5 Stylish Ways To Store Your Printer

If you work from home, there are a number of things that could break your concentration. A phone call at the wrong time could make you lose your train of thought, the view outside your window could distract you from your work, and excess clutter could make it difficult to focus.

Something else could also be hindering your productivity, and almost everyone has it in their home office – a printer. While often necessary for a number of tasks, printers can be loud and bulky. Office Depot notes that they often take away from the overall style of the room. And, because a printer is quite large, it could be hogging lots of space on your desk, which could make your office feel claustrophobic. 

If you think your printer is hindering your work environment, you may want to store it away. However, at the same time, if you use it often, it needs to be easily accessible. With this in mind, below are five aesthetic and functional ways to store your printer.

If you're sick of seeing your printer out in the open, you could hide it behind closed doors, like in the wooden closet above. Closets To Adore says that creating a hidden printer station would minimize noise, limit distractions, and help you focus. It's also an easy way to create more room on your desk. And, keeping the printer in the closet would allow you to store the ink cartridges and paper right next to the device, which could help you stay organized.

Yellow Brick Home suggests placing this large device on a small wheelie cart on the floor of the closet. This would allow it to be stored away when not in use and accessible when needed. To make the printer fit, you may need to rearrange some of your shelves. If you don't have an outlet in the closet, you could run an extension cord or keep the printer unplugged when not in use.

Another place you could keep your printer is in your desk. Office Depot says that this solution will remove your printer from direct eyesight while still keeping it within a reachable distance. To store this device in your desk, you would need a large furniture piece with multiple shelves or drawers. Walmart has an option that leaves the printer out in the open, but you could also choose to hide it away in a drawer.

Jen Woodhouse places her bulky device behind two faux drawers within a desk. To allow for the most accessibility, she made some DIY adjustments to their desk's design. She added a slide-out tray, cut a hole out of the back panel for the power cords, and changed the drawer's door hinges so that it can open 180 degrees.

You could also place the printer inside a pull-out drawer, as long as you leave enough space for the paper to come out. Or, you could turn your home appliance so the paper exits the drawer from the side. Another option is to choose a desk with a built-in shelving unit. While this would keep the printer out in the open, it would also provide you with more space on your desk.

You could also store your printer inside a cabinet, such as the gray furniture piece above. The DIY Playbook does this in their home office and tucks the printer away at the very bottom of the cabinet. This leaves the rest of the space in the piece for other office supplies. 

When doing this, it may be best to choose a cabinet or hutch that has adjustable shelves, as you may need more space for your printer than for other items. Additionally, if you often use the top of your printer for scanning, you could leave extra room above the device. Closet Works suggests using a pull-out shelf, which would make the printer reachable from all sides.

Some may be concerned about this home appliance overheating in such a small area. The DIY Playbook says that they've never had any issues, but they also only use their device a few times a week. If you print things often, you may want to choose a different storage solution.

Girl, Just DIY! says that a rolling cart is a great solution for those who don't want their printer either on their desk or hidden away. Many of these carts come with extra shelves or drawers to store additional items. Because of this, Nerd Techy says that a rolling cart would improve the aesthetics of your room while also helping you stay organized. You could either choose one that looks like a functional piece of furniture, such as the design above, or one that's purely made for functionality. If you decide upon this option, Amazon has a range of stands you could check out.

As recommended by Office Depot, this cart could either be stored underneath your desk or in the corner of the room. If you use your printer often, you could keep it next to your desk during the day and return it to the corner at night.

Sometimes moving your printer just isn't an option. Perhaps your office is really small, or maybe you use your printer so often that you need the device right next to your computer. If so, you could accessorize it to improve the aesthetics of your space. Office Depot says that this could help the bulky piece blend in more with your design.

There are a couple of ways to make your printer more pleasing to the eye. The first solution is covering it with a wicker basket, per The DIY Playbook. To do this, all you would need to do is cut an opening for the paper slot and remove the back of the basket, so the cord can easily be plugged into the wall. This is an easy DIY that would only take about 30 minutes and could greatly improve the look of your space. 

Additionally, simply decluttering your desk could make your space feel more organized, even if you have a large printer, suggests Closets To Adore. Finally, if you store your printer on a shelving unit, you could create cohesion by adding bins or decorations in the same color.