More and more people are moving into the center of the world’s big cities, and thus it becomes important to get the most out of their few square meters. In this post Morten comes from the lifestyle page GoDownsize with some tips to make the most of his square meters in the small apartment.
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Storage space is always a challenge when you live small. It is a matter of thinking creatively and utilizing the space in corners and hooks where often unused square meters are hidden.
A place that can often be better utilized is the space behind doors. Here are a few creative examples of how you can utilize this space for storing eg. books.
2) Install a Murphy bed and get an extra room
Think if you could get an extra room? You can almost do that with a Murphy bed. This bed folds up on the wall during the day, so you can use your bedroom as eg. living room, office etc. during the day.
The Murphy bed is an ancient invention from the early 1900s. A young guy named William Murphy wanted to invite a young beautiful girl home, but at that time it was very inappropriate to invite a girl back home in her bedroom. It was a challenge for him when he only had one room in his small apartment in San Francisco.
So young Mr. Murphy thought out of the box and put rocker fittings on his bed so he could store it inside a closet, inviting her home with her new living room. Incredibly what creativity men can muster when it comes to getting that one. Read more about Murphy beds at Murphybedhq.com , where you can also find floor plans to build one yourself.
3) Review the kitchen for things you don’t use
The kitchen is one of the places where things and cases that we rarely use often accumulate. Many of us have, for example. more bowls than we can use at the same time, an extra frame from the best ones, or perhaps old electronic devices are no longer used.
It is a good idea to review the kitchen cabinets for these items, and if you utilize the vertical space in the cabinets at the same time, you can most likely release a cupboard that can be used for extra storage instead. Then you might loop a shelf or chest of drawers elsewhere in the apartment, and for example. create extra room in the living room.
If you have any doubts about what things you can do without, and what things you should keep, then here is a very simple tip. Take these things and put them in a box and put them away in the ceiling or eg. under the bed. In this way, you can still take things out the first few months if you are going to miss them, thus avoiding throwing things that you want to get out and buy again.
4) A shortcut to getting cleaned out in the closet
The closet is also one of the places where most of us have more lying than we actually use. We are about to store old trousers, blouses, t-shirts, etc., and here the good old 80/20 rule applies to a great extent.
Here’s a good tip to find out which clothes you actually use and which one just takes your place. Take all your hangers and hang them the same way.
The trick now is that each time you hang a piece of clothing back in the closet, you turn the hanger so that it hangs opposite the others. Thus, after a month, you will be able to see which of your clothes you have not used, and thus should discard.
Good luck with the cleanup ..
I hope you have been inspired to review your stuff and get a little bit out of the closet and remember that there can also be money to earn from selling it further. You will be surprised at what can be converted into cash if you spend the time creating them on eg. the blue newspaper.