We've got a small space, I need unique ideas

[C.Arden]

We've got a really small house right now and I'm going crazy trying to orgainze and declutter here. I feel like I can't come up with any more solutions so give me your most unique storage/organization/decluttering tip! Help me think outside the box. Thanks!

[doubledutch]

what are your specific problems? like which kind of stuff doesn't have a home, or which areas need organization?

[AFWife]

Or if you have pictures of the problem it would make it easier to see a solution

[zoebird]

yup, no clue what your needs are, so i can't make any suggestions.

yuo might look at "small spaces" magazine (bimonthly at home depot, lowes, etc) to see what kinds of unique options are available.

[ZoshaMosha]

I think this link is really interesting
http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/loo...aircase-083941

...if you have a staircase.

Other than that, almost anything can be doubled as a storage space... beds that have drawers underneath, coffee tables that double as trunks, dining tables that come with drawers for plates and stuff, etc... And if your place is super small, it would be a crime to discount all that vertical wall space that could sport shelving. Ceiling pot racks are good. I know a woman who keeps all her pots in her oven and simply takes them out whenever she bakes, no biggie.

The best tip for small spaces, though, is to simply not have a lot of stuff.

[ikesmom]

http://www.ikea.com.hk/function_area/function.html

[FreeRangeMama]

I have found that you don't need more room to organize stuff, you need LESS STUFF. We are a family of 6 in <1000sqft. I don't feel as though our house is too small (anymore), we actually have a lot of space now that we have rid ourselves of things we don't really need.

The areas I had problems were storage for books, clothes, linens, and kitchen appliances. I would spend hours searching blogs and Ikea for ideas. I even went out and bought a bunch of great shelving to house some of our stuff. It still felt crowded and I got sick of it! That is when I started getting rid of stuff!

Now we have a family closet. Our washer died and so we replaced it with a washer/dryer combo (2 appliances in one, so less space used). We put it in our closet and reduced our clothes to a minimum. Now we each only have a minimum of clothes so they don't take up space. Our kids' rooms don't have closets so they don't need to use up valuable space for clothing storage as our clothes are all centralized.

Linens are another thing we just got rid of. I decided to go with only enough for each bed. I saved one extra queen flatsheet so if we need to do an emergency bed change on any of the beds. I can toss that one on while I wash what is dirty. On sheet change day I can just wash all the sheets in the morning and remake the beds that afternoon. Extra blankets are in our closet as well so there is no need for a linen closet.

Towels are easy too, 6 people means 6 towels. They fit easily in the bathroom so again, no need to store piles of towels that would have otherwise sat in a laundry pile. The added bonus of less stuff is less laundry!! Things don't sit around waiting for wash day, we only have what we need so it gets washed often. No laundry baskets full of clean items waiting to be put away either, no laundry baskets at all actually

Toys, we got rid of all our junky toys and items no longer played with. We try to keep toys to a minimum and follow a one-in-one-out policy. That worked really well until they go older. Now they like playmobil and so that is a huge space waster. Can't win them all!

Books. I hoarded books for a long time. I loved the look of floor to ceiling bookshelves just FILLED with books. But realistically we never actually looked at most of them. Instead of using my reference books I would just google. The kids would pick out new books at the library each week and hardly touched the books we owned. I got rid of 2 full book cases full of books and we have about 3 shelves full now. I am weeding those out slowly as I notice what we use and what we don't.

Music. I put all of our music on the harddrive and the ipod and gave away all my cd's. We have a nice little ipod dock which takes up much less space than a cd changer, receiver, and speakers. We also don't have a tv. We will occasionally watch movies on the computer, but otherwise don't watch tv so no wasted space. Laptops take up less room than desktops as well.

I also got rid of all the kitchen appliances I don't use regularly. For the amount of times in a year I dehydrate things I can either just use the oven or borrow one. I have a bought a Kitchenaid to replace a lot of smaller items that didn't get used much. Now we have that, a toaster, a coffee pot, and a blender. Way better than a pantry that is overflowing with things that get used a handful of times a year!

Just a few ideas. It really depends on how small your place in and what you absolutely can't live without. Those factors are different for everybody

[sellendie]

I agree with the less stuff approach as well as the storage functional furniture. I would also suggest utilizing vertical space.

[catscharm74]

First, assess the space you do have. You probably have more than you realize and get creative. Write down your priorities and needs- space for kiddos to place or teach school, work space for computer, more clothing space..etc...

Second- purge, declutter and purge again. Do NOT try to organized until you have completely purged the entire room/house- whatever you are tackling for the purge.

Since you are not being specific, it's hard to tell exactly what you have and what you need. Please tell us more about your needs. : )

[bluebunny]

Pictures are helpful!

FreeRangeMama had lots of great ideas to cut down on stuff. It is hard to declutter (I'm working on it!) but it is so refreshing!!

[Dingletwitz]

back in the old days when I had a living room--for end tables and coffee-table type thing I used wooden trunks I scored at hoblob. there were 6 total and they technically could nest inside each other. They were cubes with hinged tops. I stored all the holiday crud in there, and some off-season clothes and extra bedding for any guest situations. One was for candles, incense, essential oils, etc. I do miss that type of "storage right in front of your face" type thing, and we tend to be drawn to anything that has multiple uses.

[sapientia]

we (family of 7) majorly downsized this past december. We moved from a 2400sf house with double garage and outbuilding-to a place less than half the size. The key? dejunking. We got rid of everything we didn't really need.
I second the shelves, the 'storage in front of your eyes' idea. Our lives are so much freer, so much more uncluttered. Wish we would have done it sooner. ("we have so much room for activities!!!" -stepbrothers)