How to maximise your space

The problem many of us have, especially women, is that we over acquire. Our penchant for shopping can sometimes be compared to none.
In filling up our homes we need to be conscious of the space we have and how many people live in it. Sticking with the essentials should be our watchword so that we can best maximise our spaces regardless of their sizes.
Chrissy Halton, an expert in organising your space and homes, on her blog www.organisemyhouse.com, gives us some step by step tips on best approaches to maximise our spaces without all the unnecessary clutter and disorder.
So, how would this work for you and your home?
Just looking at how a really small space can still house everything perfectly and without hassles, while functioning really well means that anyone, in theory, can get to this point (if they want to!) in their homes as well.
It’s about getting the most out of space means thinking both horizontally and vertically, and specifically for your home and your needs.
Think about your home – if it helps, write down a floor plan and label the rooms that you have.
Are you using the rooms to their optimum abilities?
Do you really need a dining room, or do you really use the table in your kitchen? If so, can the dining room be relabeled with something that’s more useful to you – for example a playroom or an office?
Thinking a little outside the box can immediately transform how you think about your home and the spaces in it – and also ensure that you aren’t wasting space while thinking that you have no space for storage etc.
Once you have the rooms laid out as you and your family would prefer to use them, then it’s time to look at each room and its contents a little more closely.
*What’s needed in each room?
In each room, what do you need to store there so that everything that’s done in that room has what’s required to do those tasks.
For example – in a living room you may want to watch TV, play games, read magazines or books, listen to music and relax.
Therefore you require storage for books, magazines, DVDs, CDs, TV items, games, stereo items etc.
Once you have identified what goes in what room (and try if you can to keep one item to one room if you can as it makes upkeep so much easier than having lots of places they can be put back), you can start to think about storage availability.
What storage works for your needs?
You may find that you pretty much have the right amount of space and storage items already in that room, or you may find that that’s the room that’s really lacking – and needs tackling first.
For example – your bedroom houses clothes usually, but you are struggling to house them all there as storage is lacking – so you are storing clothes in other bedrooms and overspill is happening – making it more difficult to find things when you need them.
It could be simply taking a look inside the wardrobe and seeing what you actually need to store clothes better – could you double up your hanging space by having two rails in the space, or more shelves/drawers etc…? It may be that simple to make your wardrobe function better for you.
When you are looking at setting up systems and zones in your home for various activities – think about the space you have available.
If you can really assess a space before you decide on the storage solutions to add in – then you will get a space that works the hardest for your needs.
It also needn’t be expensive – once you have measurements of the space available, and details of what you want to store there (quantities also) – then you can often shop around to find containers that fit the space the best – or reuse items from around your home to better use in that specific space.
Think vertically as well as horizontally
Height is often forgotten when people try and maximise their space.
For instance – for my food cupboard I used a variety of storage solutions that meant I maximised all space within that cupboard – making everything accessible.
I took away containers that wasted space, and added in ones that stacked, and also made sure that each container held the right amount of an item i.e. a flour container could fit an entire pack of flour – so it was as practical as possible as well.
Don’t stick with shelves at certain heights if they don’t work for you – add in extra shelves, take some away – if you have very limited space consider double use furniture (i.e. storage bed, storage coffee table) as otherwise you are missing a trick.
Halton encourages us to be inventive, “and you may well surprise yourself as to how much space you actually have.”