i need major space saving ideas....

[juicychops]

my house is tine - 2 up 2 down terrace. you come in the front door straight into the front room. stairs are in the front room, bathroom tiny, kitchen reasonable but only because there is barely any sides for food prep.
bedrooms are okish size but only tiny fitted wardrobes so lot of the spare room is taken up with chest of drawers for clothes.

i desperately want to move but realistically i dont see it happening for another year at lease. dp needs to sort himself out financially and i am paying a loan at the moment. all we'd be able to do is rent somewhere else which seems silly as the rent now is so so cheap.

so....

i want to have a house makeover to make me feel like it is actually somewhere im not going to DREAD being for the next year. i need a bigger sofa as all i have is a 2 seater and ive put up with it for so long i dont want to have to put up wit hit any longer. so a bigger sofa will obviously make the front room smaller
in the front room we also have a huge storage heater which takes up a whole wall under the stairs so nothing can go on that wall.

any space saving ideas anyone can offer would be brilliant. dont mind paying minimal amount of money as im pretty desperate now. ive lived in this crap house for 7 years and ive wanted out for a long time. need to make drastic changes!! although its only rented, the landlady is pretty ok with me doing things providing it benefits the house.

the front room is small and freezing in the winter so some of the walls are painted quite dark to make it more cosy which it is, but think it makes it prob feel smaller than it would if it was lighter.

ideas greatly appreciated for all rooms of my dingy house! i know its a bit hard that you cant actually SEE the house though

What kind of ideas are you looking for? Storage solutions or ideas on how to make the space look bigger?

both i think i would benefit from.

just ideas of how others have made the best possible use of a certain space or made a small room seem bigger and roomier

IKEA is great for space saving ideas.

Shelves above doors are good - we store loo rolls on the shelf above the door in the bathroom...

Boxes for putting things in tidily - tidy junk is much more compact than messy junk...

Boxes under the sofa for toys

Drawer-type boxes under the beds

Boxes on top of shelf units/wardrobes etc...

hunt your house for dead space and put shelves in it - corner units are good too

Big mirrors make spaces seem bigger

Dark colours can make the walls 'fall in' so definitely go for lighter colours - warm light colours though like sagey greens and dusky pinks and creamy yellows. Our dining room is 'pecan' from homebase and I love it

Put a shed at the end of the garden and put stuff in there.

Put shelves in the cupboard under the stairs

De-clutter and give stuff you don't really need to charity/freecycle/ebay e.g. cd's you don't listen to any more, books you won't read again, clothes that don't quite fit any more.

If you're storeing older DC clothes for younger DC then use those bags that you squash all the air out of to compact down the space.

Undersized furniture can make the room feel bigger... we used to have a tiny 'tub' sofa - not good for sprawling but did trick the mind

Shelves in the corners of the bathroom - put 'stuff' on them :-)

Daylight makes rooms look bigger so get high hedges trimmed etc...

Center lights make rooms look smaller - use lamps in the corners to make pools of light...

Cabin beds in kids room will make lots of space under the bed available - you might be able to get cheaper ones on freecycle or ebay if you can't justify brand new....

One of those old fashioned airer things can be used to hang stuff up high if you've got high ceilings....

Get a sofa from Nabru it doesn't have to be a corner one, mine isn't, but you can get storage drawers under the seats or in a footstool thing so that's space there for toys etc.
Rolling plastic boxes for unde the beds, I have 8 under mine adn DH's and 3 each under dd's for clothes/books/shoes etc.

My house is hardly clutter free but I try and make it so there is stuff but it blends, so I have a toy box that is the same colour as the walls so you can't 'see' it as easily, or valances on the beds so you can't see boxes under them.

My front door opens into the front room as well, I find the biggest nightmare is coats/bags/buggy so we use the back hallway/kitchen to store them. it takes organistaion to remember to take stuff through and hang it up on the hooks we put up there but it keeps the room a lot clearer without coats slung over the nearest chair

Not sure i can add anything you won't already know. Mirrors work wonders, glass, perspex and mirrored furniture, light Monochromatic colours. Underbed storage. Coffee tables with storage inside. Picture rails add height as can hanging curtains a bit higher and wider. Good lighting. Low furniture will open out the space, keep high backed furniture against walls.

I was going to suggest Ikea as well. They have all those teeny "rooms" fully kitted out with furniture and storage.

Lots of good ideas already, the only specific one I would add is to put hooks on the backs of all your doors. You can hang loads of stuff out of the way and it becomes practically invisible.

Definitely think about repainting in lighter colours, you can create a cosy effect with fabrics like velvet, soft rugs, throws etc.

Get over to Apartment Therapy for some inspiration, they run an annual "Small Cool" competition, loads of great ideas for very small spaces. This is one of my favourites, note she got a 3 seater in no problem.

Oops, meant to add, declutter ruthlessly and don't let the crap build up again once you have.

thanks everyone for the brilliant ideas. im going to spend this weekend going through every room and writing down what i can do with each room. cant afford new furniture but will decide exactly what it is i want/NEED and then hunt ebay/freecycle and charity shops.

im quite excited now!! my front room will take a lot of layers of paint to get rid of the dark! i think il keep the brown in the colour scheme as i have brown furniture but quite fancy like a light green colour decorating.visitacasas.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Green-painted-bedroom-300x233.jpg so may re-paint the dark bits green and go over the cream bits with a fresh coat.