to a wall. I think it is their EZ Up system. We use them at shows, but they can also be mounted permanently. (SSTack.com)

[SallyE]

If you want to hold on to the blankets that don’t work for your current horses, perhaps storing them in vaccu-sealed bags could work. They would be protected from dust and would take up much less space. From there you could tuck them into a bin or trunk for storage.

If you put only blankets of the same size in each bag and label the contents, you won’t have to worry about sorting them later.

Sally Engdahl
www.KaiserBuilds.com

[betsyk]

My approach has always been to keep the things I use every day front-and-center, and store the rest. So your girth collection could be sorted into Rubbermaid totes, labeled and stored because you’ll only to go that collection a couple times a year. The everyday saddle pads get left out; the show pads get their own tote with other show-only stuff, stored in a moderately accessible location, depending on how often you need them. Clean everything before you put it away, and keep the pieces together.

Laundry baskets might also be an answer to storing things like wraps and horse boots, things that might get used more than once before washing and could be damp. My dream tack room would have deep shelves for holding labeled totes or Smartpack-style drawers or plastic or metal baskets, and lots of hooks for hanging things that get used all the time. It would also have a fan, because if a heater or dehumidifier wasn’t going to be an option, I’d want something that could circulate a lot of air to keep things from getting moldy - another reason for not packing things in too tightly!

[Jarpur]

I have a couple of these side by side in my tack room: http://www.amazon.com/Sterilite-01748501-4-Drawer-Handles-Platinum/dp/B0006O0EF6/ref=sr_1_4/189-7018581-6449001?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1437082458&sr=1-4&keywords=sterilite+storage+drawer

They worked great at corralling the extra girths, fly masks, boots, etc., with the added benefit that I can use the top surface as a workspace.

[Libby2563]

Since you have a high ceiling, consider mounting wire shelving 12-18" from the ceiling, which is typically unused space (not sure if it would interfere with your bit collection). I have that across one wall of my tack room and use it for spare blankets and whatnot. A barn I was at in the past had a similar setup with wood shelves and boarders stored extra equipment up there.

[Lord_Helpus]

I haven’t read all suggestions, but I have bought 6x (2’ wide) panels of the 2" x 2" gridwalls.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=gridwall+panels

You can get hooks, baskets, etc. to fit on the grids. My tackroom is the same size as yours and I could not live without the gridwalls.

Recommendations: Do not waste space/money on the short hooks. The long hooks are strong enough to be overloaded (10x girths is easy for 1 hook)

And the shallow baskets are invaluable for the smaller stuff (gloves/spurs) and deep bin for shin boots, another one for leg wraps. Seriously, they are the way to go.

[lorilu]

I recently saw a small tack room that had bifold doors on one side making a
“closet” behind them. The shelves behind the doors were arranged as needed, with bins on the shelves. Looked very tidy when closed.

[redsoxluvr]

Check out the Organized Barn and Trailer. They have some really great storage solutions. I did my tack room for about $60. The owner is really helpful if you need help coming up with a solution that works for you.