When I was in high school, I taped up numerous envelopes to my wall and used them to hold various documents, including term papers, college applications and such. The Pocket Wall, a decorative wallpaper that integrates storage units, does something similar, adding plenty of holes and slots for fitting a whole bunch of your stuff in.
Designed by Maja Ganszyniec, it doesn’t look half-bad as a wall wrapping. The extra storage capabilities makes it a lot more useful than regular decorative paper too. Sure, your house will probably look like a mess with all sorts of crap hanging from your wall, but a little planning should help you make it a bit more presentable.
The designer’s site doesn’t list what material they used for the paper (I’m not sure how you’re supposed to stick it to the wall either), but it looks tough even when stretched out. Pockets are built right into the product, so you can just use whichever slot is available and throw your stuff in. The holes, on the other hand, can be used to hold small items such as sunglasses and key rings.
Who needs shelves with this in tow? Not me. The only downside is if you’ve got kids at home who like to pull down on the wallpaper – those nifty pockets will be gone faster than you can call a babysitter. The Pocket Wall is entirely a designer piece for now and isn’t available commercially, but it’s a design that really makes sense for a lot of household applications.