With increasingly smaller homes, space has become a concern for many. If your home is cramped, it is crucial to optimize its layout and organization. Failing to push the walls, you have to go through every room and take advantage of every nook and cranny, from floor to ceiling. To help you in this mission, here are 38 tips and space saving ideas that will allow you to find the space you need in your home.
1. Separate the living rooms
If you have a large room such as a living / dining room for example, it is a good idea to separate the different spaces . Not by a partition, but by storage such as shelves, a bookcase, a sideboard, or any other vertical piece of furniture. You thus optimize a surface while in height and can store some of your belongings in your new “partition”.
2. Don’t neglect the over-the-doors
In the same vein, there is always a space above the doors that you can fill with a small shelf or a piece of furniture depending on the space you have. You will store books, binders, records … In short, everything that does not need to be taken out daily.
3. Put drawers everywhere
You can slide drawers under your sofa, under your bed or under certain furniture to save space and storage space. If it is well optimized, you can store so much in it! A layout that effectively combats clutter in its interior.
4. Choose smart formats
In addition to the foldable formats, you can opt for nesting tables, or those that include storage, stools or even ottomans when not in use. Very trendy, these furnishings can be very practical when you want to gain space.
5. Put your bed in the closet
When you live in a small apartment such as a studio, the sofa bed solution is often preferred. But we often forget the beds that blend in with the decor! Do you know the bed that folds up against or squarely, inside a partition? And for those who prefer to use the height of their room, there are Murphy beds that mount to the ceiling during the day. They are ideal solutions to gain precious square meters in a small area without staining your decor.
6. Arrange your entrance and hallway
You need all the space you need, not to mention your entrance and hallway. For this, you can add shelves and furniture hung on the wall. Think of the angled one, they are just as convenient for taking advantage of locations that you might think are unusable.
Depending on their size, you also have the option of using a valet with integrated mirror. It will allow you to combine in a single piece of furniture the coat rack, the mirror and a corner to store your shoes.
7. But also your sub-slopes
What goes for the staircase goes for all the lofts in the house! There is a considerable amount of unused space behind your placo. Take advantage of the attic space.
The storage under the roof of little use cases is common, but there is so much more to do. Why not create a play corner for your children, or a guest room?
8. Use door and window tops
Rather than opting for a large dresser or a bookcase, invest the walls intelligently. Understand: opt for shelves or cupboards cleverly placed high above the openings of the room. The tops of windows but also the tops of doors can thus become real bargains for tidying up without wasting space. On these high shelves or in these cupboards, it will be possible to store excess crockery or books that you will not leaf through regularly. Finally, if you succumb to such an arrangement, consider getting a small decorative wooden stepladder to complete the decor!
9. Opt for fine furniture
In a living room that lacks space, we say outside with imposing furniture! The XXL wardrobe or the square coffee table are definitely not welcome. To save space in a cramped living room, preference is given to fine furniture which has the sole purpose of facilitating circulation without ever losing practicality. Here, the two coffee tables are fitted with a shelf under the top which generates additional storage space. Depending on usage, the fine coffee table may seem too small, so we don’t hesitate to add a side table to move around.
10. Opt for corner storage
Nooks and crannies in a room can often be thought of as wasted space. In a cramped living room, the angles seem to hamper our planning needs and our ever more intense desire to save space. But some pieces of furniture bend over backwards to fit into these famous corners, which ultimately are far from a puzzle if you know how to tame them. Here, no inch of wall is wasted thanks to the many shelves that run along the wall and provide storage space in all angles. In addition to serving as an airy library, they host many decorative objects that boost the living room.
11. Leave the walls white
Saving space in the living room is not only a question of smart furniture and cunning arrangements … Expanding a living room also involves the choice of colors present in the room. Colors above all of the walls. To enlarge a living room , there is therefore a golden rule: no dark colors on the wall, at the risk of reducing the perspectives, making the room visually smaller. So make way for white walls which have the gift of creating an illusion, creating a feeling of space and effectively reflecting natural light.
