Small Houses - how do you make the best of small space?

[Beccarollo]

I have a v small 2 bed - 2 kids, DD has own room but isnt big enough to share, our room houses DS moses basket at the moment but not sure if we will fit a cot in it.

Lounge is small and no dining room so no place for table so cant have family meals or teach table manners properly.

Very little storage and loads of STUFF

Result - constant mess and stress with not having enough room

Ive decided in the last few days to investigate moving to a bigger house but if this doesnt work out wonder how others cope/any tips on making the most of small spaces etc

I live in a three bedroom house but still small. I grew up in a five bedded, huge living rm dinning room.

The way i do it, DD room you can get a single bed nothing else no wardrobe, so i painted the rm light colour, light curtains lokks bigger.

As for the rest of the house what i learnt from changing rms if you paint the scurtting boards the same colour and the floor or carpet the rm looks bigger..... and it does. Another tip storage boxes give lots of space. Good luck xxxx

Dont know how old your dd is, could she have a top bunk or loft bed? With a loft bed you could put a cot or small toddler bed underneath it. But they are quite high so I guess no good if she's under 5 or 6.
I'm not sure if I have any other useful advice. We are desperately short of storage space and have boxes of toys, clothes etc all over the place. Do all your beds have drawers underneath? Thats where we keep a lot of stuff.
Is there any outdoor space? Could you have a mini shed/store for kids bikes, roller skates, balls, wellies etc?
I'm sure other people will have better ideas.

We have just bought ds1 a "lo" bed from ikea. It can be used 3 ways. As bunk beds, as a mid-bed or as a high loft bed. Our plan is to have it as a half bed for now and when he is older (he is 5) he can go up higher and we can put a desk underneath the bed part for homework. At the moment it is brilliant because all his toys & things go under the bed, doubling the floorspace in his room. He and ds1 also like to use it as a hideaway - i drape sheets over it - and they love it.

Beccarollo - what about one of those half moon dining tables that's attached to the wall with hinges. It could get unfolded when needed and then disappear when not. Don't know whether you can buy them or whether you'd have to make it tough.

Lakeland have an excellent storage and space saving catalogue with loads of cunning ideas. I'm a junk hoarder in a small house which makes things v- difficult. I should've bought shares in the vacuum-packing storage bag industry.

have a 2 bed flat, not huge but not too small. can u find room for a folding table and chairs? i have a set in my kitchen, which is great in the morning when i'm bleary eyes and getting the kids brekkie. atm, dd1 has a room to herself. i have got bunkbeds for in there, a chest of drawers and a wardrobe. on the wardrobe the toy boxes are stored. under the bottom bunk is 2 drawers for clothes and video's. my room is a fair size, atm have dd2 cot in there. again i use boxes under the bed for storage. have plastic storage boxes on top of kitchen units. computer table is stupidly small. have a toy box in the living room which is basically an old blanket box, just throw everything in at the end of the day. i have all my videos/cds packed away so they are not on show so reduce the clutter. i dont have much in the way of storage space, so tend to pack things away that i dont use often and drag them out when i need them. larger toys are kept in the shed, altho somehow today the trike, see saw, ride on toy and scooter have migrated in here.

I always have a charity shop box on the go - if I see something that hasn't been used (clothes, gadgets, etc) in a while I throw it in, and every week I take it to the charity shop.

Roman blinds look lees bulky than curtains
paint it al the same colour - a cream or white
same florring throughout
wha about a conserv?

I think the real key is to get rid of stuff all the time. Toys that aren't played with, books you've read, clothes you haven't worn, anything you haven't used for a year - car boot.charity shop the lot. The less stuff you have the more room you have. Be ruthless! Can you fit in a foldaway table with foldaway chairs or stools that fit underneath?

agree re books _ i hide them from dh for while then bin them

i also have regular clearouts. will be sorting theo the kids toys again soon in preparation for xmas.

ohhhh! I have also secretly gotten rid of some of dh's awful books. He's never noticed.....!

alot of the ideas on here ive come up with and they havent really worked thats why im now desperately trying to work out if we could afford 3 bed by moving to lesser area.

