Home Organization and Storage: How to Make More Space in Your Home

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When it comes to storage space, it can seem like there is never enough.

There’s always times we wish we were more organized or had more living space. In many cases, you may actually have plenty of living space and you just aren’t using it properly.

If you’re hoping to do some much-needed purging and organizing, read on for ideas on how to make more space in your home.

How to Maximize Storage Space at Home

The age-old question of how to create more space in your home is one of life’s greatest mysteries. For many of us, there comes a point when we realize there is just too much stuff in our home.

If you’re moving or you’ve downsized, for example, you may be better served by getting a self-storage unit. A self-storage unit can be perfect during a move or when you need to temporarily remove some items from your home.

Think of a storage unit like another garage. It’s a safe place outside of your home that can fit everything you need it to. Search here to learn more or find a storage unit in your area.

If you don’t have enough that you need to store it outside of your home, decluttering and organizing may be in order.

Declutter and Purge

The first step to making more space in your home is to declutter and purge.

Take three boxes, bins or garbage bags and designate them as trash, donation items, or keep. As you go through your space, grab items that need to go into one of these boxes or bags.

Let’s say you’re organizing a closet, take out any items you don’t use anymore. Put each item into their perspective bags to either be thrown out, saved, or donated.

Once you see what you’re left with, you can come up with a storage solution to get everything re-organized and stored properly.

How to Create More Storage: Find Clever Storage Solutions

After your purge, you can take stock of everything you’re keeping. The next step is to measure inside your space to see what storage solutions will work there.

Find something that not only looks good but also helps meet your storage needs.

If you’re looking for a mudroom, for example, look for something that has a place to hang jackets, shoes, and daily gear.

If your mudroom space can be seen by the whole first floor, go with something that will conceal everything inside of a cabinet. If your mudroom is inside of a separate space, you can go with a more open concept with just hooks and baskets.

If you’re tight on space in a guest bedroom or an office, for example, double up the room’s function by getting a daybed with storage underneath.

When the room is an office, the daybed provides couch-like seating. When guests need to stay in it, you’ll have a functioning guest bed. With the storage underneath you can hide your work items when you have guests and when you’re working, the drawers can hold your extra bedding.

Maximize Storage Space in All Areas of Your Home

If you need more room in your home but you’re struggling with how to make it, you may need to get creative.

Gaining extra square footage doesn’t always mean you need to spend money on a costly renovation. You’d be surprised by how many spaces in your home can be used to store things.

Areas such as space under a staircase can make a great storage solution. You can carve a closet out of this space or use it for some built-in shelves.

These types of underutilized spaces are easy ways to add storage square footage without actually adding any more room to your home.

Imagine how much you can store in an area like that and you weren’t even using it before. Other areas like this include nooks in the wall, under the bed or newly created built-in areas.

Since you weren’t using these places as anything else before, you won’t believe how much storage space is opened up.

The general idea is just too look at all of the spaces in your home that you aren’t currently using. Think outside the box and chances are you can at least find one or two places that will add some major storage capabilities to your home.

How to Make More Storage Space: Go Vertical

When you’re looking at underutilized space in your home, make sure you’re also looking up. There is a ton of storage potential in higher places in your home. From the backs of doors to the top of cabinets, the ceiling is the limit.

Higher spaces are the perfect places to put items you don’t need every day. Fine china, Christmas decorations, and guest bedding can all fall into this category.

Let’s say you have a walk-in pantry. Your shelves are likely located in the area between your knees and your shoulders.

Look a little higher and you may find you can store even more if you add a few shelves up above. These shelves are great for storing holiday cookie cutters, crystal, china, or table linens that you may only use once a year.

In this same pantry example, you could also add storage on the back of your door. This storage could hold spices, paper products, or other light items that are used more frequently.

You won’t believe how much can actually fit onto the back of a door.