12. Invest the window sill and radiator box
Finding every nook and cranny, optimizing them as much as possible is the credo of the show in search of space! Among the very special corners to optimize: window sills and radiator tops ! Many small apartments have seized the decorative potential of these mini and necessarily cute corners. A little decoration and a few books placed on a wooden shelf attached to a radiator are enough to do the trick. On the window sill side, we think of copying the bow window spirit of our dear English neighbors if there is enough space. A fine piece of furniture strong enough, a small cushion, a little decoration and you will have invented your own mini decorative window sill!
13. Use the full height of the walls
Do you have a small living room but have a high ceiling? This solution is made for you! Here, the beautiful solid oak shelves have been installed halfway up in order to make the best use of the available floor space. This space-saving trick makes it possible to free up space to hang pictures and to take advantage of the bench which acts as a sofa while using the height to increase the storage space for books and other decorative objects. A trick to reproduce above the doors to increase the storage space.
14. Favor white furniture for a larger living room
The white furniture are not to everyone’s taste. Some consider them too cold, others on the contrary adore their neutral character. White sofa, white chairs, white shelves will nevertheless be real pluses in a living room in search of grandeur. Their presence allows the room to be visually enlarged. Ultra sleek, this white furniture will also appear ideal in an interior that chooses the Scandinavian style.
15. Recover lost spaces and open up perspectives
To gain as much space as possible in the living room, you have to be cunning and use all the nooks and crannies you have. In the foreground, thick walnut shelves have taken over a niche to create an ingenious bookcase that accommodates the television. On the left, the fireplace mantel acts as an extra chic shelf while it is overlooked by a mirror which, in addition to visually enlarging the space, reflects the rays of the sun. For do-it-yourselfers, you can divert the fireplace to install shelves that will serve as improvised storage in the fireplace.
16. Divide spaces without partitioning them
If your main living room is large, it can be ingenious to create several zones and use them, especially in terms of storage and organization, without closing it off and risking losing brightness and space.
Thus, using a glass roof, a piece of furniture with niches or even a visual delimitation such as a geometric painting or a combination of two different floor coverings, you can completely organize an office space, a entry, or even a library and store the elements that are logically associated with it, without shocking, since it is a perfectly coherent and organized optimization.
17. Consider the height to save floor space
If your interior is not very large and you are running out of space to store your things, do not think about investing in new furniture and overloading your rooms. Nothing better to make them look even smaller!
Instead, do not be afraid of altitude by favoring wall units that offer you three undeniable advantages: lots of storage space, no floor space and the impression of larger rooms!
18. Use wall storage
Niches, straight or corner shelves, coat hooks, baskets … abuse the small elements to be fixed on the walls or on the splashback of your kitchen, which, in addition to offering you smart storage, allow you to highlight your more beautiful objects or to have at hand accessories or essential objects for your daily life.
19. Optimize your corridors and clearances
Often empty and forgotten , the corridors and hallways do however waste precious square meters in terms of storage. Do not hesitate to take advantage of it and to decorate them with some practical furniture, but not very wide , in order to be able to store, but without encumbering them or obstructing the passage.
20. Make use of the underside of your staircase …
Often left empty, the underside of your staircase begs to be exploited! You can choose to fit out a closet , a bookcase by attaching many shelves , or, more simply, slip a low cabinet.
21. Large mirrors to enlarge a room
A large mirror ( or several small ones ) can totally transform any room, no matter its size. Not only does a mirror create a feeling of space, but it also brings more clarity and luminosity to the room in which you place it. In addition, large mirrors are a magnificent timeless decoration. You can not be wrong!
22. A corner bedside table
Here’s the perfect tip for people who don’t have enough room for a bedside table in the bedroom. Secure a small wall shelf in the corner next to your bed. This creates the perfect space to put down a small bedside lamp, your current reading and to charge your laptop.
