Living in small spaces: tips and ideas

[Laugs]

I wonder if anyone would be interested in sharing ideas on this thread.

We are in a two/ three-bed flat (we use the 2nd bedroom as living space) with a 3.5-yr old DD and a 6 month old DS and it's starting to feel really cramped!

It's partly to do with the fact that we have way too much stuff for the amount of space and are untidy, but also that our rooms aren't the best shape. For example, the sitting room is not only fairly small, but also has 3 doors, so it can feel a bit like a thoroughfare! Also, our kitchen is a galley one, so there's no space for a table, which means we have to fit that in the sitting room too.

My main problem is where to put the things that have no obvious home: luggage, the hoover, the clothes horse, piles of laundry, bikes etc. These things always seem to be out and in the way as there is nowhere to store them (except possibly on top of a wardrobe - we are piled high). We are lucky enough to have loft space so at least we can hide away stuff like Christmas decorations.

This sounds like a big moan, but actually I think our flat could be nice if we just decluttered, streamlined etc. Where we live, most people with families live in houses, but I'm sure in London and other places it's pretty common to be in a flat with a family, so it would be great to know how others manage with small homes.

Having been to Ikea yesterday I am currently coveting a full wall of extra height Billy bookcases to store all our books, cds, dvds etc.

Can you put luggage in the loft? We still do even though we've more space now. Our bikes used to be stored in pieces in a cupboard and the hoover - well if it's always out then at least it's getting used.

I think the key is getting rid of stuff or putting it up in the loft (and then getting rid of it a year later) but then we're only really bad at clutter to do with hobbies (sewing, camping, hiking, ice hockey etc) and all of that is loft-able.

Yes we definitely need to get rid of things. It's hard though! Did you have a system or anything or were you just ruthless about what you didn't need?

How often did you use bikes if they were in pieces? I can't imagine ever bothering to put them together.

The problem with our loft is that it's a 2-man job to get up there, so anything we need fairly often (eg luggage - although we should put some bigger pieces up) seems like too much hassle. (Actually I don't even go up there as it's very dusty and I have asthma)

We have no loft (atic bedroom) so storage is a huge PITA for us. Nowhere for bikes, laundry has to be put away immediately, and I hate the clothes horses with a vengence.

We've recently built a huge cupboard in DS's room, one if his wardrobe, one is our overflow clothes cupboard, and one is locked and is effectively our loft space, it's helped,but we're still drowning in crap.

Are you utilising all your storage space? Things like making best use of underbed space, any large cupboards you could sort to hold more stuff. With things like CDs, mine were taking up a whole bookcase (think the ceiling height Billy one) so ditched all the cases and put them in a folder, not they take up half a shelf)

Get rid of DVDs/books that you're never going to read again, or box up and put in the loft (just thinking of things we need to do).

Buggest thing is get rid of anything you just don't need, and organise everything that you do. Don't need to spend much/any money, but you do need to be ruthless

argh - sorry for typos

laugs you are me, i swear!

laugs you have to throw stuff out. You just have to be ruthless. We have done this over the last year, needs must. We have spent one whole year moving stuff between rooms trying to find homes and in the process each move we have thrown out more and more.

If you think about whether you need it or not, or want it or not, then you don't need/want it.

Ebay is great for things that are low cost postage, local paper for large items. Set yourself a set time to sell it, in stages. Use the money for better storage/holiday etc. Whatever is left of each stage, walk right down to the tip/charity shop and get rid of it. Freecycle is good for that too.

Once you have decluttered, do it again.

Shelves. You need lots of shelves. Go to a reclamation yard/look on freecycle for off-cuts of really nice chunks of wood to put in your kitchen on the walls/front room etc.

Take everything you can off the floor.

Ikea have chunky box storage for kids which you can build upwards, and buy funky plastic boxes to put into. Cheap to add to as toys increase and you can allocate one wall only.

following on from Pavs post - Trofast or Expedit from Ikea are excellent for organising all things sprog related, from nappies, to toy trains, to neverending playmobile/lego etc etc (the red trofast boxes fit in the expedit shelving)

Expedit ! that is the one I have!

Also...do you have high spaces? If so you could use a sheilla maid as heat rises and the sheila maid is great for keeping it out of the way.

We have taken out a shelf in our linen cupboard so it is now at just under eye level and have put a pole there for all children's hanging clothes. Easy for DD to get to her clothes/right level, and saves us the need for another cupboard.

