I need your help...

My apartment is very little... 700 sq. ft. :thumbdown: The closets are really small and there just isn't any room to put anything! We have a lot of stuff... and I still haven't unpacked half of Allie's room because I just don't have a place to PUT IT!! So, I need some organizational help. Do you have any cool shelving? Can I see pics if you've made good use of space somewhere in your home? Know of good stuff I can get at like Ikea or something? I really need help.

IKEA is right down the street from me... if you have one anywhere near you go check it out! If not, I'll go look later this week and send you pics- they have studios set up in various sizes so you can see what pieces you can use for your space (I think they have 450 sqft., 700 sqft. and 1000 sqft. set up right now).

I would invest in some shelving that you can put against a wall/on a wall. Those space savers bags are also supposed to be awesome for stuff that is seasonal that you dont really need right now. Lastly look at everything you have and if there is stuff you havent used in awhile and dont really think you will need it for awhile (meaning stuff you dont really need but are just holding onto) donate it to a charity that could use it or sell it on ebay/craigslist. Dont forget about storage shelves that hang on the back of doors also for things like shoes in your bedrooms and for food stuff in kitchens/dining areas.

ETA:I have a really small house too and really no closet space. We store alot of stuff under beds and in storage containers. I want to set up some of those storage things like they have at IKEA in my kids rooms but for right now we just dont have the money

schock77 said:

IKEA is right down the street from me... if you have one anywhere near you go check it out! If not, I'll go look later this week and send you pics- they have studios set up in various sizes so you can see what pieces you can use for your space (I think they have 450 sqft., 700 sqft. and 1000 sqft. set up right now).

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the closest Ikea is 2 hours away.... :thumbdown: So, it's a trip. lol

I feel your pain. lol We live in a 900 sf. house and there are 5 of us. I've just tried to make everything I purchase be a double-duty type piece. I got rid of the end tables we used to have and got trunk-style ones instead. I store blankets in one and office supplies in the other one (we don't have a dedicated office room so that makes them accessible to the desk that's in the LR too). We got an entertainment center that houses ALL of our dvd's, wii and accessories, and the kids' board games. I also invested in those bed risers a while back. We put our bed on those so that I have room for those plastic Rubbermaid drawers. I store my sewing stuff, scrapbooking stuff, pictures, etc., under there. It's hard but do-able for sure.

You can view the Ikea catalog online here. It has tons of photos of how to use their products to organize/store things.

I'd look at doing some custom creative shelving in your closets. Can you add additional shelving above the door in that wasted space - we did that in each of our closets and it gave us a bunch of room. We have a small walk-in type linen closet and just added a ton of space there by putting one more row of closet shelving above the top shelving that was already there and added more that way.

Under bed shelving is awesome. Bed risers like Heather suggested increase your under bed space and you can do roll out plastic drawers to store things easily (even in your daughter's room. If she has her own room and a closet, even though it's an apt, consider doing some divided shelving in there since she's still small. We put a dresser in the boys' closet, and each side of the rail is dedicated to each boy for a few dress shirts/pants and a suit. The upper shelving is seasonal and what floor space is left is for big toys. We put shoe hangers on the backs of doors for storing their shoes and some toys also.

Go UP instead of out! I got a bunch of those white wood boxes from teh craft stores. Stack them on top of each other against a wall, for functional space that's actually rather attractive

Get some bookshelves and use baskets to keep things organized and looking tidy. Use the lower shelves to put toys in for your daughter that she can easily reach.

I have something like this in the playroom:
http://www.target.com/Whitmor-Set-S...51061&rh=k:cubes,n:3665671,p_36:$0-$24&page=3

And I put something like these in them:
http://www.target.com/Whitmor-Colla...51061&rh=k:cubes,n:3665671,p_36:$0-$24&page=1

It would be so cute to weave ribbon in them!

We actually have 12 cubes all along one wall with an cabinet (similar to this one but white) in between. It is not the best or prettiest but it has held up for 4 years.

You can see the cubes on this old blog post:
http://amandaheimanndesigns.com/blog/?p=939

Man, that room looks so different with all the toddler toys. It is filled with Legos, cars and Star Wars now. So sad.

Hey do you have a "the container store" where you are? They don't have ones in canada so i've never actually been to one myself but i've looked on the website and they seem to have sooo many neat ideas for organization

http://www.containerstore.com/index.jhtml

Ikea would be worth the trip! Make a day of it! just go and make sure you have all the measurements for your spaces. Ikea is the perfect place for small living spaces.
Good luck finding something!