A small home can be a blessing or the thorn in your side. The difference is, first of all, how you look at it, and second of all, how you manage it. Even a huge home could feel cramped and way too small if it were unorganized and cluttered. So, the challenge in a small apartment or small house is to find storage where you didn’t know you had it, and to organize the things that you use every day in a way that is easily manageable and easy to deal with. Follow these steps to getting your small living space in order so that you can be happy in your own home.
1) Utilize storage areas that you haven’t considered before. Use pantry organizers, or even peg boards made for the garage on the insides of your closet doors. You can store all kinds of little things and keep them organized if you just think outside the box a bit. Use a trunk or wooden toy box for a coffee table. Display your television on a dresser. Buy an ottoman that opens up to reveal secret storage. Put your couches and beds up on risers to make room underneath for extra storage. You can buy medicine cabinets that recess into the wall and only look like a mirror when closed. Think about all the little places you can create storage that is out of sight so that you don’t see the clutter that may be stored there.
2) Next, declutter your surfaces. It’s hard, especially in a small space, to keep the flat surfaces of the house clear. One way to do this is to disguise the things that need to be out all the time, so that at a glance, the house looks neat and organized. Use containers and baskets with lids or tops for mail, keys, your wallet, and other things that you use daily. A charging station is great for keeping cords concealed. The more you can keep countertops and tables looking “empty” the more space the room will seem to have.
3) Use space saving hangers in your closets. These hangers are flat, velvet hangers that grip your clothing and allow you to hang them really close together. I love these because they keep all of my thin-fabric shirts from slipping around and getting crumpled up. They hang so flat together that the hangers themselves save about half the space. Then you can add hanging clips to cascade other hangers from them, doubling or tripling your closet space.
About the Author: Rick Miller is on the staff of Only Slimline Hangers, a leading online resource for velvet hangers which are space saving hangers, non slip hangers and slim line hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlyslimlinehangers.com.
