Photo by Britt Reints

Recently, I was blessed with the opportunity to move to a new home. I am thrilled to be living in an environment where I don’t have to worry about my 9 month old son crawling around and getting in to everything: my new place is ultimately very baby friendly. Carpets keep his little knees from getting too bruised, and I can see him when he’s in the living room and I’m in the kitchen. One thing that I’ve really had to adjust to, however, is the fact that my new home is significantly smaller than my last home. At first I was dismayed and thought that I had made a mistake, however upon further reflection I realized that I was imagining a problem that didn’t exist. If I couldn’t figure out how to use my space in a smarter way, why did I go to design school anyway?

Here are a few quick tips that I’d like to share with you about how I managed to get more space out of less square footage.

1.) Entryway:

• use a shoe rack or drawer to keep piles of shoes from appearing around the entryway of your home.

2.) Living Room:

• get an ottoman that can be used as storage as well: it’s a great place to throw kids toys or extra blankets.
• keep furniture away from the walls, it creates the illusion of more space
• use shelving wherever possible to get things off the floor: where there is shelving use organizers like boxes or bins.

3.) Dining Area

• think about a console table or bar with storage underneath where you can store extra glasses, serving accessories, and overflow from the kitchen

4.) Kitchen Design tips:

photo by hey paul studios

• organizing accessories make all the difference; sliding shelf organizers make frequently used pots and pans easy to access.
• try labeling spices on the top of the containers and putting them in a drawer for easy access without cluttering your counters or cabinets
• under cabinet spaces can be utilized by mounting a towel bar or magnetic knife rack- IKEA has a great series of bars that have hanging cups where you can store utensils or other kitchen gadgets that I’ve utilized in the past.
• use a hanging pot rack if possible- if not find an interior cabinet organizer that allows you to stack them in an easily accessible way
• store items by use: things you use a lot on the easiest to reach shelf, things you don’t all the way up

5.) Bedroom:

• Use that space under the bed! Either purchase a bed frame with built in storage or get some easy under-the-bed boxes to put out of season clothing when you’re not using it, or extra linens.

6.) Bathroom Design tips:

• purchase and install a curved towel bar- it gives the illusion of a larger space
• use over-the-toilet storage. Either purchase shelving built for the purpose or hang some wall shelving above where you can put extra toilet paper or towels.