If you have a smaller home, one question will inevitably come up. Where do you put your things? Storage can be a pressing issue when you have limited square footage.
With that in mind, here are six creative storage solutions for smaller homes.
1. Use the Area Beneath Your Stairs
There’s no reason why you can’t put your staircase to use as a creative storage solution if you have a 2-or-more story home. Some builders include a crawlspace complete with doors, but if yours didn’t, you could add one. Then, let your imagination fly.
You could use the space or a washer and dryer or add slide-out organizer racks that keep the shoe collection by your front door from turning into a footwear museum.
If you have tiny tots, you can even make the space into a playroom — your child might end up liking the space better than their bedroom. If your kiddos are still homeschooling due to COVID-19, you can transform the area into their study space.
2. Make the Most of Your Closet Space
Many builders throw a rod into a vacant space, add one token shelf and call it a closet. However, anyone who has ever opened the cleaning supply pantry and had a broom fall out and strike their head knows that merely stacking items within wastes space and creates a mess of potentially hazardous clutter. Make your priority selecting a quality closet organizer system as a storage solution for your smaller home.
Seek out organizers that allow you to customize the layouts for your needs. For example, if you have a hat collection, adding small cubicles keeps your prizes in a cool and dry place where they’ll stay free of dirt and deformity. Hooks for belts and loops for hanging ties help you fit more in a small space.
3. Invest in Double-Duty Furniture
If you took a look around your home, you’d probably see that your furniture takes up the most space. Why let all that room go to waste while clutter accumulates on top? When it’s time to replace your sagging couch, seek a model that offers hidden storage underneath or behind it.
Think outside the bedroom box. No law states that dressers have to go in your sleeping room — they make excellent living room TV stands and give you a spot for digital media storage and board games for family night. When selecting ottomans, look for those that open up to let you stash your winter afghans, or better yet, have a reversible lid that transforms the unit into extra table space on top.
4. Make Use of Your Vertical Space
Do you have high ceilings despite a smaller home? Why not look to the sky for a creative storage solution? A row of vertical shelves lets you organize books, while a longer plant version spanning your living room’s circumference provides a place for your Hummel figurine collection and houseplants.
Another way to organize small objects is to use a basket hanger as decoration — including hanging containers on each arm. You can then place small objects such as child or cat toys within. High ceilings in closets also provide additional space — adding a small shelf above the inside of the door provides a spot for your suitcases.
5. Make Everyday Object Art
If your knick-knack space is at a premium, why not make art out of everyday objects? If you recently moved into an apartment where the cabinets are too small to fit your wine glasses, you can make a creative centerpiece out of them using aquarium stones and electric candles.
Nearly anything looks better tucked into a tidy organizer system. If you have a pile of pill bottles on your nightstand, use an office desk tray to keep them tidy. Does your cookbook collection clutter your kitchen shelves? Invest in a display holder for one of your favorites and hang an over-the-door organizer on your pantry to make room for the rest.
6. Keep Drawers Organized
Please don’t make the mistake of shoving everything into a drawer and forgetting about it. That is unless you are an amateur archeologist and enjoy the thrill of digging through mountains of twist ties and sandwich clips to find a pen.
Making drawer organizers for free is a terrific smaller house storage solution. Old toilet paper and paper towel rolls create separate places to stash socks in pairs in your dresser. Vertical slats of cardboard or leftover particle board separate individual storage slots for thumbtacks and rubber bands.
If You Have a Smaller Home, Try These 6 Creative Storage Solutions
If you have a smaller home, you have to get creative with your storage solutions. Try the six tips above to make the most of your space.