How to Organize an Apartment to Accommodate Your Many Needs
Whether you live in an urban setting or just getting started in life, your living accommodations may be limited in space. You may not have the luxury of having multiple rooms to accommodate your many needs or interests. But with a bit of thought and creativity, you can customize your small home to work for all situations you may encounter.
Zone Out
First, think of creating zones for the various items you store in your home. Some are pretty easy to figure out, such as the kitchen zone, the room where plates, silverware, and appliances are stored. In smaller homes, the kitchen will likely contain pantry items.
Not all rooms will contain just one zone. Whether it's a bedroom or an office, some rooms will hold supplies for some of your hobbies and interests. This is where shelving and containers come in handy. You will want to designate space on shelves or in closets to hold those items you regularly want to bring out. For example, if you have an extra room you utilize as an office, shelves can be put in the closet. You can then designate a shelf to hold items for a hobby you regularly engage in.
Furniture that Offers Flexibility
When space is at a premium, you have to get creative with your storage. Look for side tables that have an extra shelf. Purchase an ottoman with a lid you can lift up for extra storage. Your bookshelves can store more than just books. You can place lovely baskets or storage cubes on those shelves to create places to store smaller items.
Take a look at your wall space. There may be places where you can add a hanging shelf. You could also place cork boards or even Command Hooks. Fans of Schitt’s Creek will remember Moira’s wall of wigs!
Sometimes you may need more workspace than a table can accommodate, or you want some room to move about. I'm also a fan of making as much of your furniture as mobile as possible. This could take the form of wheels on certain pieces. Felt pads at the bottom of tables and chair legs make scooting items all over a hardwood floor feasible without scratching up your floors.
Setting Boundaries
As you establish your zones and refine your storage solutions, you may find that you have more stuff than you have room for. This is the point where you have to make some hard decisions. You'll want to prioritize the types of items you keep. This may mean you must adjust some of the zones you just created, expanding for one category while reducing another. This may also mean discarding or donating some items. This shouldn't feel like you're making sacrifices. More so, you are getting honest with yourself about how much you use certain things, so we can have plenty of room for the items you need, use, and love. You may have to get honest with yourself about starting that new project. We sometimes get aspirational with the things we buy and keep, thinking they will be perfect for situations that never come to be. It's sometimes hard to admit that you cannot make time for those situations.
But living within your means isn’t just for your budget. It’s for your space and your time as well.
Once you have removed the stuff that is not currently serving you and have your zones refined, the challenge is to stay within the boundaries of those zones. That means when bringing in new supplies for a project, you must first use up or give away other supplies so there is ample storage room. I get it, it's hard to pass up the next shiny thing, so either use up your current supplies first, donate another item that you no longer need, or pass on the new shiny thing for now. I know setting limits for yourself is never fun, but it will ultimately help you keep your space easy to tidy up.
The efforts you put in to set up your home to accommodate your many needs and interests can be gratifying. The thought you put into this process will also help keep your space easy to manage. Clean-up time is a snap when everything has a home!