organized: small spaces

Today we have another Reader Question from Mandee:

Mandee

I admire you! I have a very tiny apartment with my boyfriend and hardly any closet space. In our living room I try to hide my vacuumm cleaner by/behind my coat rack. there is no space for it! I try to be a minimalist with other things/decor but I am at a loss for this one. No coat closet (hence the coat rack). what do you think?

Thanks so much Mandee for your question, as for your vacuumm, I would try under a bed, in your closet, or a guest room closet,  even if it doesn't make sense to put in in a place, as long as it is out of the way!  Here are some tips for organizing in a small space:

1. Declutter. I know this sounds simple but it's so true. I recently had to do more decluttering as we prepared to put our house on the market and I truly surprised myself how much bigger my space was when there were less things around. Take a look at what you really need and love and get rid of everything else. If you miss it, you can always put it back! 


2. Utilize closets. When you're working with a small space you have to keep your closets EXTRA organized. Most likely closets have just a few shelves, or one hanging bar. Take this out and create a shelving plan that works for the items that you have to fit in there. Utilize every space of it from top to bottom! 

Source: bhg.com via Elisa on Pinterest

3. Remove Furniture. This one was tough for me, we have people over a lot, and a lot of people sometimes so I tend to keep extra chairs and such around for them. Once I kept only the pieces that fit in the space, I loved my rooms so much more. Sometimes the colors, texture and weight of an item makes the space seem smaller. 

4. Choose the Wall instead of the floor. Using shelving on walls to decorate or hold things up instead of adding a bookcase or storage unit that will sit on your floor. This gives the illusion there is more room.

Source: pbteen.com via Tori on Pinterest

5. Decorate with your storage items.  Sometimes we would have more room in storage for the necessary storage items if we didn't use it for things that didn't need to be hidden. Go through your closets and pick out items that could be used as decorations such such as vases, serving platters, bowls, pitchers etc. This will give you more room in closets for the "ugly" items 


6. Buy furniture that doubles as storage. Coffee tables, window seats. ottomans, all of these things can be used lots of different ways

Source: orgjunkie.com via Oksana on Pinterest