Image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay
To keep clutter at bay, it is important to make sure everything has its own place and returns there after every use. In small homes, this could prove quite challenging, however, as there are only so many places to put things. Unless, that is, you alter your house to include additional storage space that gives every item a home. Here are some ideas to help you get started.
Cozy floor plans greatly benefit from furniture that goes beyond its original purpose. A tiered coffee table, for example, not only provides a flat surface for all your remotes, drinks and more, it also has space underneath for storage. Simply add bins and fill with the items you want on hand to make the most of that space.
To dress up the living room space even more, find couches, footrests and other furniture with hollow cavities inside to hold your blankets and other items. The bedrooms, on the other hand, can benefit from bed frames with drawers underneath the mattress and cabinets in the headboards.
If your floor plan has a staircase, you can make it work double time by integrating storage into its design. In the cavity beneath the stairs, for example, you can add pull out drawers or cabinets that blend into the wall.
Or, you can go one step further and turn the stairs themselves into drawers to hold your winter wear or other seasonal items. Either way, make sure to use drawer organizers and other tools to separate the cavities, giving all the stored items room of their very own.
Pegboards can hold all sorts of items from hand tools to spray bottles. But they are not always attractive to look at, especially when filled to the brim with items. Thankfully, you can keep them accessible, yet hidden, by installing the pegboards behind cabinet doors. Then, add hooks of all kinds to hold all the stuff you want to tuck away out of sight.
When placed well above eye level, shelves provide plenty of places to store your items without detracting from your home design. This storage option works best along big empty walls that could use a little bit of decoration along their edges.
Working just above the door frames in the room, install the shelf across the entire length of the wall. Then, paint the top and bottom surfaces of the shelf the same color as the wall to help it blend in.
By implementing these creative storage options, you can make excellent use of every square foot in your home. Once you are done, there’s no doubt that you will marvel in how much stuff you can tuck away in all these areas.
Gema S. Smith has been an influential pioneer in the luxury real estate industry for over 30 years. With a reputation for providing first-class service and garnering impeccable results for her clients, Gema’s accomplishments have earned her mentions in San Jose Magazine as well as two State of California Senate Certificates of Recognition.