Creating Space

How to make the most of a small house or flat

Many of us have to compromise on space, especially if we live in a city. However, whether you live in a small house, a studio flat or even a bedsit, there are lots of ways to maximise your square-footage with our space-saving ideas for tiny homes.

De-clutter

Whenever you begin on a home organisation project, you should always start by de-cluttering. This is especially important if your living arrangements are a little cramped, as it’s crucial that everything you have serves a purpose, otherwise you can start to look like an episode of Hoarders!

Organise

Next you need to bring some organisation to what you do have. Storage Boxes are great for organising items. Group things together like cables and chargers, or pens to tidy them away. These are also excellent for kitchen storage – clearly label boxes so you can easily find what you need. Storage bags are an excellent way to organise things like out of season clothing and bed linens and towels. You can conceal these under the bed, try an underbed storage bag and even use vacuum storage bags, which take up even less room.

Keep open

Open plan living works best in smaller homes. Consider having less walls and more multi-purpose rooms. Use room dividers instead of walls – such as curtains which can be drawn across when privacy is needed. Shelving can also be a very effective room divider, and it is functional as well. Another way to create more space is to add a mezzanine level – this is a great option for a sleeping space and gives you more room below which helps with bedroom storage. You can even make a walk-in wardrobe underneath it by adding Clothes Rails, Clothes Hangers and shoe racks for wardrobe storage.

Go big

It sounds counterintuitive, but having larger pieces of furniture makes a home feel bigger. The key is to have less items of furniture that serve multiple purposes. Such as a table you can use as a desk, which also opens out into a dinner table, or seats with storage inside, and a sofa which pulls out as a bed for guests. The same goes for shelving, make use of all available space and have floor to ceiling shelves by using modular shelving – add a stylish wooden ladder so you can harness your inner librarian and access everything easily.

Use it all

For the ultimate in small space organisation, make sure you are using every available nook and cranny for home storage and home shelving. For example, if you have stairs, make sure you are using the space underneath them by adding Shelving and Storage Boxes. Turn an alcove into a home office with shelving, and make the bottom shelf the desk. If you don’t have space for a wardrobe, hang a Clothes Hanging Rail from the ceiling – this is especially good for displaying those pieces that are simply too nice to be kept in the closet anyway! Shelves on Wheels offer a great storage solution, as you can pull them out when you need them – this is particularly useful for kitchen storage.

And don’t forget the old tried and tested tricks of using mirrors to double the size of the room, and lots of white paint to make everything appear bigger and brighter.

If you have any questions and need any help with optimising the space in your home, please do get in touch, we’d be happy to discuss options with you.