THE BEST SPACE SAVING TIPS
Everyone loves the feel of a spacious room. In today’s blog I’ll discuss key tips on how to achieve this within your home, regardless of the actual size of your property.
DECLUTTER YOUR SPACE
Firstly, declutter your space. Donate any unwanted items to friends, family, or charity shops. This can be a little tricky if you’re a sentimental person, but I truly believe it’s good practise that everyone should follow.
I’m not saying rid yourself of significant or meaningful items, just ones that you haven’t got round to removing, but know you should. This will make your property feel so much calmer and give you a confidence boost for doing a mundane but important task. I try to do this once a month to keep my mind clear and my place organised.
2. USE AESTHETICALLY PLEASING STORAGE
Once you’ve done the above, put anything you need on a day-to-day basis in pretty boxes or baskets. In my bedroom I have three – one for gym equipment, another for hair-related items (brushes, ties etc), and another for makeup. This keeps these items out of the way so that surfaces are clear, but available enough that they are easily accessible.
In small spaces in particular, it’s essential that things are as functional as they are beautiful, since you have less space for purely decorative pieces. Even if you live in a larger property, this will stop things from feeling cluttered.
3. CONSIDER FURNITURE
Depending on what size of property you have, I’d encourage you to invest in the following types of furniture:
Source ‘hideaway’ furniture
By this, I mean furniture that literally hides things away. Some examples of this are benches and ottomans with storage below them, or my favourite, divan-style storage beds. For tiny properties, I’d say these are essential, for small ones ideal, and for large properties still really beneficial – if not necessary. There’s no drawbacks with divan beds, since they are SO useful and look just as good as all other standard beds on the market.
Source: multi-purpose furniture
Does what it says on the tin – furniture that has a multitude of purposes. To name a few: sofa-beds, foldable tables (dining to coffee), and bookcases that hide beds, like this one from Swedish company GoModern, or this from GardiniStore.IT.
If you’re on a tight budget, invest in an ottoman, as opposed to a coffee table (if you don’t already have one), if you need more seating in a particularly small living room. This can be used as both with maybe a tray or two on top! Alternatively, check out the advice below for more options on living room space-saving.
Source: ‘tuckable’ furniture
When buying new furniture, consider things that tuck under your existing furniture. To do this, literally measure the width and depth of pieces like console and coffee tables that allow you to easily do this. Alternatively, purchase some nesting tables, which are inherently ‘tuckable’, look fabulous, and can be customised by you to maximise your space.
Source: sliding door furniture and/or sliding doors
Door swings take up a surprisingly large amount of space within a room. Remove this problem entirely by installing sliding doors instead. This principle also applies to furniture: if you have limited space in your bedroom for example, but also need lots of storage, use a Chicago style wardrobe.
I turned my old, very single bedroom into an (admittedly, small) double using this tip. What particularly saved me was using a sliding door console table for shoe storage at the end of my divan bed. You’d be surprised how many pieces of furniture come in sliding door form, so don’t give up – just do your research.
4. WALL SPACE
One of the easiest ways to save space is by decorating upwards. There are a few ways of doing this:
Use your hobbies as decoration
Show off your interests and create more room in your home by hanging paraphernalia on your walls. This, again, ensures a perfect mix of functionality with beauty. If you love music, hang your vinyl’s on the walls, or if you’re into sports, hang your skateboard or bike up. Perhaps you’re more of a bookworm, in which case create a huge bookshelf covering your entire wall for a dramatic but classic look.
Use the back of doors
Adding shelving to your doors is an inexpensive yet super efficient way of maximising space. In bedrooms, you could hang a shoe rack in a wardrobe door, in kitchen cupboards a spice rack, and in bathrooms units, toiletries.
Remember: you can also hang racks on the back of doors if you need even more room. Check out Pinterest for ideas of how to do this in an aesthetically pleasing way.
Add wall shelving
Think about buying some floating shelves. These not only look great (particularly in alcoves) but again, add a degree of personality into a room, while requiring no floorspace whatsoever. This is a particularly useful tip if you want to make use of awkward corners. Once you’ve mounted these on your wall, add a few decorative baskets, along with some books, framed photos, and candles, and you’re good to go.
Thank you for reading today’s blog – I hope you’ve learned a few things! We’d love to hear from you, so if you need advice on how to best utilize your space, please do get in touch with us here.
