Organizing and Storage Ideas for Small Spaces

Do you know what I can never have too much of in my house? Storage space.

When we moved from Colorado to Texas we lost 400 square feet by moving from a house with a basement to one without. I tried to find a house with a basement but that just doesn’t happen in Texas. At least not in our neck of the woods.

After growing accustomed to having so much space, I got pretty spoiled and convinced myself that I was the queen of home organizing ideas. I convinced myself I had a good grasp on clutter and organization and presented a somewhat minimalist style to the world, but I was just fooling myself. I used the basement as my Monica closet – the place where I hid all of the boxes, bulky/seasonal items, and all of the things I didn’t want to let go of, so that my house appeared to be meticulously kept.

Maybe it’s been the reduction in space since moving to Texas or now having two daughters instead of just one pre-crawler, but my house doesn’t look like it used to and I’m ok with that. Mostly. I still crave order and am always brainstorming organizing ideas and concocting storage ideas for small spaces.

I love a good challenge and less hidden storage space means I need to maximize storage possibilities wherever I can. My house has three bedrooms, so with the arrival of my second daughter in February and the need to maintain a guest room that room has to serve a dual purpose. So when it comes to organizing and decorating, I want the items I choose to be visually appealing or even unnoticed.

Organizing and Storage Ideas for Small Spaces

1. Declutter and donate. Get rid of everything you don’t find beautiful or useful. All of those items you think, “maybe one day I’ll use it or need it again,” really do add up and you risk losing a lot of potential storage space.
2. Organize things logically. Don’t stash cookbooks on the bookshelf in the office if you use them often, find a spot for them in the kitchen. If you make things easy to find and in close proximity to where the item would actually be used, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and frustration later.
3. Use closet and floor space wisely. My nursery/guest room is kind of an awkward layout with an offset window, French doors, and a walk-in-closet complicate things. This gives me one full wall to take advantage of. This forces me to either shove another bulky piece of furniture into an already crowded room or place the dresser in the closet. I opted for the closet. While using furniture inside of a closet might seem like a waste, to me it’s not. It’s still convenient to access and the room doesn’t feel quite as cramped as before.
4. Don’t forget under the bed. Maximizing hidden storage options doesn’t mean you should cram anything and everything under your bed and call it a day. Keep things organized under the bed too by using underbed storage boxes to keep those things you don’t have drawer/closet space for but still don’t want to have too far away either. While these are great for clothes, also think about workout gear, important papers, or seasonal decor. Don’t forget to use the space under the crib!
5. Maximize hidden storage options. I love to utilize canvas storage bins to ensure I’m not allowing any space to go to waste. These large collapsible canvas toy boxes can be easily relocated around the room or to other areas of the house as need and discretely hide the contents. Their neutral coloring and heavy duty canvas construction allow them to blend with any decor and conceal so much with their roomy 30″x15″16″ dimensions. I use them for their intended use as toy boxes but these canvas boxes could also be used for things like linens as well.

Whether you’re organizing a small space like mine or just looking to gain some order in your home, remember these tips and you’ll find you have many more space than you anticipated. My nursery/guest room is by no means complete and there are many more storage and organizing products on my wish list. But I’m of the opinion organization is a lifestyle and constantly evolving so it will forever remain a work in progress.

More organization tips:

• Tips for small laundry room organization
• DIY storage boxes for organization
• How to organize product manuals
• Organizing small spaces
• How to create a family command center