In interior design, the space immediately above a doorway is often treated as dead space. It is too high for everyday use, too awkward for conventional furniture and easily overlooked when a room is being planned.

Yet in smaller homes, that unused strip of wall can provide surprisingly valuable storage.

High-level cupboards, shelving and built-in joinery can make use of the space above internal doors without taking valuable floor area away from the room. This is particularly useful in hallways, kitchens, bedrooms and home offices where every square metre needs to work harder.

The trick is making the storage look intentional. A row of small cupboards squeezed into the available space can easily feel cluttered. Full-width joinery that aligns with the surrounding door frames tends to produce a calmer architectural effect.

In a hallway, for example, cupboards above doors can provide somewhere to store seasonal coats, luggage or household items that are rarely needed. In a kitchen, high-level cabinetry can be used for serving ware and appliances that do not need to be accessed every day.

Height can also be used to alter the perceived proportions of a room. Joinery that extends almost to the ceiling draws the eye upwards and creates a stronger sense of verticality.

This approach works particularly well in period properties where tall door openings and generous ceiling heights provide plenty of unused space. Rather than filling every wall with freestanding furniture, built-in storage can become part of the architecture.

There is another advantage: visual consistency. When cupboards, shelving and door frames are painted in the same colour, the storage becomes less visually dominant. The result can be considerably calmer than a collection of individual cabinets.

High-level storage is not necessarily about squeezing more possessions into a room. Used well, it is about moving infrequently used items out of the everyday visual field and allowing the useful parts of the room to remain uncluttered.