How to Organize in a Small Space

Welcome to our 35 Days to an Organized Home Challenge! Today we’re focusing on how to organize in a small space!  I was raised in a very small home, and before that, my mom and I lived in an apartment. We spent the majority of our time with  my grandparents, who lived in a mobile home, so I am used to living in a small space! My mother and grandmother live together in a small rancher home, so I took on the challenge of helping them organize in a small space! I have to mention that they have no attic or basement for extra storage. Other than a crawl space beneath the house (it is built over warm springs) I had no other place besides three closets to store extra items.  This was a ton of fun, and I learned so many great tips I want to pass along to you, which will hopefully help you as well, if you are struggling with the size of your living area!

Organizing your small space will largely depend on your budget (believe me, I’ve been there with the tight budget before, and it does make it more difficult to organize when you are struggling financially! However, many pieces can be purchased one at a time, and added to your organizing toolbox. As you organize more you should also be saving more money! The tips we’re going to share with you can be applied over time, and don’t have to be implemented at once. Take it step-by-step and you’ll have an organized, beautiful home! Check out our tips for organizing in a small space!

1. Re-purpose furniture to create more space .

My mother helps take care of my 84-year-old grandmother, and so this organizing project required that I be sensitive to my grandmother’s items that were sentimental, and many were antiques while still helping them gain an organized living space that flowed in terms of decor as well.  The first step was finding a piece to put under their new flat screen television.  My mother searched for weeks and couldn’t find a piece for less than $600. Because we were trying to reorganize the space on a budget, we decided to re-purpose my great-aunt’s hutch into a stand for under the television. We simply removed the top part of the hutch off and utilize only the bottom section. This created much more space in the dining room and eliminated that “crunched” feeling when we eat dinner as a family.

Take some time to look at each piece of furniture and decide if it can be used in a different, new, or unique way to utilize your space. Many times these pieces have sentimental value, yet can still be a part of how the decor flows.  Of course, we utilized the principles of organizing from the very organizing video in our 35 Days to an Organized Home Challenge! We went through each space and sorted for giving, keeping, and trash.  This was obviously the most time consuming, and took time with my grandmother and mother both having sentimental attachment to many items. However, because of their desire to be organized, they were more willing to let go of items than I anticipated!

#2. Allow organizational pieces to flow with room decor. 

As you can see in the picture below, this is the old armoire that used to house the old television. However, we decided to re-purpose it and place it in the spare room/office for my mother to use as storage. My father-in-law added shelves inside the armoire to organize her office supplies and other items. My mother already had the baskets, but they were scattered throughout the house.  I explained to her that she had her most beautiful pieces hidden within closets, so we purchase clear plastic totes for inside the closets, and re-purposed these baskets to house Christmas items (remember, I have only three closets to work with in this house!).  These baskets look beautiful on top of the armoire, and now when I walk in the room, I feel more calm and at peace with the decor as well.

#3. Store items you use the least in high or hardest to reach places.  Just as my mother’s Christmas items are stored in the baskets shown above, we placed them somewhere high and hard to reach, because my mother will only need them during one season of the year. We also placed very light items in these, such as bows, ribbon, gift bags, tags, tissue paper, etc. This way they are not too heavy to lift down from the top.

#4. Double up when possible. If you have a piece of furniture that can somehow double as storage, you will always maximize space. Pieces like Trundle beds, a Murphy Bed, or sleeper sofa are all examples of furniture that can be conveniently put away and maximize living space. These are obviously most convenient in small apartments such as efficiency apartments.  Even something as simple as my footstool cube at home doubles as storage for my son’s Lego’s.

IKEA is by far my favorite store for finding pieces that double as decor and functionality.   Our entire kitchen is an IKEA vignette, and we installed all of it ourselves!

#5. Install storage systems when necessary.  I’m a firm believer that sometimes you do just have to splurge and spend the money on organizing systems for closets. Whether you decide on Closet Maid or systems from a Home store such as Lowe’s, you sometimes need expert advice and planning. A second set of eyes can see things you never imagined. This happened when we general contracted our own addition on our home, and the builder had a totally different floor plan than my rectangle plan. It added character (and much more space) to our closet, and I love it!

 $6. Use a Lazy Susan.  These are such a great invention for hard to reach spaces.  My mom had this Lazy Susan installed so that they would not have to reach items that were located high in the cupboard. This is one of the best organizational products they ever had installed!