By Alena Kairys
Apr 29, 2021When you live in a smaller home, every bit of space is valuable. Even though limited spaces often make for more intimate environments, it can be a challenge to store all your things without feeling confined. Don’t worry if your home isn’t exactly sprawling—here are some small space storage solutions to make organizing your home easier.
1. Clean and Declutter
Before you go to a Swedish furniture store and go crazy in the storage container section, start by decluttering your home. Gradually go through each area of your house and identify what you don’t need anymore. You can donate, repurpose, or discard your items. Clutter is the enemy when you have a small home because it will only make everything feel more cramped. Once you’ve removed any unnecessary items, you can finally focus on how to organize what you’re keeping.
2. In the Zone
One way you can make more use of your home’s floor space is by creating multiuse or flex zones. Instead of limiting a room’s purpose to one function, make the area work for you by incorporating other activities into it. If you don’t have a separate room for a dining area, add a table and some chairs to a portion of your living room for an easy fix. You could also add barstools to one side of your kitchen counter for a casual meal spot. Add a work from home space by taking over a small section of your living room, bedroom, or even a hall closet! If you have kids or pets who leave their toys all over the floor, dedicate a corner of a room to keep their things when not in use. Use a cute basket to hide everything away and make clean up less of a hassle. You can even turn your laundry room into a dual-purpose mudroom—don’t let limited square footage limit you!
4. Creative Spaces
When you’re dealing with minimal space in your home, you need to get creative with how you store your belongings. To free up your floor, try leveraging your walls! A simple and stylish way to expand your storage space is to add floating shelves. Floating shelves are ideal for displaying items and books without taking up room on the floor. You can add them to virtually any room, and they look especially attractive when installed in the corners of a room or near the ceiling. Doors are an underutilized way to pack more of your home goods into a tiny space. Simply add an over-the-door rack to the door of your choice, and magically get more storage capacity! Though you should be selective about how you use the floor space when you have a smaller home, keeping some stuff on the ground isn’t off-limits. Take advantage of the area underneath your bed or sofa to hide sheets and blankets. If you need more altitude, use risers to increase your vertical space. Consider placing removable hooks in your bathroom, closet, bedroom, or kitchen to hang things. Tension rods are another inexpensive way to increase storage space in your home; use them inside cabinets and closets to make an elevated shelving system.
5. Investing in Organization
Investing in new organizational gadgets can certainly help you optimize the space in your home, but doing so should be one of the last steps you take as you reorganize everything. Being thoughtful about what storage products you use will help you maintain a less cluttered lifestyle and save money in the long run. Some of the better investments to consider include furniture with built-in storage, divided drawer inserts, over-the-door racks, and raised counter shelving. You should assess how you think the new item would fit in your home and your organizational flow.
Now that you’ve found more room in your home, you’ll need to keep it from accumulating more useless items. The build-up of junk is more noticeable in a smaller home, so it’s even more important to maintain the line between cozy and cluttered. Clean out your home at least once or twice a year to keep your belongings in check. Once you eliminate the unnecessary and get clever with how you use every inch of your home, you’ll be able to enjoy living in a small space like never before!
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