Conservatory no good as the garden is so small it would take that away almost completely so think house might lose value with no garden

The kitchen isnt wide enough to fit a table - when you stand at the work bench you can touch the wall behind you!

The high bed with cot underneath is a good one but Meg is 4 - might be too young

DP and DD are upstairs now trying to maker her tiny room look big for the valuers - Ive been on most of the day trying to get it sorted but you end up just moving stuff from one place to the other but never a proper place for it IYSWIM

Thanks for all of the ideas, some of them look really useful

Yes, must do a clearout before Christmas.
I remember once hearing someone with a rule that whenever they bought an item of clothing, they also got rid of one item. I do try and bear this in mind this with my own stuff, but cant manage it with three children: luckily we have an attic which I can fill with stuff one has grown out of but which may do for another later. Ditto toys.
In principle I do think its a good rule.

ds has been in a raised bed since a few months short of his 4th bday - only about 1.20m high though. The room does feel bigger because you can hide loads of clutter underneath. Also use a wardrobe to hide toys etc as well as clothes.

hth

Also mirrors positioned opposite windows etc to reflect the light will make small spaces feel more open. Do you have any space under the stairs where you could store toys in baskets or plastic tubs on basic shelves.

Beccarollo - if you got one of those fold up tables with chairs that slot inside (they sell then in Argos etc) you could get it out in the lounge at mealtimes.

I think you really need to decide whether you are going to try to move or make do with what you've got and take it from there. Any possibility in a loft conversion? If you do decide to move do you know someone who will store your stuff for you to create impression of space for potential buyers?

Do you have any chimney breasts without working fires in them? You can put in recessed shelving (subject to party wall agreements etc) if you have, or even a recessed wardrobe and get rid of space consuming wardrobes.

Apparantly floorboards running across a room or hall rather than lengthwise make it seem wider.

What about those vacuum pack things to store clothes in under your bed?

If you have a long high - ceilinged hall, put in a big long cupboard on the ceiling with loft ladder access, you can fit so much in them.

Hire or beg a secure garage or room at a friend/family temporarily while you are selling the house and move everything you don't need into it.

Also get rid of oversized furniture, developers always put scaled down furniture into showhomes to make rooms seem bigger, I once sat in an armchair in one and got my (then size 12) arse wedged in it!

HTH.

Oh and btw it is me with the facist clothing one in one out policy!

Beccarollo - your house sounds a very similar size to mine. We only have 2 beds, a tiny lounge and bathroom, but I have a reasonable sized kitchen so I have squeezed in a table. But you have to be a size 6 to squeeze past it to the back door. I only have 1 ds (19 mnths)and would one day love another but we need more space, and we can't afford a bigger house so I feel a bit stuck.

Good luck in finding a bigger pad. How I long for a dining room, a utility room and a hallway!

My nanny usually has them (she gives them to her mates if they don't fit her or she doesn't like them)

We put boards down in the loft and store as much as possible up there. Do you have a loft, Beccarollo??

We had a small house, sounds just like yours Becarrollo.

Quick tips - see your car boot ( or car itself) as another storage space. Put non valuable things in there and on the occasions when you need space in the car temporarily transfer them to the house.

Consider renting a garage from the council - you are not strictly speaking meant to use it for storge, but unless you are going to and fro all the time, who's going to check? good for old clothes and books - again nothing too valuable and make sure the garage does not let in the rain.

If you know good friends with big houses and lots of space, ask them if you could store 'x, y, z, with them - and offer a return favour of siome sort. You never know, they might say yes!

Also move surplus stuff back to your parent's home.

HTH

those vacuum pack storage bags - they never stay suctioned for me! I have them stored under the bed and when I have to get them out they have always puffed back up and it's impossible to get it out fromunder the bed. Maybe I'm just buying cheap ones? (from Argos) Any good ones out there?

hana - the argos ones are useless! We use blooming marvellous ones. They're fine.