Welcome to part three of small space living! Today is part two of the small space living series.
If you would like to read part one or part three you can read it here.
I love this quote by William Morris. It’s so true.
When you are living in a smaller home , every thing you own needs to pull it’s own weight which is why it’s important to have furniture with storage. But, it’s also nice to have it look pretty too.
Smaller homes tend to have little to no closet space and if you’re like us, there is also no basement. We have a one car garage that is pretty packed, but other than that there is really no extra space to keep anything.
The way around that is to make your furniture work for you.
Many times, using some furniture items in nontraditional ways is a great way to increase storage without breaking the bank.
Coffee tables should even have storage such as using old or reproduction trunks. They are great for keeping extra afghans or blankets, books,or things you don’t use every day.
They can also be used as a side table,
and even stacked for height.
Or used as accent furniture.
They are a great way to gain extra storage and be a usable piece of furniture.
Vintage suitcases are another versatile option.
These are great to use for storage of old photos, paper goods,
and can also be used in plain site as furniture.
When it come to large pieces of furniture, using old dressers in place of a traditional sideboard are a great way to increase storage space.
Old dressers can actually hold a lot of things besides clothing. One of mine has a drawer of candles (I do like my candles), and another keeps board games and card games.
The biggest thing is to make sure they are useful storage and not just filled with “stuff”
smaller dressers can even be used as side tables.
which will increase storage in a tight spot and make the most of your “real estate.”
and never underestimate the small bit of storage that can be gleamed in a seating area.
even in a tight space, a bench seat can be used for extra dish towels, plates,napkins, and even wrapping paper tubes.
even individual seating with hidden storage is a great option!
Even old buffets can come out of the dining room and serve as both storage or even a media center.
don’t be afraid to think outside of the box when increasing your storage! And it doesn’t have to cost a lot, sometimes it even just means re-thinking how things are used in your home.
The questions to ask yourself are:
-Is this piece of furniture working here? If not what would be better?
-why is this not working, would something else be more effective?
-do I have the right things stored here for the space I have?
-Do I need what is in here,can I get rid of it?
All of these things can help make our space space much more livable and efficient!
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Erin says
January 13, 2015 at 8:00 amI love your usage of trunks for storage! It can really transform a room and give you that extra hiding space for things. I have a smaller home as well and am always looking for neat storage ideas as these that you have shared! Thank you!!
darrielle Tennenbaum says
January 13, 2015 at 8:56 amI have a large old trunk in my house that is is very useful and lots of vintage suitcases. I live in a small old farm house so creating my own storage is a must!
Tania says
January 13, 2015 at 9:40 pmI’m loving these small space living posts. I just downsized and I’m still in the process of trying to figure things out as far as storage needs, etc. I also love that quote, in fact I have it on the back of my business cards for my Etsy vintage shop!
Tania
Jennifer says
January 14, 2015 at 7:23 amThanks for letting me know!
Tanya says
January 14, 2015 at 3:14 pmI’m really enjoying your small space living series. We live in about 1500 square feet and there are 7 of us (12 when everyone comes home to visit), a dog, a cat, a parrot and 2 guinea pigs. We’ve tried so many different ways to find more space in our little home. Creative storage is SO important! We have lotsofdreams for adding on, but no idea when or if they’ll ever happen. So right now I’m working hard at tidying up and clearing out all the extra things – quite a job, but SO worth it!
Jennifer says
January 18, 2015 at 5:45 pmI am in the same boat Tanya! I think getting rid of the clutter is huge!!
Lesley says
January 14, 2015 at 8:33 pmI love reading this series. I also live in a small house, 1044 square feet, and there are four of us total. I am trying to compare my room sizes and space to yours, and I’m confused about something. In this post you mentioned that you did not have a basement but in an earlier post this fall you talked about getting the new wood look tile installed in your basement family room. I’m trying to envision how you have all the rooms that you have. We have two small bedrooms and a third that was converted from a one car garage, one small bathroom, a fairly small living room, a decent sized kitchen but no dining room, and a pretty good sized laundry room. You have about 50 square feet more but it seems like you have a lot more space and several more rooms.
Jennifer says
January 14, 2015 at 8:42 pmWe are in a split,so actually have a sub-level, but we call it the basement. Maybe it’s how the rooms are divided up? We have 3 small bedrooms,first floor kitchen, dining room, living room combo and the basement/sub level room which is 10 x12.We have a very small one car garage that is too small to park in so it is storage. Maybe that explains it? It’s a lot of it is very creative photography angles. 🙂