Small Space Solutions: Storage Tips

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Small living spaces offer real benefits: small homes reduce your cost of living in terms of rent or mortgage and are easier to clean and maintain. However, smaller living spaces come with a set of problems, and insufficient storage space is foremost among them. Even if you don’t have many belongings, you will still be hard-pressed for storage in a small home. If you want to live free of clutter, you should focus on storage solutions.

Image courtesy of The Container Store Image courtesy of The Container Store

Downsize your possessions

Although everything in your home must have its place, you should still keep in mind that you in all likelihood own plenty of belongings that you don’t need. When you're dealing with limited space, you must keep what you own within a reasonable limit. Tour your home and evaluate the things you own, keeping only those you know you will use within the next month or two and ridding yourself of the rest by donating or selling them.

Add shelving

If your kitchen has cabinets installed, then you already know that cabinets usually provide much storage space, but you may not be using your cabinets’ storage capacity to its fullest extent. If you want to use your cabinets as efficiently as possible, add shelving. You can use vertical dividers to separate your lids, cookie sheets, and other thin objects. You can also install organizers for your cutlery, silverware, plates and dishes, and pots. However you handle it, you should keep in mind that this adding shelves to your kitchen cabinets requires a high level of customization – you may require some help from a carpenter or innovative solutions.

Multi-purpose furniture

If you live in a small space, you know you can't really afford to have any furniture that doesn't serve more than one purpose. For example, if you have a bench in your entryway, you should have one that provides storage space. You could use ottomans for combined storage and seating instead of large chairs, and trunks might work better than coffee tables in a small space. It all depends on their arrangement within the space.

Wall space

You can think of the space on your walls mainly as a place to hang art, photos, and other decorative touches, but wall space can also be highly functional. You can build simple, shallow shelves from floor to ceiling in any room, adding tons of functional storage. Also, placing a few simple corner shelves high up creates an opportunity to display items with purely decorative purpose – you don’t want your small space to completely eschew personal touches in favor of function. Pegboard is your secret weapon if you need to quickly and simply organize tools, craft supplies, etc., in a very small space – you can hang pegboard inside closets and cabinets to add visual appeal and to create themed displays. You can quickly mount pegboard and paint it to match your home. If you enjoy DIY projects, you can find many online that show you how to repurpose or upcycle salvaged objects into stylish furnishings (in this case, coat racks).

Underutilized bedroom storage space

You might be surprised at how much space in your bedroom goes underutilized. From the walls to under the bed, you can find ways to maximize the storage potential of your bedroom. Simply raising your bed on some low and sturdy cabinets will give you a few more feet of storage, and many bins, drawers, boxes, vacuum-sealed bags and the like are designed just for the job of under-bed storage. If you own a small home, you can create recessed shelving and niches between the studs by removing drywall in places. Built-in window seats, headboards with concealed storage, and wall-mounted nightstands are other options currently popular with interior designers and homeowners.

Rethink "dead space"

Although your small home may lack readily apparent storage space, you might be surprised to learn how much structural space never gets used. For example, the unused space in the corners of your rooms can accommodate narrow drawers and shelves, as can the space up near the ceiling. You may be overlooking valuable storage space under a staircase and in your attic and basement.  

Buy boxes and baskets

Baskets and nice, colorful fabric boxes provide storage and double as display pieces. You can store small or large items, and because they come in a variety of dimensions and lidded or open options, you can stick them on top of or underneath most of your furniture. For a bare-bones approach, simply stack them along a wall.

Find more tips by visiting EC1 moving and storage.

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Grace Bailey

Grace is an artistic and passionate writer, keen on exploring all the miracles of the world around us. She really enjoys sharing tips and tricks of home organizing, eco-friendly living, and innovative technologies.

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