Organize Your Small Space Like a Pro
I am constantly telling my clients and followers about how important it is to have an organization system that works for you. Especially in smaller spaces, there’s nothing that will make you hate being home more than clutter. If everything has a place, you have a blank canvas for decor, color, and art that will bring personality and joy into your home.
For a person who lives in a city with tiny apartments, I have a lot of stuff . I have lots of art supplies, entertaining supplies, kitchen tools, and of course… clothes. Like any good New Yorker, I am well stocked with boots, coats, and sweaters to get me through the winter and plenty of summer dresses and heels to get me through the social nights during warm weather. It takes a lot of skill to properly store everything with limited closet space and cabinets, so I’ve been strategic about the systems within the space I do have to make it all work.
First of all, let’s talk about adding vessels for storage outside of your existing closet and cabinet space. If like me you have lots of extra stuff to organize, you might need some additional pieces of furniture. Below I have the links to some items that I own (or are similar to what I own).
The first item is a wardrobe/armoire which I use for all my art supplies, shown in the photos above. It’s no longer available in white, but Wayfair has lots of other similar options.
Next up is a rolling cabinet which I use in my kitchen to store my silverware, pots, pans, and other cookware. I’ve turned it into a sort of coffee cart, with my kuerig on top and floating shelves above it holding other kitchen supplies.
Third is my bar cart, which I keep in the living room holding my glassware, liquor, and other decorative items.
Finally, I’ve linked a dresser that’s similar to what I have in my bedroom which is crucial for day-to-day easy access to clothing.
Next let’s talk about how you can optimize storage within your existing closets. I use every inch of space from the top rod to hang clothing to the space below. I fill the bottom area with things like shelving or drawer units for additional storage.
My bedroom closet is very narrow, so I opted to hang only blouses on the rack but used a cubby unit in the bottom to not waste the space from the ground up. I use that area for purses and folded sweatshirts.
In my front room, I have a shoe rack with cubbies stacked with a standard open shoe rack, as well as a hanging shoe rack… because I have a few too many shoes.
On the right side, I bought an Elfa drawer system from the Container Store for my random odds and ends- workout gear, plant supplies, work items, and extra towels.
I got very lucky in this apartment to have additional storage above my closets. I only use this space to store items I don’t need to access too often. Because it was a spacious area, everything seemed to just pile inside and it was not easy to grab things. I added a simple shoe rack and more wire racks from The Container Store to help me separate the space space. I use those areas for extra pillows, my seasonal clothing storage, suitcases, and more.
Finally, I bought small metal drawers that fit under my kitchen and bathroom sinks. They’re perfect for little supplies like cleaning items in the kitchen and all my hair tools in the bathroom.
Finally, we can talk hacks for making everything easier to navigate when you do go digging for items. Within my drawers, I used the Marie Kondo folding method so that the edges of every item can be seen from above, rather than piles of clothes that bury the bottom items. You can recognize the piece you’re looking for overhead. With this method, I additionally color code so I know what I’m looking for. For example, a drawer full of colorful tops will be in rainbow order right next to a drawer that’s only black and white tops. I do the same thing in my closet so I can beeline to exactly what I’m looking to wear. I use velvet hangers, in almost all the same color to keep the rack looking clean.
My next hack is using floating shelves everywhere. Wall space is just wasted opportunity for additional storage. Use these shelving areas for your “pretty things” as I like to call them. The items that are ugly get closed away inside the cabinets. Cute items, like sets of mugs or serving trays, can be put on display on the shelves. The perfect example is my spice rack. In this blog post I show the items I purchased to make my spices look so aesthetically pleasing!
Below I’ve linked some floating shelves that I have, plus a set of brackets with which you can DIY your shelves. You can pick any size you want and go to your local hardware store to buy wooden planks. This way you can customize the size and placement of the shelves.
Can you believe I even fit all these things into my 700 square foot space?! I barely can. Everything here has been integral in making my apartment functional, organized, and a space that I feel at peace in. I hope you are inspired to reorganize your space with some of these items!