How To Make More Space In Your Apartment
You can have lots of experiences, or you can have lots of stuff. If you do not have lots of experience, you might have lots of stuff, whether furniture, clothes, tech and entertainment gear, or other items.
You could be accumulating so much of all this stuff that your apartment is growing too small. It doesn’t have to. Here are a few ways you could get more out of the space in your apartment:
Get zonal, look beyond the current furniture arrangement
Visualise your home without any furniture. This will help you to look beyond the current furniture arrangement. Is the space large enough to divide into more functional zones?
You could, for instance, place your sofa in the middle of the room and the TV opposite it rather than push it up against a wall. The space this creates behind the sofa could be a dining area, and a sliding partition could be used, which is functional and decorative.
Make more space - Wall Mount Dining Tables.
Mounting shelves and furniture items on walls is the real ace in your pack, and you can save a whole load of space by mounting ‘floating’ shelves instead of buying storage units.
Then there are items such as folding dining tables, which you attach to the wall, pull down, and fold back up again when you’ve finished using them. Think of all that floor space you’ll have!
If a feature of the apartment takes up a lot of space and is impossible to store away, such as a pillar, try to blend it into the walls. Making the item seem part of the wall will create the feeling and illusion that you have more space than you do.
Seize the hidden opportunities in the bathroom.
We think of the bathroom as where we wash, shower, and use the toilet. This perspective closes our eyes to the untapped storage potential of the bathroom, though. Try a removable under-sink storage solution with cupboard space. Wall-hanging storage racks for towels can become a nice feature, and you can roll up your towels on the shelving.
Invest in an Ottoman Bed
Beds provide another terrific opportunity to maximise your storage space, especially ottoman beds, which come in handy when you store stuff away at the end of a season, not to be seen again until that season rolls back around. As well as being a practical storage space, they’re clean, so you won’t have to worry about your belongings growing dusty. You can also organise them so they’re easy to find when you wish to use them.
Pictured: Milan Bed Company Side Lift 4FT Small Double Ottoman Bed - White (£249 available now from Bedstar)
Multipurpose
Just because items have a purpose, it doesn’t mean they should only serve for that thing. Perhaps your coffee table can double up as a workstation. If you have a bookcase, remember it can be a place for more than just books. Consider buying a larger one and transforming it into a multipurpose storage space. Use baskets and containers to store things away and keep them tidy.
Consider a baker’s rack in the hallway, which can serve as a place for hats, keys, and any mail you may have, again saving space and keeping things tidy.
Declutter
Of course, one of the simplest ways to make the most of a smaller space is not to have much stuff in the first place, although that’s easier said than done.
There are many ways to declutter, from the standard three boxes ― keep, throw out, don’t know ― to the popular KonMari Method™, a mindful approach in which the homeowner gets rid of anything that doesn’t bring them some form of joy.
Other methods include the ‘one in, one out process, in which you throw out something old every time you buy something new. This approach works well with clothing.
You might not have much space in your apartment, but seize the opportunities certain home areas and features have for storage. Considering the possibilities, you can multipurpose furniture and, generally, arrange your furniture practically, and you’ll have more space than you think! Enjoy!