How to Organize a Home with Little Space

Lisa Rivera • Jan 28, 2022

It can be challenging to organize a small home, but don’t despair! There are simple and efficient solutions for organizing even the most space-challenged residence.

Here are a few valuable storage tips to get you going in the right direction.

Get Rid of Stuff
Maximize Closet Space
Maximize Pantry Space
Expect More From Your Doors
Utilize Unused Areas
Discover Hooks and Pegs
Find Multiple Uses for Rooms and Furniture

There’s nothing like a home where everything is in its proper place. Read on to learn how that can be accomplished in a smaller-sized home.

Purge Items to Organize Your Small Home

Does the idea of discarding old items make you blue? Do you feel like you’re saying farewell to an old friend? That's completely understandable, but this is a blog about finding organizing solutions for small spaces. If you have all the room in the world, go ahead and keep your elementary school soccer trophies, but if you need to save room, then some of your treasures will have to go.

If you have items that hold true sentimental value, then by all means hold onto them. As you go through each possession, ask yourself if this is something you will truly miss, or is it just a curio you’ve been holding onto out of habit. For other items like tools, clothing, or media, try to think back to when you last needed them. If it’s been months or years, then you can probably do without.

Get The Most Out of Your Closets

Inefficient closets can be a profound waste of space. Once a closet becomes disorganized, it’s only a matter of time before you or a family member is jamming jackets, hats, or various boxes into it. Eventually, you'll be faced with an incomprehensible mess. Also, if you’re only utilizing the top half of a closet, then you’re missing out on some prime real estate.

There are numerous options for keeping your closets in tip-top shape. Installing belt racks and tie racks will make it easier to find things when you need them, and jewelry organizers are essential if you want to keep earrings and necklaces clean and neatly sorted. Clever Closets provides additional tips in Four Tips for Organizing Your Custom Closets.

Closets offer opportunities for storing all kinds of things. Stackable plastic bins and storage drawers are perfect for opening up additional space. Real Simple is especially enamored with over-the-door shoe organizers (which can be used for anything, by the way), baskets, and containers, and recommend investing in an armoire if you’re still lacking adequate closet space.

Bonus Tip: Just be careful to only store non-clothing items in plastic bins, as your clothes could become a victim to mold growth.

Clean Out Your Kitchen Pantry

Many homeowners fail to recognize the importance of an organized pantry. Like your closet, it doesn’t take much for this space to descend from clean and efficient to messy and confusing. Not only is an organized pantry easier to navigate, but keeping food carefully stowed can lead to a safer, pest-free environment.

Some easy steps to a more organized pantry include moving your bagged and boxed items like sugar and flour into easy-to-recognize mason jars or bins and creating different zones for various categories of food.

Create a Doorway to Storage

It’s natural to assume walls can be used to store things. Take a look at shelves! Not enough homes, however, take advantage of the storage capacity of doors. Doors can be used to hold all sorts of things. Hooks on the front door are ideal for hats and jackets, but you can add shelves or wire baskets to any door in your home as well.

Use the bathroom door to store soaps and towels, a closet door for shoes and socks, or the office door for office supplies and books. You’ll be amazed how much more organized your home can be merely by utilizing the doors.

Fill Up Those Nooks and Crannies

Every home has areas that don’t seem to have much use. Don’t be misled! Try to give awkward corners or oversized window sills a fresh look. Small sets of drawers can fit almost anywhere, and tiny bookshelves are an efficient use of space and more attractive than an empty bedroom corner.

You might be using the space beneath your bed for storage, but is it thoughtfully organized? Instead of cramming old pictures and dog toys under your bed, consider purchasing a bed frame with drawers built-in. Or, rather than designating the space as a place where clutter goes to die, store linens or smaller accessories in clearly marked bins. It'll look neater, and your items will be easier to retrieve when needed.

Embrace Wall Storage

To make the most efficient use of your home’s space, you’re going to have to think vertically. Odds are pretty good that you have ample wall space that could be used for storage, but you’re just not using it. Homeowners have been installing Slatwall racks in their garages for years. They're typically used for storing tools and bins, but you can use them in other areas of your home as well.

Slatwall racks in your laundry room are perfect for detergents and softeners, while a pegboard in the bedroom can be used for books, plants, and photographs. Attractive hooks are an aesthetically pleasing way to gain vertical storage space for jewelry, and you can get similar use out of closet walls as well.

Get Double-Duty Results

You know how smaller houses work. It’s all over the TV. They take a mirror, flip it around, and it turns into a six-piece dinette set. Well, you don’t have to be a magician or have a master’s degree in Tetris to get more efficient use out of the furniture in your home.

If your TV is perched on a stand, put it on top of a dresser instead. Does your daughter need a little workspace? Put a tiny desk and chair in her closet. Some rooms can be useful for more than one task. Taking up an entire room for an office, for instance, might be a waste of resources. You can make room for a workspace, however, by setting up attractive dividers.

These can be as inexpensive and simple as hanging a curtain or making judicious use of a bookcase. Any time you can take a piece of furniture or a room and give it more than one function, you make your home more efficient and easier to manage.

Conclusion

They say that the Chinese word for “crisis” is the same word for “opportunity.” While there's no guarantee that’s true, that is the spirit in which you should take when reorganizing your small home. There’s a lot of space you’re not using, and there are several paths you can take to gain full advantage of all that’s available to you.

Once you start looking for new ways to organize, you’ll be amazed at how effective a little planning and creativity can go towards organizing a small home, no matter how little room you have to work with.