A major issue of apartment living is not having adequate space. When you finally get all of your belongings moved in, you may find that you can’t properly store your belongings because you simply don’t have enough space. With a little creativity and smart furniture purchases, you can find the extra space you need.
If you have small rooms and little closet space, here are nine solutions that will help you take advantage of and find usable space in your apartment.
1. Buy Tall, Thin Furniture
If you have an apartment with small or no closets, you definitely need extra furniture for storage. Instead of buying short, wide furniture, go vertical with tall, thin furniture. You still get the needed storage, but you use more vertical space and less floor space. Going vertical also makes the eye travel upward toward the ceiling, which makes a small room seem larger. This ladder bookcase is available for $77 at Wayfair.com, but you can find similar ones at your local big box stores, like Target.
2. Use Your Walls
Instead of using large furniture to display items like jewelry or art, use your walls. You can hang brackets, stands, or floating shelves on walls to use as display, which will eliminate the need of more furniture and give you more floor space.
3. Use the space above doors and windows.
Install floating shelves above windows and doors for extra storage. Place bins on the shelves to store small items like scarves or belts. Or use these shelves to store books if you don’t have room for a full-sized book shelf. Here is a great example from Apartment Therapy.
4. Use the Spaces You Don’t See
There are many spaces in your apartment you don’t always pay attention to, which means you probably forget to use them. Hang hooks on the inside of cabinet doors in your kitchen to hang measuring spoons and measuring cups. Install hanging baskets on the inside of bathroom cabinets to store medicine and first aid supplies. Use the backside of doors to hang an ironing board, storage bins, or your winter coats.
5. Raise Your Furniture to Create Space
You can raise most of your furniture to create extra space underneath. Raise your bed to store off-season clothes or extra bed linens under your bed. Raise your dresser and place bins underneath to store shoes. Raise your coffee table and place a basket underneath to store extra pillows and blankets. And you don’t need to use those ugly plastic raisers you used for your dorm bed. Check out these classy wooden ones for $25 from the Vermont Country Store.
6. Buy Furniture with Storage
Since you have to have furniture, it’s a smart move to buy furniture that has extra storage. Buy sofas and chairs that have storage built into the arm rests. Buy a coffee table that has drawers or shelves. Buy ottomans that have storage areas inside. Before you buy any piece of furniture, be sure you can use it for storage, too, instead of only it’s general purpose.
7. Add wheels to your furniture
Sometimes, simply rearranging furniture can make a room feel much more open. If you attach wheels to your furniture, especially larger and heavier pieces, you can easily rearrange a room in just a few minutes. When you have guests coming over and you need to move a piece of furniture from your living room to your bedroom to create extra space, having wheels attached will make the transition much easier.
If attaching wheels not in your skill set, you can get a set of handy little plastic sliders for $46 for all your furniture moving needs. Of course, the easiest solutions is to buy furniture with wheels already attached, like this tall dresser for $113 from Walmart.
8. Purchase furniture with leaves
If you have a small dining room, but you love to host dinners, consider buying a dining room table that has retractable or removable leaves. When you don’t have guests over, you can simply and easily let the leaves down to give you more space.
9. Buy Stackable Chairs
Having stackable chairs or stools goes along with the concept of having furniture with leaves. If you have guests over, you need enough seating for everyone. On a typical day, however, the extra chairs may be in your way. Having stackable chairs means you can stack the chairs in a corner or a closet until they’re needed. These simple black stools from Home Depot give you four extra seats for $62.
