Tips on living in small spaces

[Wenjie]

Please share any wisdom or tips

We are in a 67.633 sq meter space schooling and working from home with four kids.

I know it would make the biggest difference to declutter and tidy, but also the layout is awkward. The sitting room can feel like a thoroughfare. Also, our kitchen is a galley one, so there's no way in space for a table.

My main problem is toys. I feel like I'm always getting rid of things, but they are like refugees that find a way to the floor no matter my efforts. We're also getting rid of our sofa because we don't need guest room for entertainment., But my boxes of Christmas decorations have been hiding under them and need a new home.

I live in the suburbs below San Francisco, where most families live in houses, but suspected there would be people on here familiar with making small homes work for a family, so it would be great to know how others manage.

I just saw Ikea's new catalog and am coveting the pages where a family of four manages to fit in a one bedroom. But where is their stuff? And how do they prevent their parents from buying those kids more toys?

[Wenjie]

@ifitpleasesandsparkles Thank you so much! This was a great wealth of tips you gave me. It really helps getting advice from someone who's so experienced with living in a small space.

[Wenjie]

@catrinvennastin My Homeowners Association is really strict about what can be put on my outdoor space. I went to ikea to look at furniture, but their outdoor stock is seasonal, which I didn't know. They were also out of stock for trofast and Kallax products. There was probably a dozen things I wanted to get, so I didn't check first before traveling there. I was really disappointed. The supply chain must be really interrupted right now, either from tarrifs or the pandemic, or both. I can order everything, but it won't arrive until April. Maybe that's best and gives me a chance to declutter. This week I'm going to work on the bathroom and one other area, probably outdoors. My mother is visiting in March, so I can have a face to face talk with her about gifts.

[ifitpleasesandsparkles]

I grew up in a two room tenement flat with a bathroom. My parents slept in the living room in a fold out sofa bed. The only other room was the kitchen. I slept in a bed next to the fridge. I've grown up to surround myself with very little. I like things minimal and having too much stuff around feels stressful to me. We simply didn't have much when I was growing up because there was nowhere to put it.

Now I am pregnant and my partner and I will eventually buy a house but for the moment we are happy to make do with our two bedroom flat. Our flat is in the roof so that cuts available space down even more as the rooms slope.

My tips would be:

• Declutter and minimise! Take this more seriously than anything else you do. Before you look for ingenious storage solutions, start getting rid of things! Search online and on YouTube for information about minimalism. It's a bit of a minefield as it's currently trendy. But if you can find some sites and channels you relate to, they could really help.

• rethink the way you use rooms. Just because the flat is set up a certain way doesn't mean it needs to stay that way. We are currently renovating our flat and giving ourselves a whole extra room by clever use of space.

• don't cram every nook and cranny with storage, it starts to feel oppressive. If you declutter and minimise properly you shouldn't need to have under bed boxes (god I hate these) or high shelving. The less storage you have, the more light and airy the space feels. And the less you have to dust!!

• we don't have room in our kitchen for a table so my partner is making a wooden table top that will fold up onto the wall when not needed. We have wooden folding chairs that will also hang on hooks on the wall.

• we've managed so far during our clothes on clothes horses, but with baby on the way the next purchase is a tumble dryer. They're essential for small spaces in my opinion.

• instead of a tv we have a huge pull down projector that sits in our bay window.

• our couch is a sofa bed so that we have room for guests or so that one of us can escape if the other is ill and disturbing their sleep.

• we've done away with the bath and we just have a shower room where the toilet and wash basin is. This means we can have a smaller "bathroom" and the old bathroom can be repurposed as an office space.

[CatrinVennastin]

OP Ikea trofast units are great for toys. We also use them for shoes/dog walking stuff/school bags.

Is it warm enough to store toys outside in your coveted area?

Def have a no more toys conversation with your family, I had to do this a few years back but it was worth it as the kids have healthy savings accounts now which are more useful than more fecking sylvanian families.

