For many of us, saving up for our dream home is still years away. Primarily if you reside in a big city, smaller apartments are the unequivocal norm. Roommates, strange floor plans, and closet-sized bedrooms make for numerous storage difficulties. If you’ve got too many items, and live in a quaint apartment, here are some great ways to maximize your space.
One of the easiest ways to consolidate space is to put up wall hooks. Hooks aligning your entryway, hallway, or bedroom can be implemented as storage space or for your daily outerwear. Hooks are excellent for storing cumbersome accessories like jewelry or hats as well.
There are several hook styles to choose from when decorating. You can find a range of wooden ones, to more elegant exteriors like gold or chrome. Matching your apartment’s interior won’t be difficult; it’ll just take a little online searching to find that perfect wall mount.
This move is probably the first a renter or homeowner thinks about maximizing space. Installing shelves yourself takes a minimal amount of work and ensures all of your knick-knacks are correctly displayed.
Executing your own shelves is also a cost-efficient way to decorate. You can purchase brackets for shelves from $15 to $30. You’ll have many choices for the wooden part that goes on top of the brackets. Cheap wooden options at Home Depot or Lowes are available, and you can ask an employee to cut a plank to the exact size needed.
If your small apartment becomes cluttered with books and tchotchkes, investing in shelves is your next best move.
Miniscule apartments are notorious for including minimal space in the kitchen. Buying extra drawer dividers is an excellent way to maximize the few cupboard options you might have.
Adding a small cart under your sink or counters helps organize all your kitchen supplies. They’re great for organizing pans, spices, Tupperware, or any miscellaneous cleaning items. Roll-out drawers come in many different sizes, so make sure to measure your cupboard before purchasing.
Bathrooms are another tricky area for tiny apartments. Many have trouble fitting all of their products adequately in the bathroom due to its already claustrophobic nature. If you live in New York or Chicago, these rooms can feel no bigger than a janitor’s closet. Adding a second cabinet is a low-cost solution to this situation.
Ikea sells mountable medicine cabinets cheaply for those looking to increase space in their bathrooms. Ikea’s Godmorgen cabinet can be installed yourself and has robust and tempered glass shelves for your sturdiest products. They can be mounted anywhere on the bathroom walls and have a clean, white exterior.
If your bathroom is becoming an uncontrollable mess, additional cabinets could be the perfect fix.
Bedrooms are also infamously small in city apartments. Some people live in rooms without any leg room in general, making storage an inconceivable feat. Luckily, storage drawers are available to hide all your unnecessary clutter.
Storage drawers can be bought just about anywhere. From plastic bins at Target or Walmart to more modern, wooden ones at Wayfair, drawers are ubiquitous on the home goods market. The perfect storage system is more than attainable as long as you measure the space under your bed.
If you are one of the lucky bedroom-closet owners, this is the best piece of advice anyone can give you: don’t skimp out on hangers. Additional hangers will change a messy bedroom into an organized revelation.
Much like under-bed storage drawers, hangers can be found just about anywhere and in a variety of unique colors and materials. If you want to steer clear from plastic hangers, velvet, suede, and wooden hangers are all stylish options for any wardrobe. Amazon has a set of 30 relatively cheap velvet hangers, making them an economical and opulent way to tidy up your bedroom mess.
Especially for studio apartments, making the room feel larger is one of the best ways to maximize space. The best way to do this is to place your furniture intentionally.
In a living room setting, pushing your couch and chairs up against the walls opens up the room immediately. Keeping the furniture to a minimum but aligning the perimeter with said furnishings can alter a claustrophobic space into a breathable one. Even shifting your bed from the middle of the room to the side does absolute wonders. You’ll have a more moveable bedroom and more enjoyable room accessories opportunities.
Smaller apartments do not have to mean the death of style and organization. Applying a few of these organizing tips can transform a minuscule living quarter into a breathable, relaxing home.
