When you say "takes up space", you mean within our own inventory? But the item is actually somewhere else? Therefore we don't have the weight associated with it on our character, correct? I think this is a wonderful addition, so long as we can take an entire container (bag, box, etc) and place it in this storage, otherwise, as a crafter, I still can't put anything in my inventory. Of course it would be better if we could put anything in there and not lose the space in inventory, but that may be asking too much.
I've been hoping for something like this since I started here, by the way.....