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.
Jennifer says
I had about 18″ on the side of our fridge so we scooted to the far end and bought a shallow (but tall) garage storage unit with 4 shelves. It cost under $25 and added tons of space for kitchen appliances that I don’t use too often but wanted to keep.
Trooppetrie says
I need to get better at organizing and storage. we do not have alot of storage closets here
Tova says
Love these ideas! I have a small home 3br 1ba with 2 children and 2 big dogs! And the only closet space we have are the closets in the bedrooms, which are the lenght of the walls with just the one long bar in them. So, this is a MUST DO project for me and my husband!Thank you!
Savannah says
Some great tips! Our house isn’t tiny, but there is almost no closet space..only 1 bedroom has a closet (the boy’s room) and there is only one other closet in the house..so we’re always needing to figure out creative ways to store things!
Sherry M says
We’ve done the suggestion about removing closet doors before. If you’re concerned about it looking messy without the door(s). You can add curtains or material over the closet doorway. If you don’t sew, use themed or printed flat bedsheets! You can use either one on a rod hanging above the doorway and can use tie backs made from the same material or coordinating ribbon/cord with hooks for easy access into the closet. It makes a very decorative addition to the room!
Tanya B says
I used a shower curtain and a shower tension rod on my daughter’s closet 🙂 And in my son’s I used the same type of tension rod and an inexpensive set of curtains I found on clearance.
Marla says
Love the idea of the shelf above the door. We have a tiny, tiny kitchen and one of the things we did was to hang hooks for pots under the overhang for our counter. Since we sit in the dining room to eat, it was wasted space. We also turned a pot lid rack on it’s side and use it to store cake pans and pie plates.
Jill says
We live in a 3-bedroom house. We have 4 young children and one on the way. We are running out of space. Crazy idea hit me one day…to move all the children together into our large master bedroom, and even let them have the double-vanity, jacuzzi-tub, seperate shower, and very large master bathroom. My husband and I moved into one of the kid’s rooms and inhabited the hall bathroom as well. It’s been the best decision! We love our new cozy, clutter-free bedroom, and the kids feel like royalty. Bonus…we now have an extra room that I can’t decide what to do with. Go figure! Why didn’t I do this before??? Gotta think outside the box….
Heather says
In our house there is very little storage space anywhere. We found some old trim in the garage work area when we moved in and we attached brass coat hooks to stained and treated trim boards, then put them up by doors for coats and hats and bags. We also bought little teacup hooks and put them up wherever we could to hang up aprons, cooking pans, whatever we could, wherever we could. For example, on the back of the pantry door I hang a large pan, aprons, and colanders. They are neat and add decoration the the kitchen when the door is shut, but are hidden when the door is open. If I had space under the cabinets I would hand measuring spoons and cups, as well as frequently used utensils. Simple, simple, simple, and cheap.