I have a very small apartment (140 square feet) that I’m very glad to come back to every day because it is cozy. The welcoming feeling strikes as I open the entrance door. There is nothing better to refresh my energy after a long day out. But! There’s always one thing that is threatening this little paradise of mine. The clutter! The gap between a clean cozy place and a messy one is very small; it is in direct relation to how small your space is. The smaller it is – the faster it will transform into a stressing labyrinth. If you don’t take control of your space, your space will take control of you. There is nothing worse and energy-draining than living in a messy home. If you don’t organize your place to avoid this fast and lasting deterioration then it will become a perfect receipt for a dysfunctional life. But don’t worry, living small is an art that can easily be learned. From my experience, I listed up some organizing tips for small spaces that will keep your little paradise going.
1. Think Storage
Increase your storage. If you have for example a bed or an ottoman that doesn’t provide storage, a living room table without drawers, dining chairs that don’t fold – then it’s time to think twice. Double-duty furniture, multi-functional furniture or smart furniture are big role players in our little space.
Designer Ana Chillida brings us her ACHAIR-ESTUDIO RECREO-Brand for handmade product, a beautiful interpretation for furniture containing storage space.
ACHAIR by Ana Chillida. Image via Behance NETWORK
2. Have a place for everything
Maybe the most fundamental tip for a small space:
A place for everything and everything in its place.
Isabella Mary Beeton, The Book of Household Management, 1861
You have to organize everything from the beginning into shelving units and storage spaces in well defined zones in order to save yourself from those dangerous moments in which a new pile of stuff is starting to grow fast in the middle of your apartment. The secret is not to allow it to start because once new stuff added to the new pile – YOU become weaker, while IT becomes bigger and eventually uncontrollable! Just as at these people I heard of that need to clear the way every time they have to go to the bathroom and back…
K Workstation by Miso Soup Design
p.s. – It is always good to have an empty storage place for those special occasions when the door bell is ringing, your living room is a mess and you don’t know where to throw the stuff that’s lying around
p.p.s. – And if you haven’t made a list yet, of all the things you need and don’t, then it’s time to do one. A guide line that helps me in these difficult moments is a simple question: Have I been using it in the last year or two? If not then it’s time to say goodbye…
3. Go vertical!
The designer Danny Kuo cleverly claims that in order to save space, “the most efficient way to build is vertically. Building vertically saves space as it uses minimal ground square meters.” Danny Kuo‘s way to transform this concept into a form is in his smart staircase shelving unit.
Staircase Shelving Unit by Danny Kuo
Vertical floor-to-ceiling elements also make the room appear taller. (Check out more about this concept on How to make a small room look bigger).
4. Go digital
The living small concept is a green concept; You use less energy for heating and cooling the space, you purchase less because you have never enough storage places etc… So why not use less paper and go digital? You can have it all on your PC, on a digital storage device or even online. It reduces the storage space drastically and if it’s online you can also access it from anywhere.
5. Go to the corner 
We, small space dwellers, need to use every square foot of our space. I’ve noticed that usually corners are being left out with no treatment. There are lots of great corner shelves out there for all uses (bath rooms, kitchen, living rooms…). So if you need more storage space you can use one of them.
The Corner Tree by Abhinav Dapke
6. Behind the veil
As mentioned before, the road from a cozy space to a dysfunctional one is short. Having too much stuff in a small space makes the place feel cluttered and messy. Try to keep things behind curtains, behind closed doors and inside the drawers.
Hope these organizing tips for small spaces helped you. I will love to hear what worked best for you and any new idea!
Check out how this guy put it all together:
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“A place for everything and everything in its place…” I remember my father saying this to us all the time, and now living in a small apartment it pays of…;)