[PattyPan]

Surprised to hear you have a 17 year old - it really can’t be pleasant for them. Will they be moving out to go to university or do you expect them to stay at home for a few more years? Worth bearing in mind so that any changes you make can flex with your family. Are your 9 and 7 year olds different genders too, as I imagine that could also cause tensions when they hit puberty. You mentioned that you bought this flat a year ago. How did you envision it working with all of you in there?Could you afford to rent it out and then rent somewhere bigger for you? Honestly that is what I would do in this scenario if it is an option at all.

[breatheslowandtrust]

Have you considered Arabic style floor seating, that doubles up as a bed at night? I think you really need an area that you all feel comfortable living in too, and a double bed takes up so much space.

Check out thevitamindproject on Instagram, she talks a lot about small living. The key is to be ruthless + clever storage sutions.

[sashh]

OP

Have a google of 'tiny homes' there are some interesting ideas, most have a bed on a mezzanine but some build platforms for storage, you need to have fairly high ceilings for a mezzanine.

www.extraspace.com/blog/home-organization/tiny-house-organization-storage-ideas/

This is interesting, a sofa that converts to bunk beds, I don't know how big the bedroom is or the ages of your children but would you consider having the children in the living room and keeping the bedroom you you and your dh as a bed/sitting room?

soongohome.com/folding-functional-sofa-bed-fashion-bunk-bed-for-living-room-furniture-iron-durable-frame-convertible-easily-stylish-sofa-couch-bunk-beds.html

[suziezu]

if the outside space is totally private - basically that's where you can put all your storage, etc. You can probably fit at least one if not two large storage boxes and put a lot of stuff into that.

[Wenjie]

@Stcharlotte Yes, we've been using a round table for working and schooling from home. I do need to get rid of it and replace it with a square or rectangle table. I had gotten a round table because that's supposed to be a good shape for small spaces. But we've found everyone prefers a straight edge surface for using a computer.

Thank you so much for the link! I'm really loving all the good ideas.

[Wenjie]

@sashh Thank you so much for the links! I felt a bit downtrodden when my husband said no Murphy bed "for now." (If not now, when? I'm impatient!) He made a good point that we plan to pull up the rugs and install wood floors (probably laminate), so we shouldn't install a Murphy bed before doing that.

So alternatives are very welcome. They're really encouraging.

[Wenjie]

@muddledmidget You put it much more succinctly than I ever could with my rambling! Thank you. Since making the post, I experimented with the bed and moved it over by the kitchen. For now I have the headboard facing the seating area so I don't have to stare at my bed all the time. I've found I do not mind seeing my bed from the kitchen, but I feel some dissatisfaction when I'm in the kitchen and looking straight at my bed. I might need to experiment more.

Ruthless is a good word. It's helped to keep the advice to be brutal in mind while getting rid of toys. I'll add ruthless into the mix. Just imagine me grabbing a family of unicorns by their necks as I shove them into a donation bag, muttering "Be brutal. Be ruthless."

[Wenjie]

@Notwithmyshoes Thank you so much for the reply! I actually just moved my bed out of the sitting area because I felt so inspired to rearrange. This post was great for making me look at everything in a new way.

I haven't bought a Kallax unit yet. My husband wants the biggest size (5x5) and I thought the next biggest size would be good enough (4x4).

With the Kallax, I'm loving that the kids can do school on their computers without the teachers seeing my bed.

It's our rainy season, but you'd have to climb a mountain to reach snow. We had years of drought before it started raining again, so I'm loving the good soaking. A proper outside table will make a big difference and I'm willing to bring it in depending on weather.

I tried looking at outdoor storage at Ikea since posting this, but was told those are seasonal items. I can hardly wait, I'm so impatient to get started!

I will definitely check out Ikea hacks. I saw in the store that I could attach a table to the kallax, so I'm eager to see what else people did with the shelves.

Thank you again! This has been so exciting for me.

[MustBeTime]

Also, make use of the space on the back of doors. Shoe racks can house soft toys or you can get flat book holders too.

[MustBeTime]

Think vertical space more than horizontal. Use shelves or units that run almost to the ceiling and stash boxes such as xmas decs on the top. Also, add shelves over door frames to make use of the space.

Think multi use for all furniture, a sofa that has a gap underneath so you can store toys, a fold away table, a high bed which will give tonnes of room underneath.

Any attic space or garage? If so make use of it for everything you can.

