Are you feeling like your home is bursting at the seams? Whether you’re a city dweller in a compact apartment or living in a spacious suburban home, the need for extra space is something we all encounter at some point. But the good news is, there are ways to find that additional room without having to extend.
Invest in purpose-built storage solutions
One of the most common reasons for the feeling of a lack of space is an over accumulation of stuff. In an effort to contain and organise everything the impulse is to go out and buy furniture to store everything but these pieces can become more problematic than their contents and your room can start to feel like a storage unit filled to capacity with bulky pieces of furniture.
A far better course of action is to be ruthless and clear out anything that is no longer required, including any bulky furniture items. Once your room is stripped back you need to look at the items that you need to store and then invest in some purpose-built storage solutions.
By opting for a customised unit you will be able to tailor it to fit seamlessly into your room and make sure it can hold and organise the contents easily – meaning it will be totally functional whilst being unobtrusive and even an attractive addition to your room.
Where can you add more storage?
You can never have enough storage. Look for any available wall surface or alcove that you can transform into a useful storage space. If you are refurbishing look for any clever ways of incorporating storage into otherwise unused spaces like sections of non-structural walls where you could create alcoves or recessed shelving areas, like the end of a bath where you could create a section that lifts up or pulls out for storing bulky bathroom essentials.
Make your space work harder
Look for under used of poorly utilised areas of your home. Could your box room be converted into a laundry room or study space to free up other areas of your home? Is the storage that you have functioning well? For example, could your kitchen cabinets be brought right up to the ceiling to give you storage space for those appliances you use less frequently? The area under the stairs is often poorly utilised and there are a number of companies who provide excellent bespoke solutions to allow you to maximise this space.
Get some impartial advice
These under-used spaces are the key to finding the extra space that you need but sometimes these spaces are not so obvious.
We had clients who had a bungalow that they had bought when they were just married. Now with three small children the house was feeling very cramped. They had already extended to create an open-plan living space to the rear of the house and were reluctant to extend again as they did not want to eat into their garden any further.
There was a good sized master bedroom and three additional very small bedrooms and they really could not see how to gain any additional space.
We advised utilising the attic space to create a mezzanine level over the living space to the rear to create an additional seating/den area and a further mezzanine level in the children’s room allowing us to put the beds on the higher level freeing up valuable play and storage space below.
Think outside the box
Really assess your home and don’t be afraid to think outside the box a little as the very space you crave might be right under your nose or as with our clients right over your heads!
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