Managing storage in a small home

**Collaborative post**

The average new build in Britain is just 925 square feet – which is less than half the size they were in the 1920s. According to research by the Royal Institute of British Architects, over 50% of new family houses in the UK are “rabbit hutches” that are too small for most buyers.

No wonder we can feel like the walls are closing in on us – particularly when families start to grow and space has to be found for more people and extra furniture.

The most important thing to do in a small home is to manage storage because this will give you some much-needed space and as a result, it will appear much bigger than it actually is.

So, how do you do this?

Don’t let the space become too cluttered

The quickest way to fill the limited space you have is by letting it become cluttered. The best way to avoid this is by sorting through everything regularly. Make sure you throw out the rubbish, donate your old items to charity and sell anything you don’t need – basically do not hoard!

Use storage outside of the home

If you find you have items you don’t use that often but don’t want to get rid of, you could always put them into local storage such as Now Storage self storage. You can easily access this 24/7 but have the peace of mind that everything is safe and secure when you are not there. Then, when you have space or move up the property ladder, you can get these items back – rather than regretting getting rid of them!

Look up and use dead space

Look around your house – it is almost guaranteed that you have plenty of empty wall space and awkward spaces just waiting to be used. Take the space above the doors, for example – in the bathroom you could add a shelf or cupboard here and use it for storing clean towels or extra toiletries. Shelves, cupboards, and vertical storage solutions are ideal to make the most of empty wall space rather than much-needed floor space.

Take advantage of multi-functional furniture

Your bed takes up a lot of space in the bedroom, doesn’t it? But, what else are you meant to do – you need it, after all. Well, you could swap it for an ottoman style bed or one with drawers – these open up to reveal plenty of space for storing clean bedding, towels, clothes – whatever you like. Swapping your current furniture for multi-functional furniture means you don’t lose it, you just gain space.

Think before you buy!

Before you buy something new think very carefully – do you really need it? Where is it going to go? Do you have enough space for it? A cluttered home doesn’t only make it smaller, it also causes you to feel stressed and disorganised as you spend half your time trying to find missing items.

Ultimately you just need to be clever with your storage and you will find there is much more space in your small home than you first thought.