Most tips on storage assume you’re starting with a spare cupboard. If that’s the case for you, this probably isn’t the article for you. For the rest of us, the problem is usually storage in the wrong place, or furniture that doesn’t do double-duty.
Space is probably wasted more often than anywhere in a small house than the space under the stairs. It’s typically left empty or, even worse, becomes a catch-all for the things that don’t have a home elsewhere, like the vacuum or a box of Christmas lights. Pull out drawers in that space would work better than a single deep cupboard, because you could see and reach what’s in the back. A carpenter should be able to do this for less than you’d expect, especially if the space has a standard shape of a staircase.
The space above a door frame is another area that gets wasted. It’s not very deep, but it can hold a shelf. And, since things on a shelf don’t have to be seen every day, it doesn’t have to be very tidy.
In a small house, the space between the ceiling and a wall, or the space between a door frame and a wall, can be put to work like a shelf or a ledge.
Storage beds are often a good space-saving solution for small bedrooms. Drawers built into the bed base are a better storage solution than under-bed boxes, because most people will use the drawers and won’t bother using the boxes after a few months.
Storage seats can serve the same function in a living room, replacing a coffee table and an extra box for seating.
The storage squeeze is most felt in the kitchen. It’s rarely the case that more storage cupboards are needed. Often, more effective storage solutions can be found in making better use of the storage that already exists. A base cupboard has a sufficient depth that the back of the cupboard is often inaccessible and forgotten. A corner cupboard can be fitted with a lazy susan to provide a better solution than doing a renovation to add built in storage.
One important addition: decluttering before organising. People will often buy containers to store “stuff” they don’t need, and in doing so they’ve just purchased tidier clutter.