Indoor home office with desk and built in wood shelving overlay

Use Space Like a Genius With These Creative Storage Ideas

Posted in How-to,Moving Essentials,Moving Tips & Tricks on May 24, 2021

Living in a tight home is a bit harder for storing your belongings without cramping the place too much, making it look like a depot. If you recognize this problem, and it’s a part of your everyday life, finding creative storage ideas for small spaces will come in handy to help you feel like an interior designer. Besides practical reasons, organizing your home will create a more beautiful space to live in, without any stuff to trip over while walking through.

Among the very first reasons to move may be venturing toward an independent life. When we decide to leave our parents’ nest, pack our stuff, find out how much do movers cost, hire cross country movers, and take a leap of fate to live in another state alone, we usually pick a tiny abode to settle in and be our own home for the first time. Bigger apartments can cost a fortune, and if you choose to live in the Silicon Valley, in San Francisco, for example, the rent alone may cost you as much as $4,700 per month for a two-bedroom apartment. Smaller abodes are easier to take care of, and they are cheaper as well, and as such, completely suitable for living on our own. But they do have their downsides, which come down to having less room around the living quarters to work with when it comes to arranging and will require creative storage solutions.

Why Are Creative Storage Ideas Important?

More than 38 million Americans live in apartments that vary in size, and they are split equally between multi-person and single households. If you have moving across the country planned in the near future, and you’re going to move into a tiny apartment, your long-distance movers won’t have that much stuff to transport. Since large urban areas usually have smaller residences to offer, you can find many imaginative solutions for arrangements that are probably already on your new apartment checklist. Storing options are especially important because we tend to burden our living surroundings with too much stuff, and it can make us feel both stressed and unorganized.

Work area with shelves
A well-organized home can look more spacious

Regularly Declutter to Avoid Overcramping the Place

Moving into a tiny home has its perks, first of all, paying less for the cross country moving services, and cheaper packing service, since you’ll be transporting a lot less of your belongings. But, no matter how much we love some of our large furniture pieces, perhaps it’s best to place them into storage units and go shopping for items that have more functionality and take up less room. But no matter how focused on functionality we are, hoarding stuff all around the house comes naturally. That’s why it’s important to regularly check what items can be thrown out or donated and overall severely declutter around your home, just the way Marie Kondo would do.

Two people carrying boxes
Regularly purge your surroundings to avoid clutter

Start at the Entrance by Placing a Shelf

There are different solutions for every problem we face, and while relocations require moving hacks, organizing your belongings in a tiny abode will require good tips for storing. While most of us would love to have a massive closet and enough cabinets to store every single item we own, it’s not possible as we don’t have enough room for them in a smaller house or an apartment. Although quite challenging to arrange, our entryway is the best way to start implementing solutions for storing, and it’s manageable with a shelf that can be mounted on the wall. Adding some baskets with designated tags for packed shoes or where you can keep seasonal packed clothes, such as knitwear or scarves, will create a neat and stylish design.

A wall shelf with a hanger
Shelves mounted on the walls can do wonders for storing

Hidden Areas Designated to Store Various Stuff

Have you done a move-out cleaning room by room before you’ve ventured to a new place to live in? If the answer is yes, there’s a high probability that you stocked up on different cleaning tools, which you have no idea where to keep. If you have nooks around your tight living quarters, they should be used to your advantage, and buy some shelves and baskets that can fit into them and store away those cleaning supplies. If you want to keep them completely hidden, place curtains in the same color as your walls for a stylish finish.

Smart Furniture Organization Ideas

Furniture that can be used both for its primary purpose and to store away different things into them is the best possible solution for tight residences. You can find benches that have shelving or storing solutions underneath the seat or coffee tables with a flip-top surface, and they will do wonders for your lack of spacing, especially if you have no idea where to store Christmas ornaments. Many ottomans and sofas have a compartment underneath their seat, where you can place your blankets, pillows, or whatever you’d wish to be kept out of sight. Shopping for multifunctional furniture counts as one of the best small apartment ideas and an overall awesome hack for the lack of space in smaller abodes.