[Wenjie]

@PattyPan Sorry. I thought this post was done, or would have answered yesterday. The kids are 17, 9, 7, and 3. Thanks for all the suggestions. I became so motivated after this post! I've been trying to be brutal like suggested.

[NotWithMyShoes]

Would your bed fit where the dining table is in the pictures? Block it off with a kallax unit at the end. Then you have the rest of the room as a living area.

What's the weather usually like? Could you get an outdoor dining table and eat outside as much as possible? Carry it in when weather is bad.

Floor to ceiling kallax on the wall behind the sofa and maybe on the wall opposite. Outdoor cupboards for the balcony. Outdoor furniture with storage under the seat.

I know you said you looked for IKEA, but look at IKEA hacks too. You can e.g. build a bed on a kallax unit so you have extra storage underneath.

[PattyPan]

5 people in a one bedroom flat is always going to be cramped. You’re going to have to be brutally minimalist! What ages are your children?
What about a double loft bed for you? That way you can keep the sofa underneath and your bed is separated slightly more from the living space.

[muddledmidget]

I'm just trying to get it straight in my head, there are 4 children sleeping in the one bedroom with 2 sets of bunkbeds, and you're sleeping in the lounge on a bed, having got rid of the sofa? So the lounge is currently your bedroom, the lounge, the dining room and the school room? I'd make it a rule that there are no toys in there at the end of the day. Find storage for the bedroom and all toys have to be back in there before bed. I don't think you have space to keep a lot of toys and are going to have to be ruthless.

[sashh]

This has some interesting ideas, including a murphy bed that is also a sofa.

makespace.com/blog/posts/loft-bed-murphy-bed-storage-bed-comparison/

Some alternatives to a murphy bed

www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.trendir.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fold%2Farchives%2F2014%2F05%2F31%2Fspace-saving-bed-raises-become-ceiling-art-renato-arrigo-1.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.trendir.com%2Fspace-saving-bed-raises-to-become-ceiling-art-by-renato-arrigo%2F&tbnid=LvQNwdjM644RdM&vet=12ahUKEwjR5ZzFu9zuAhXN0uAKHQMdC00QMyggegUIARDuAQ..i&docid=yyrZlBHGBsQEvM&w=1040&h=770&q=bed%20stored%20in%20ceiling&hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwjR5ZzFu9zuAhXN0uAKHQMdC00QMyggegUIARDuAQ

[StCharlotte]

Do you need desk space for wfh? I have one of these which fits on our landing.

www.futoncompany.co.uk/tables-and-chairs/type/desks.html

[AdventureIsWaiting]

If you don't use your outside space and the climate in San Francisco is (relatively) temperate, how about an outside storage locker that you can put plastic / wood / hardier toys in?

If you are struggling for table space, what about getting some lap trays? Not great for posture, but better than nothing. We store ours behind the sofa when not in use.

I'd also Google for Japanese storage ideas - they seem to have really good ideas for smaller apartments.

Unfortunately there is no good substitute for decluttering - sorry!

[DifficultBloodyWoman]

The less you have, the less you need.

Be brutal.

Check out missminimalist.com and zenhabits.com for inspiration. You can do a lot without being as extreme as them. I think Leo lives in or near SF too.

[StopMakingATitOfUrselfNPissOff]

Also look at how big your furniture is and consider downsizing. Do you need a 6 seater dining table (for example) or could you manage with a 4.
Also IKEA Pax wardrobes are brilliant. So many configurations for the internals, you could have a whole wall of them in the bedroom for everyone’s clothes

[StopMakingATitOfUrselfNPissOff]

Something like this set up?

[BarbaraofSeville]

What's the weather like where you are? Are you allowed to store things on your balcony? There's a lot of space out there and I'd be tempted to get a small shed or some covered outdoor shelving to keep things outside if weather proof and allowed, although I know a lot of apartment complexes have ridiculous rules about not using balconies for useful things like the drying of laundry or storage.

That's a lovely apartment and with a reduction in the amount of stuff you have and some clever solutions will help enormously in making it nicer to live in. Apart from the kitchen area, it looks quite spacious to me. The bedroom especially is loads bigger than most UK bedrooms unless in high end properties.