Linen boxes - one under DDs bed for her bedding (very useful when we night time trained her, and now for the odd midnight accident), one under the cot for DS, and several under ours for our bed linen. Means the linen
cupboard now has towels in and that is it. And a few other odds and sods.

We have built in cupboards beside our bed (old chimney recess) and as they are quite deep we are putting plastic boxes with drawers inside (you know those crafty/storage type ones) with some of our clothes in there, easily accessible but means we have less chest of drawers in the bedroom itself.

If I think of some more, I shall post...I am thinking, i am thinking. We had so so so much shite before we had the loft conversion. One thing we learnt (apart from the obvious) was how little we actually needed after all. I wanted to get rid of so little, and now, I hate keeping things and DH has to stop me throwing things away/selling stuff! We are still crowded, but much more minimal than we used to. I hate things on the floor as it makes things feel more cramped. A clear floor means it feels much more spacious, even if it isn't.

Have a few car boot sales to get help de-clutter - it is a really good way to get rid of stuff and earn some money towards good storage!

We just bought a small hoover - a meile one, it takes up very little room, is powerful and easy to use, and fits in our narrowest cupboard(not that I am good at putting it away!).

Ikea wardrobes are good - ours has a trouser rail in it (which holds a lot of trousers because it is deep), and is very tall, so lots of shelf space too.

We use baskets under the bed for toy storage. My dc share a room and have bunk beds - so our spare room is a bit of a dumping ground with a spare bed. Like you we have a galley kitchen with no room for a table, but our living room is a good shape, even with a dining table. Dining tables with drawers for stuff are good.

I bought little A4 sized stacking drawers(they were very cheap about £2.50 each), which fit neatly in a cupboard and hold the dc's crafty stuff, paper, pens etc - easily accessible for the children. but contained and I can put them out of sight - though they would look okay on an ikea billy book case too.

declutter declutter declutter and then declutter some more.

build your own wardrobe with sliding doors, double hanging height and huge shelves etc)

utilise your loft space

buy floor to ceiling storage (4 children in a compact open plan 3 bed terrace )

Laugs - my DH is very into roadbiking so putting the bike together wasn't a problem for him. As for me, since I had the boys, I never get out anyways even now that we have a garage.

Have you thought of the Ikea expedit range? its a bit more than Billy but you can fit masses in the storage boxes that go with it.

Regarding decluttering have you got a storage facility near by you could rent for a few months?

I had to move out of my last house quickly after the sale suddenly happened. I moved into storage keeping back one big car load of essentials to move around with us (my boys were then 3 and 5). We're in our new house now and even though at the time I thought everything in the storage unit was essential only about 30% of it has moved in with us as it turned out we didn't need it/ miss it.

ds 3, dd 5months dh and I. we rent a 2 bed flat. we have a storage room (self storage) for the stuff we want to keep but dont have space for (furniture, racing bike). also only galley kitchen, so the dining table is in the living room. clothes horse fits perfectly over the bathtub, so its out of the way most of the times, but I also have a larger airer which goes into the living room if needed.
soon we need to reshuffle a lot because dd will move in to ds into the small bedroom.
we have loads of shelves and the LL left us the very generous fitted wardrobes. the TROFAST boxes are great, we use them also as laundry baskets (middle ones = full load)

Thanks for all your suggestions everyone! You are all right, we need to declutter. I think a car boot sounds like a good idea as it might make it a bit more fun (and hopefully a bit of cash).

We are just rubbish really. For example, there are still boxes in our 2nd bed/ dining room/ junk room that haven't been unpacked since we moved in nearly 4 years ago. Clearly, we don't need whatever is in them (my books I think, which I find hard to part with)

Another idea for others is [[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Space-Vacuum-Storage-Super/dp/B000KOA420 vacuum storage bags] which you can use to store coats/ seasonal clothes. We have some under our bed and others in the attic (although we're not quite organised enough to get stuff out again!)

I'd also be interested to know what people think of furniture size. We have quite a big sofa and were thinking maybe we should look for a smaller one. But then I read somewhere that small furniture in a small house makes it look like a doll's house - that it's better to have fewer pieces but not smaller pieces.

How much does self-storage cost (approx)?

That's a good idea having a clothes horse that fits over the bath. We do have one of those pulley systems/ sheila maids in the bathroom, but it is freezing in there in winter and gets damp, so it takes things ages to dry.

