Small Space Storage Solutions Especially For When You Don't Have Any Closets

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 I wouldn't normally consider my house a small space, but when you look at the actual footprint, and it being only about 1900 square feet of livable space, it's not that big :) It feels larger than it is thanks to our tall ceilings. But, I could deal with living in 1900 square feet easily, it's the no closet space that kills me. We have the closets in our bedrooms and that's it. We have one small 1 foot wide teensy linen closet in our guest bathroom. But, besides that, we have nothing. No coat closet. No pantry. No storage closets of any sort. It's hard, but I've become a pro (or so I would like to think) at storage. I have had to find ways to make our house work best for us. So, here's the way I keep our house of 4, plus a dog, organized with storage solutions.

I decided that the best way to go through this is room by room. So, let's start with the living room.

LIVING ROOM STORAGE
1. The best way to maximize storage is to use dual purpose furniture, like storage ottomans. You can put pillows, blankets, magazines, toys, DVDs...whatever you wish in these things.

 2. Baskets are my saving grace. You'll see them all over my house. In this instance, this basket and blanket are hiding a small stash of toys.

 3. We had these alcoves in our house that were just a big waste of space if you ask me, but I decided to convert one side into some shelves. This was a great place to put pictures and books.

4. At the bottom of the shelves, I have these big boxes that store more pictures. I love these things. I got them at Ikea a few years ago for a steal :)

5. And since we are in the living room, let's talk about DVD storage. I have a few baskets that we store ours in, and then slide them into our TV stand. When they are in the stand, you can't even tell there are DVDs in there.

6. Another good use of furniture is using tables that have ample storage like this apothecary cabinet/card catalog. It is a great place for mail, craft supplies, pens, pencils, etc. This one I got from Hobby Lobby.

 7. I also have these wonderful storage foot stools that I use for book storage for my kids.

 Foot stools: Similar items

FRONT ROOM
8. This is pretty much a living room and can be considered as much when talking about storage :) Once again, my baskets are the best storage thing ever. This one just has a whole bunch of blankets.

9. And this storage cabinet from Target is one of the best storage solutions also. I have all my papers in the top and books in the bottom.

10. You can also see on this table that I use boxes for decor everywhere. These aren't just for looks, they have actually have stuff in them too :)

11. And to talk about dual function furniture, this couch is actually a bed and has a ton of storage in it too! Check out this post to see more about it :)

12.  I talked about toy storage in a past post, and this is still one of my favorite little places to stash toys away.

Bench: Target

 This houses all the kitchen toys and food. This little piece of furniture works hard! ..and it's pretty :) I got this bench from Target.

13.  And in the very corner of this room is my "coat closet". I got this armoire for free and decided to retrofit it into my closet since I don't have one :)

 The top has some linens and pillows, and the bottom has a rack for coats and baskets for cold weather gear.

14. Next is toy storage, for any room. I love cube storage for this! I just created a window seat out of them behind my couch. When you don't have a designated toy room, this is what you can do instead :) Once again, you can see more of my toy storage solutions in this post here.

 DINING ROOM
My dining room is big. I'm so thankful for that! And since it is big, it has plenty of space to work hard in the storage area also.

15.  So, if you don't know, I hoard pillows and pillow covers. I actually use this bench to contain all the covers. Benches in dining rooms actually work great to hold linens too :) And they are comfy seating!

Bench: Similar 

16.  I got rid of my old buffet that had absolutely no storage, and made this from a couple of Ikea dressers. They work hard too!

 They store my linens, paper towels, craft supplies, cups...a ton of stuff :)

17. Another little treasure in my dining room is this old record cabinet. I got it for free from a friends old cabin. I decided to clean it out really good and use it to hold files and magazines.

KITCHEN:
18. As I mentioned before, my kitchen has no pantry. Well, it has a single cabinet that isn't even a foot wide that acts as a 'pantry'. It's pathetic. So, I decided a few years ago to use this cute little cabinet and create a pseudo pantry. 

 ENTRY WAY
19. For our entry, I made sure to find a table that fit into our little nook. It's a great place for keys and the dog's leashes.

20. As for shoe storage? Sure we can put them in our closets, but when you only have closets in bedrooms, they are used for other things besides clothes too :) So, there's really no room. Instead, the kids shoes are in this little bench in the entryway.

Bench: Similar

21. And me and my husbands shoes, the ones that are used often, are found in this other little corner of our entry in cube storage. Top's mine, the bottom is his.

 BEDROOM:
22. Functional nightstands are a must when you have limited storage space in our house. I use our nightstand drawers for everything! This is also an Ikea dresser that I hacked into this apothecary style nightstand.

 23. As for bedroom linens, I use this bench at the end of our bed. It also currently houses diapers and more craft supplies :)

24. Besides the obvious dresser, I use this little skirted console table for additional storage. This is also for diapers, tissues, magazines, books....lots of stuff.

25. Talking about dressers for a minute, I've been folding our shirts like this for like 10 years now and it's the ultimate best way to keep your sanity! Especially when you have a husband that HAS to get the shirt at the bottom of the pile and messes everything else up lol. This also seems to take up less room so you can store more :)

 26. For bathroom storage, I, of course, love our storage under the sinks, but I also use little stands like these for towels.

OFFICE/GUEST ROOM
27. Before our nursery came around, it used to be my office and a guest room. I found the best way to store all my office supplies and craft items were to do it on shelves behind these curtains. I love this room back then! Plus, I made a window seat using a shelf and laying it on it's side. Those cubbies were used to store extra towels and what not for guests.

 LAUNDRY ROOM
28. My laundry room is just a pass through room into our garage, so it is very tight. To take up less space on the floor, I got these hanging baskets from Amazon and hung them up for dirty clothes.

Hanging Laundry Bags: Amazon

 29. And of course, the other side of the laundry room has shelves that I use for household tools, laundry stuff, light bulbs, and other random stuff too. I put most of these in labeled boxes.

 Well, I'm sure there's a ton of other things I have missed! Like the obvious, hiding everything under beds and couches lol. That's a bonus one, #30! Seriously though, I have shoes and out of season clothes in little bins under our beds. And I do have a ton of random games under our couches :)

I hope something on this lists helps you if you have a need to maximize your storage space!


Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."