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How to Sneakily Pack More Storage Into Your Flat


See the latest article on Houzz by Architect Your Home director Jude Tuman about how you can maximise the storage in your home.

The Great Storage Debate

Lack of space is a common complaint from homeowners, particularly when their home is a flat. But almost every property, no matter what the size, has untapped spaces, and there are many ways to maximise the hidden potential that don’t necessarily involve major building work or a big budget. Finding efficient uses for awkward corners, adding raised platforms, or cleverly utilising height can all bring exciting storage possibilities.

Make the most of your walls
The first and most obvious place to put to work is your walls. However, in a flat – especially if it’s open-plan – you might not have many. So consider the option of dividing up your space with ‘storage walls’, as shown in this Lisbon flat, which can be full-height, full-width, or anything in-between. The most efficient solutions are bespoke, as these can then be customised to your particular needs, but you can also buy storage wall units that may do the job nicely, too.
Extending the shelving over any doors or openings is a great additional trick that will enable you to claim a few more metres for your books or collections.

Give everything its place
One sure way to make a flat feel small is to not have specific places to store things because then they just get piled up in a corner.
It doesn’t have to be this way! With limited space and a lot of different things to store, the perfect solution is to gather as many items as possible in one place and working together in harmony. Whether you find the perfect flat-pack wardrobe system, ready to go or decide to have something bespoke created, the key is to have everything organised properly, with each set of similar items given a suitably sized space, as in this room.
In no time, what could otherwise be a cacophony of chaos can become a wall of orchestrated delight.

Fashion as a feature
Sometimes, the most straightforward and obvious solutions are the most effective. It’s easy to overthink a problem, so if you have items you’re happy to look at, why not just hang them from the ceiling? For larger objects, like these bikes, you’ll need a higher ceiling (though hanging from the ceiling and against a wall buys you a little more space, as headroom won’t be an issue). If you don’t have lofty proportions to play with, you can still easily suspend a hanging rail for clothes or a row of hooks for pots and pans from a ceiling of any height.

Close the door on it
It’s a given that keeping a flat feeling airy and spacious is much easier if it’s clutter-free, but another idea is that minimising the number of functions a room has to perform will significantly enhance the sense of space and restfulness. In a flat, however, that’s not always possible. So what’s the solution?
Building some serious cupboards will help you tidy away that clutter (ie, your belongings), but using the same technique to disguise functional zones could boost that longed-for airy feel, too. Install a set of sliding or folding doors to hide away anything from a home office to a small kitchen, especially if it’s against one wall in an open-plan room. At the end of a long day, none of us wants to be reminded of the work we didn’t complete or the dishes we haven’t washed.

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