While “small” house is a relative term, we often feel like we are bursting at the seams of the room that we have in our house. It would not be truthful if I didn’t share that we all not-so-secretly wish that we could live in a bigger house. However, for now, our house is what we can afford. (And, even with knowing lots of house staging tips, I’m still intimated by the idea of trying to sell our house.)
In order to best use the space that we have, we’ve had to come up with some creative solutions for various areas of our house. (This is in addition, of course, to being careful to not have too much clutter and things we don’t need.)
I’ll share just a few of the things that we’ve done at our house, and I hope that you’ll share some of the ways that you fully utilize space in your house!
A Surprising Way to Gain More Space for Furniture
One solution that we found for helping us with furniture arranging was to take doors off that we felt we could live without. By taking a door off of the closet in our boys’ room, we were able to fit a bed on a wall that wouldn’t normally have fit, since you wouldn’t have been able to open the closet door with the bed there.
We also removed the door to a very small room that we had in our house that was just 35 square feet in area. If we had kept the door, it would have taken up much of the available space in the room. However, with the door gone, the whole 35 square feet is usable. (It became my itty bitty craft room.)
A Rarely Considered Source of Space
Speaking of my itty bitty craft room, one of my favorite storage solutions was one that we used in that room. While I was looking around after my husband set up the room for me, I looked from inside the room into the hallway and said, “Could we put a shelf above the door?”
This was such a simple solution for more storage space! It was quick and inexpensive to add a single shelf, and I have been able to use it for a lot of little used craft supplies (that I still felt like I wanted to keep). While the shelf is visible from inside the room, it is completely out of sight to those who just walk by the room.
Shelving and Baskets Made a Great Pair in Our Laundry Room!
Making the Most of Your Space with Shelving
Shelving has been a staple of our home. It seems that whenever we’ve wanted to add more space to a closet, craft room, or laundry room, shelving has been our answer. Because I have been blessed with a handy husband, we often haven’t had to spend too much to make these additions.
When we moved in, many of our closets (as well as the laundry room) utilized the typical single rod across it, with a lot of wasted space. We took out all of these and added things like double rods and then shelving. We went from closets that would have fit a large amount of clothing (and then nothing else, typically) to closets that fit slightly less clothing (with is fine) but also could hold the children’s toys and other items.
With a small (or non-existent) budget, you can definitely make some small changes to free up some room in your home. What are some things that you have done in your own home to make more room?
Angie can be found writing at Many Little Blessings about all of the adventures of life that happen between loads of laundry. She is also the founder and editor of The Homeschool Classroom and Catholic Mothers Online.
