Improving your space usage in your home

Many people outgrow their current homes, requiring more space or for functional reasons.
Whether it is because of an additional member joining the household or the requirement for a space to work from home.
Let’s look at how we can make the most of what space we have.

There are many reasons why but it usually ends at the same questions.
“How do I make the most of the space I have?”
“Do we extend our current house?” (Links to the article)
“When do I start looking at a bigger house?” (Links to the article)

In this first part of a series we are going to be looking at some tips to make the most of your space in your house.

Using the space in your home space better

When space gets tight, most of us start by looking at what we have and making the most of it.

a Good example of this was when Covid lockdown hit, we urgently needed a study where we could work and the kids could do their homeschooling from. It meant that needed to give up a bedroom and set it up, replacing the bed with desks and chairs. This room was later dubbed the Homeschool Room.
It was a sacrifice but it was worth having a separate space.
(Studies later showed that it had mental health benefits too.)

Here are a few ways of making the most of the space in your house

Multifunctional rooms

Having different functions for a space, depending on time or circumstance, is one of the easiest ways to “add” space to your home. It is easy to do but you have to think about a few thing when you are doing this.
If your bedroom has some room in the corner for you to add a desk, it can function as a study during the day and bedroom at night. No renovations needed!
Your can even work in the living room or dining room if your household routine allows it.
Just make sure that your 5pm corporate Zoom meeting is not interrupted by the clamoring of pots and pans as dinner is being prepared.

Storage space

We all know those dead spaces that just stand empty or the space below the stairs.
These spaces are your friend in this case! There are so many ways of making better use of these spaces.
Like installing cupboards where you can store away those items that you just don’t know where to put but need to keep in the house.
Looking at Pinterest for inspiration has helped us a lot in this regard!

Use the space under the bed

Adding a drawer under the bed is an great way of storing those items that you don’t use that often but need close at hand if you do need them.
Storing winter clothing in the summer (or visa-versa), your formal shoe collection, the toy collection and even an extra mattress for when you have a guest sleep over are just some of the ideas for usage of the storage under a bed.

Another way of using the space under the bed better, is to raise the bed higher. Think bunkbed without the bottom bed. This way you have the floor space available under the bed for a bookshelf, desk or even a play room.

Get a smaller bed

If you have a king-size bed taking up 70% of the room and only one person sleeping in it, it might be time to give up the luxury space in bed and start thinking about the bigger picture.
Reducing the bed size makes room for a desk or set of drawers depending on what you need to space for. There are many designs where you can build a desk into cupboard or fold it up against the wall.

You would be surprised how much bigger a room feels if you have more space to move and this in turn can help you feel more relaxed when it is time to sleep.

Another option for reducing the space taken up by the bed is to install a murphy bed.
This option works really well for small spaces that needs to be multi-functional, like a one bedroom studio apartment.

Use the space in your property by adding a shed

Having a space to store items that are not used often but you just can’t get rid of yet is essential.

We had a garden shed (Wendy House) setup in our backyard in an area that was not used.
There are a lot of options when going this route and you can even put in electricity or plumbing to these structures, if needed.

It served as a great place to put old items, old furniture that had sentimental value and items that were not used often. This is a very cost effective way of adding more room for storing items, especially if you have larger items that is cluttering up your home.

If you keep it organized and make sure you leave space to move through the stored items, this space can be a game changer. It can be used to store a lot and by adding shelving and old cupboards to this space, it adds a lot more usable storage space.

This space does require you to be disciplined though, in the way you organize it but also to periodically go through the items and make sure that you are storing the items for the right reasons.
Otherwise it becomes a dumping ground and the effort to clean it up does become bigger as time passes by.
The easiest way to prevent this from happening is to be honest with yourself and make sure you only store the items you really need to keep in this space.

Make your living room into a guest room

If you need space for guest to sleep and just don’t have an extra bedroom, you can always add a sleeper couch in your living space. There are a lot of beautiful and luxury designs nowadays and compared to the price of adding another bedroom to your home, it is definitely something to consider.
This can be a great way to make room for the family that wants to come visit or to have the option available to snuggle up for movie night.

Where to look for inspirational space saving ideas

There are a lot of places you can look for inspiration when you run out of ideas for using space better.

Tiny Homes

The Tiny Home movement has gained a lot of traction and really worth looking into for inspiration.
There are a lot of very functional space saving techniques that can definitely be used in bigger more traditional homes.

Caravan and camping

When you need to be able to pack up your living space into a portable contained area you need to be able to squeeze as much out of the space you have as you can.
The caravan and camping industry has put a lot of time and effort into making the best use of space and we can definitely learn a few tips and tricks from them.

Conclusion

Making the best use of you space you have is one of the best and most cost effective ways you can create the functional space you require.
There are many ways you can implement space saving techniques if you open yourself up to a different way of looking at the space you have.