A grey sofa with pillows
Find a sofa that has a compartment underneath

How to Be a Good Kitchen Organizer by Building a DIY Wall Rack

If you already own a good wall rack for the kitchen prior to your long-distance moving, write it down on your household inventory list because it will come in handy. But, if you don’t own one, there are plenty of DIY or simple and cheap solutions that can be found online. Here are some of them:

  • Pegboards are multipurpose items that can prove to be life- and space-saving hacks. They are both an easy-to-make DIY solution and can fit any interior. Place it above the sink or the stove, and use it for creating a rack by hanging hooks for things such as rags, cooking utensils, shopping lists, or even baskets with fruit and veggies.
  • Your rack can be upgraded with a magnet plate, which is a perfect solution for holding knives.
  • Step up your storing game by placing a pull-down spice rack into a cabinet.
  • A rolling cart with baskets is a great way to store different kinds of groceries, but it can be even used to place some fragile items such as cups, small bowls, or packed glasses. You can secure the bottom of each basket with packing paper, so nothing gets broken when you move this rack on wheels.
  • Have you got an old wooden ladder stashed somewhere? You don’t even have to build anything to make a perfect hanging rack for pots and pans. Just screw them to the ceiling, add some hooks, and voila – you have a perfect solution to get even those heavy pans out of the way.
  • A plastic rack can be hung or taped on the side of your fridge for an ultimate DIY solution for all those small jars and bags of spices which can’t fit into your cabinet.
  • Dish drying hanging racks are both pretty and very useful because they take up only your wall above the sink and not the countertop.
  • Believe it or not, a simple office supplies organizer that can be hung on a hook is an awesome DIY hack and a unique storage idea to have around a tiny kitchen. It can be used as dish soap and sponge holder, as it allows the water to drain.

Racks of all kinds are a very good organization option that can be placed almost anywhere and can hold various stuff, so don’t be afraid to place them wherever you see fit.

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Upgrade the Storage In and Under Your Kitchen Cabinet

If you’ve already gone through moving cross country a few times, there’s a high chance you are actually pretty good at organizing. From using a moving binder to keep on track with every task to finding some clever packing tips, you are probably really versed at using every available option. That’s why the idea of hanging a small wooden crate underneath your cabinets may not be such a surprising DIY solution for a good organization. This is a great place that can be used for holding fruit and vegetables.

A Desk Organizer Can Also Be Put to Use

Believe it or not, clear desk organizers can be used in the kitchen cabinets as containers to sort various bags and other stuff, and since they are see-through, you will always know where you’ve placed them. These are just a few of the clever storage ideas for small kitchens, and if you want to see some more hacks, watch the following video.

Places Behind Doors Shouldn’t Be Overlooked

Alright, so you’ve transported your stuff safely to your new place and probably had it covered by moving insurance to make sure you have a stress-free relocation, only to find out you have a significant lack of spacing in it. Now, we’ve already mentioned that every inch of the walls can be put to good use for storing, and these solutions can even be both decorative and stylish. But, it probably hasn’t crossed your mind that doors can be used for storing, too, and you can do this by placing stick-on hooks and over-the-door racks for the ultimate organization solutions. So, putting them on the shopping list is one of the first things to do after moving.

A stainless steel hook
Hooks can be used in every part of a residence, and especially behind the door

Plan the Storage in Your Bathroom Like a Pro

If you are looking for creative bathroom storage ideas, don’t think you won’t have the opportunity to be creative, just because tiny residences have even tinier bathrooms. Planning how to place everything in such a cramped space is like when moving companies that offer international shipping place all those vehicles on their trailers while transporting them with their car shipping service. Use every available inch to your advantage.

These Are Clever Bathroom Solutions

There are plenty of solutions to get you more places for storing, from open shelves to small wheel carts. This is especially important for bathrooms if you want to place all the toiletries away from view. Another awesome idea is to hang a fruit basket beside your shower curtain, and it will be an ideal place to store things like sponges and other stuff you’ll need close at hand when showering. Hanging everything on hooks and bars above the ground will also prove useful if you have moved with pets, and you don’t want them to reach anything that isn’t placed in a cabinet or a closet.

A wooden hook with towels and a basket
Use baskets, hooks, and racks wherever you can for a smart organization

Implementing These Ideas Will Make You Feel Like a Complete Genius

If you have moved for love to live with your significant other, making the place you live in functional is probably your top priority. These useful ideas and tricks will make sure that you don’t see living in a smallish home and not having a large closet as a downside, and it will help you create a cozy nest that’s easy to clean up and take good care of. And after all, not having too much stuff to move over to your new address will do wonders for your moving budget, and help you save on money, and have an easier start in your new surroundings.

Kate Holland

A true grunge and rock music fan born in Seattle, Kate has moved across the country and started writing about her experience.

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