Very, very few people believe they have enough storage space. For apartment dwellers, the problem is much worse.
How Can I Add Storage to My Small Apartment?
When you have a small apartment, you have to make every bit of space count. Your apartment’s layout and features will vary according to what you can do, but many of these ideas will work anywhere.
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- Entryway hooks and a floating shelf.
Not every apartment has a coat closet. Or maybe yours does, but you need that space for other items. Hooks near the apartment door make it easy to immediately hang your coat up instead of dropping it wherever, creating clutter. Or, if you have a place for your coat, adding hooks near your entrance provides easy storage for your guests’ coats. A shallow floating shelf in the same vicinity is an excellent place to hold keys and other items you need to take when you leave.
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- Use your vertical space.
When storage for small apartments is at a premium, taking advantage of every bit of vertical space you have can help. That means adding over-the-door storage, whether in the form of storage shelves, shoe holders, or storage hooks. Shoe holders don’t have to hold shoes, either. A clear plastic one could hold small items, including small toys in a kid’s room.
Other clever storage ideas include over-the-door storage applied to cabinets. Add a rack inside a cabinet to hold pot lids or rolls of foil, plastic wrap, wax paper, etc. Adhesive hooks inside a cabinet door can hold oven mitts and/or long-handled kitchen utensils like ladles, serving spoons, etc. You can even find over-the-door spice racks.
Adding a magnetic bar to the wall between your kitchen countertop and the upper cabinets allows you to vertically store kitchen knives and other utensils. Adhesive hooks there could also hold long-handled utensils.
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- Put risers in your cabinets.
A variant of the vertical storage idea is to add risers to kitchen or bathroom cabinet shelves that hold short items. You can have two layers of things on that shelf space. Mug hooks are another way to double up space by getting them off the shelf and hanging above short items.
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- Spin it.
Don’t lose items or waste storage space if you have a corner cabinet because getting to the things in the back is hard. Add a lazy Susan to make better use of the area and ensure you can reach everything there.
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- Use the right table.
Oval or oblong dining room tables present the optical illusion of more space and can contribute to more floor space than a square or rectangular table. If space is tight, but you want entertaining options, consider a round table that can expand when adding a leaf or two. Or, if space is extra tight, consider a drop-leaf table so you can open the table when you need it and collapse it when you don’t.
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- Lift it.
A lift-top coffee table can be an innovative storage solution in a small apartment. These look like a standard coffee table and come in various sizes and styles. Still, instead of just sitting there, this type of table has a top that lifts, usually to an adjustable height, allowing you to sit on the couch and have an easy option for working, using your laptop, etc. Most come with storage inside the table, and for some people, this eliminates the need for a desk.
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- Go low for storage
The area under beds is untapped storage for most people, but it’s a valuable apartment storage option. You can purchase various under-bed storage boxes, some even with wheels, but you can also use any box shallow and long enough to fit underneath. If you need to buy a new bed anyway, consider a platform bed with storage built-in underneath.
If you’re a proponent of feng shui, storing items under the bed is a no-no, but giving up that unused space might not be an option. Fortunately, some feng shui tips can ensure good energy in your living space and use under the bed storage space.
Or, if you need storage for studio apartments or something similarly tight on space, consider a modern Murphy bed. Landlords secured the traditional kind to a wall, and the bed flipped up when not in use, freeing up floor space. Some current versions don’t need that because of design changes and how they’re set up in a storage cabinet, but it’s still not an option for everyone.
Of course, another method for maximizing apartment space is to have fewer items in it. Clever storage ideas only go so far, and for that matter, so does purging your belongings. Free up additional space by placing seasonal items into a pick-up and delivery storage facility.
Let Box&Co Free Up Space in Your Apartment
Don’t feel overwhelmed. The solution is to maximize apartment space by putting the items you don’t need for a few months (or longer) into storage. Box&Co will make it super easy for you. Just give us a call. We’ll drop off storage containers, you pack them, call us when you’re ready, and we’ll pick them up and store them. When you need the items, give us a call, and we’ll bring them back. To learn more, fill out our form or call 1-855-692-6926 today.
