Making Use of a Small Space

If you’re faced with moving from a house to an apartment, you’ve got a lot of good things in store for you—little to no maintenance, no property taxes, and possibly even perks like free water, trash or cable services. You probably even have at least a semi-furnished place awaiting where you don’t have to buy a fridge or a stove, saving you big bucks.

But the one thing that many apartments lack is sheer space. Sure, there are some huge lofts and really great multi-bedroom digs out there, but the average apartment is pretty cramped. So the question remains—what do you do with all your stuff?

Here are a few tips and tricks to use when you’ve got a small living space. (These can come in handy wherever you live—including small houses, too.)

Use every inch in site. If you have a jumbo space not in use but you still have piles of stuff, it’s time to rearrange.

Make everything have at least two uses. Instead of buying a guest bed or jamming a cot somewhere, get a hideaway couch that instantly pulls out into a sleeping area for the people too drunk to drive home from your apartment. If you want a footstool, table, or other piece of furniture that’s not very space-friendly, make sure it also works as a storage container. Headboards, night stands, and TV stands can all double as storage units, too.

Shelving units can be your friend. Choose functional shelves that fit your space and the stuff you want on them (a set of DVD shelves is obviously not going to work for your collection of Stephen King hardbacks). Be wary of the college look; instead of Yaffa blocks, go for wood or metal—instant feng shui!—and use storage bins or baskets for classy, functional storage. You can also use your shelves to separate rooms, which is especially handy if you need to delineate some office space.

Utilize your kitchen space. If it’s OK to nail in the walls, hang as much as you can without making it look like a flea market. Use a can opener that attaches to the bottom of your cabinets. Buy some cheap shelves or metal stacking units to put in your pantry to stack cans on.

Behold, the portable office! If you don’t have room for a home office, just use your kitchen table and a portable container with your supplies in it.

Get rid of everything you don’t really need. You know you need to do this because just about everyone needs to do it. Give all of the clothes you’ll never wear again and all the rest of the space-takers to charity.

Think about renting a storage facility. If you’re only going to be renting for a short period of time, rather than rearranging your lifestyle, you may want to rent a storage unit for a few months.