Sonilaa, we were planning to move DS into the small bedroom with DD, but we've now realised there just isn't enough space. I think they will have to both move into bedroom 2, meaning we are giving up half our living space (eek!). I am trying to think of it positively and that, because it is a bigger room it can be a bedroom-cum-playroom. It is also off the sitting room, so hopefully we can spend part of the day playing in there. I do get quite claustrophobic sometimes as it feels like we are all in the same bit of space!

Thought about furniture - we got corner sofa with storage space, so keep linen in there. It's also a sofa bed.
And underbed storage is good idea. I'm currently looking for roll-out under bed storage for DD single bed to put her toys in there - anybody knows any nice ones? I'd love wooden one but haven't seen anywhere..

Definitely agree less is more in terms of space and furniture size. We have just one large sofa and a poang chair in the front room in terms of seating, and got rid of most other floor furniture. We have a chest with plants on which is going and being replaced by two side tables for sofa, and then just a small white table in the old fireplace for DD and a bookcase in a recess and tv cabinet in another recess. two plants on floor. That is it.

We also found painting our front room and replacing curtains with good quality wooden blinds made a HUGE difference to making our living space feel bigger. It was a yellow colour before (not our choice!) and now it is white, with blue recesses, they make the room look bigger, and we are getting a huge mirror when we get round to it over mantle. Removed cluttery pictures from walls, replaced with single larger art work.

And a dishwasher provides an extra cupboard space

Ha, Pavlov our similarities continue! We also have a large sofa and a Poang chair, plus a desk in the old fireplace for DD, bookcase in one alcove and tv/ record decks/ shelves in the other one.

The problem is we now have to fit the dining table in too... Oh and we can't get a corner sofa as 3 walls in our sitting room have doors - there are no free corners!

Ooh would love a dishwasher.

very about dishwasher too!

laugs I love that, how it continues, I remember the first time I 'met' you was due to our DDs doing the stair thing!

Regarding the dishwasher. We have a small kitchen/diner. I guess in reality it should be a good sized kitchen, but instead we have a table one side (small oval extendable) and limited cupboard space. we sacrificed a cupboard, put plates on a modern plate rack

The difference is amazing. it is probably the best buy we have made really. We no longer use tons of water washing up little bits here and there each day, (although it still feels like we wash up a lot!) We are able to clean from each meal quickly and back to a tidy kitchen.
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lol, phone rang, and when I returned, i found DD decided to finish my post

I meant to add, that like everywhere else, we had to be absolutely ruthless with everything and throw out lots. plates that did not match went, cups and glass that did not get used/chipped etc went, non-matching knives/forks, duplicate utensils, old pans that were not used often, i accepted I was never going to make stew with the soup mix lingering for years, or soak my own chickpeas so that all went, i threw out bags and bags of crap!

I like how DD has mastered Mumsnet at such a young age, Pav!

Our kitchen should be bad as DH is quite into old kitchenalia, but actually I think because you can shut things away I don't mind it too much. I could really do with clearing out our food cupboards though. In fact, the other day, we found a jar of baby food from when DD was weaning (3 yrs ago) and it was still in date! That made me feel quite sick...

Do you have outside space? Our back yard is really tiny and down a very steep flights of stairs, so we've given up thinking we'll eat out there and filled it with a shed and a few gro-bags instead. Now I am having fantasies about building a balcony though

Well, luggage I uae to store other stuff under the bed. In fact I just keep a lot of summery stuff there all year (suntan lotion, swimwear, adaptors, beach towels etc).

It's a difficult question to answer without knowing what kind of house you live in, ie house/flat.

Do you have ahall cupboard oor something similar you could build shelves into?

I've heard of people putting 'pegs' into their walls to hang bikes on.

laugs yes we have a yard down some steps too!!! OMG we are the same person . I like to consider it a courtyard.

In fact, I am meant to be hammeriting our staircase as we speak! If you have outside space, you want to get one of those plastic sheds either front opening/top opening for outdoor stuff like bikes etc. We are getting one now we have rescued our yard back from the effects of the builders. It is like yours quite dark, but then, at night, it is often dark in gardens when the sun goes behind the houses so we are putting a bench out there, some fairy lights, pot lights, and a wood stove to give us some heat so we can sit with a glass of wine. We have potted plants that enjoy some shade, and under the stairs we are putting ferns as they like shade. In the summer at least it is an outdoor space for us. We accept it is not a suntrap now, after years of trying to make it one, and will make it an evening retreat for the grownups, plus some plant potting for DD.