Maximize and Discover Storage Space In Your Home
By Pamela Wong
Pamela is a Trained Professional Organizer based in Oakville, Ontario and is the owner of Zen N Organized. She helps homeowners and small business owners transform their homes and home offices into organized spaces. She has a practical, non-judgemental approach to organizing. Her objective is to create functional and harmonious spaces for her clients.
Lack Of Storage Space
For those who live in a condo or a smaller home, finding sufficient storage space in their homes can be a challenge. Even in a good size home, adequate storage space can be lacking sometimes.
Family Size and Storage Space
Whether you live alone or with a family of four, there is always a lot of stuff to store. From holiday decorations, arts and crafts and tax-related documents, to things like clothes and shoes. The more we have in the home, the more storage space we will need.
7 Strategies To Maximize Space
If you are looking for ways to maximize the existing space, here are some strategies to create more storage for you:
1. Vertical space and walls
This first strategy is useful in any size home, but particularly helpful in smaller spaces such as condos and apartments.
Use vertical space or wall space to increase storage in the home. From floating shelves, open shelves, hanging storage and wall hooks, use what fits your space and aesthetic. In garages, make use of overhead storage.
2. Condense and Assign A Home
Envision items in the same category that are scattered around the home. What about the stuff that we don’t need lying around in your home? There are duplicates and triplicates of things because you can’t find anything. The clutter makes your home look disorganized, and you are losing items in your own home.
Grouping “like with like” will eliminate the duplicates. This strategy will also prevent you from losing things. Assign a home for each item and always return it to its home when finished. As Benjamin Franklin said, “A place for everything and everything in its place.”
3. Multi-purpose furniture and furniture with storage
Furniture that serves dual purposes can be functional and practical. Here are some examples: An ottoman with storage, use a trunk as a coffee table, a headboard with shelving.
4. Under the bed storage
A bed may have built-in storage but it can also be raised so that bins/boxes can be stored underneath. A bed skirt maybe used to hide the boxes underneath the bed.
5. Behind the door and cabinets
Space behind doors or on the inside cabinets are great ways to create more storage in the home. Add hooks behind the door or on the wall to make room for jackets and hats.
6. Stackable shelves/bins, nesting tables
Use stackable furniture such as nesting tables to create less clutter and to save space. Unstack and move them around the room or stack them for more space in the room.
Visual clutter makes the room look smaller and unwelcoming. By clearing the countertops and tabletops, your home will look airier and more spacious.
Finding extra storage space in your home has a lot to do with managing what you own and what you need to keep. At the end of the day, remember this quote:
If your stuff isn’t serving you, it won’t be serving you any better packed away in a box somewhere.
I love furniture with built-in storage capacity! I have night tables with drawers, a bookcase headboard, and a end table with a cabinet underneath. I can’t imagine where I’d put that stuff otherwise!
Great post! I am also a big fan of Ottomans for anything that creates storage and also serves another purpose. I love the little stacking tables. That was not something I thought of. Keep up the good work.