I run a mail order retail business out of my home with 6,000 different products (many of which are patterns – I have six 4-drawer, deep file cabinets where those go, organized by company/designer, and then alphabetically – the drawers are all full).

I have products in one section of the house – my office, our guest room, half of our living room space, and then part of the garage. I am starting to reduce the bulkier things I sell. They require bigger boxes to ship (and I have flat-rate shipping), and try to keep my total number of products around the 6,000 mark). When you can’t spread out anymore, go “up.” So, I have several rollable six-shelf shelving units that I got on Amazon for CHEAP ($119) that are full – you can find them on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NHGMU98/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They allowed me to expand UPWARDS to stay organized. These particular shelving units can also support 500 pounds PER SHELF. I also have stackable totes I get at Target (I find their prices were the best, especially for the quality of the totes.) If your products do not need to be climate-controlled, maybe you could invest in a nice shed for the back yard for overflow inventory?

I will say that if you really want to try to keep your business at home, what I would do is use the available vertical space with shelves and closets (you can get hanging shelves for closets at home improvement stores or online). Keep some products out of the living space by putting them in the garage or a shed. Keep your number items mainly to what sells more frequently; I regularly will delete an item if the last one sells, and it’s something I don’t sell very often. Avoid moving out of your house if possible – renting a storage unit is preferable to warehouse or retail space, which can get expensive; do this only when/if you get so big that you can easily afford the upkeep, bills, and hassle.

Good luck!