23. A sliding partition to enlarge a room
Often, small apartments have too many partitions. The result: your apartment looks even smaller than it actually is. Try installing a sliding overhead partition, which you can easily slide out to make a room bigger or split into two.
So you can open the partition to create a larger space when entertaining your friends. Likewise, you can close the partition when you need more peace and privacy.
24. Baskets attached to the bathroom wall
When you live in a small apartment, you have to know how to optimize all vertical spaces, especially those in the bathroom. In fact, bathrooms are sometimes so small that you have to store towels under the sink – a place that is often not very clean.
Here’s a particularly quick and easy idea that can help you. Instead of the usual shelves, attach simple baskets to the wall to store your terrycloth towels and bath towels.
25. A narrow console table for the living room
Certainly, a low table in front of the sofa is very practical for putting down drinks. But in a small apartment, how do you find space for those cumbersome tables? A narrow console table placed at the back of your sofa is the best way to create a surface you can rest your glasses on, without wasting your precious space.
This table is also the perfect place to put down a lamp and some decorations and, of course, your wine glass when you relax on the sofa!
26. A separation curtain for the bedroom
For kids who share a bedroom, use a large room divider to share the space, while still keeping an open and airy look. If you live in a studio, this is also the perfect solution to separate your sleeping area from the rest of the room. Very useful for dividing a space if you are a tenant and you cannot do any work.
27. Floating shelves for storing beauty products
The problem with small bathrooms is the lack of storage: not enough drawers and a tiny sink on which nothing can be placed. Result, no place to store your beauty products, your hairbrushes etc.
The solution? Make use of the wasted space next to the mirror and install invisible fixing wall shelves . So you can easily store all your toiletries and have them close at hand!
28. Storage shelves above the sink and washbasin
On closer inspection, I think every place in your apartment has a suitable shelf! Even the small space above your sink or sink can be exploited to save even more space. You can easily find a wide variety of this type of freestanding shelving in DIY stores. To buy one now, we recommend this shelf specially designed for sinks and basins.
29. Think about the redevelopment
Sometimes a simple redevelopment is enough to see your house in a new light. Purify the rooms of the latter by opting for a minimalist layout. You will have the feeling that you have more space to enjoy your interior.
30. Play on the lights
Adequate lighting will tend to enhance your interior and give you the feeling that you have more space. We therefore hunt dimly lit corners, in favor of other more enhanced spaces. However, nothing prevents you from not lighting all areas in the same way.
31. Solicit headboards
If you are really lacking space in your bedroom, using your bed as a small storage and decoration area can be a solution. You will be able to free up space all around the bed, above which you can also install a shelf or any other support that will allow you to put some of your personal effects.
32. Bigger windows
As we have seen, the play of light can put a room to its advantage. Thus, a bay window or simply larger windows will give you a better view of the outside while “ventilating” your room.
33. Use your doors
If you haven’t yet replaced your door with a partition, then why not use that as storage as well? Clock, accessories, office supplies… You will be amazed at how much a door can help you optimize your space!
34. Help yourself with the decor
A paint in light tones will certainly give the feeling of a room with larger dimensions. Dark colors tend to “enclose the room on itself”.
35. The hallway, a sometimes neglected space
Simple “place of passage”, the hallway can quickly turn into a space where (small) furniture and accessories can be found, in order to unclog the rest of the house!
36. Use angles
To optimize the square meters of your home, use angles! Install shelves to use every nook and cranny of your home, which is often unused.
37. Adapt your furniture
Don’t force yourself to buy a desk at all costs if you don’t have the space. Instead, adapt your furniture to the available space and wear your choice, for example, on a corner desk!
38. Accumulate storage boxes
To avoid seeing your living room filled with piles of magazines and having a disorganized dressing room, opt for storage boxes that you can even stack to save space!
