With the rise in popularity of tiny homes and the usual crooks and crannies in sprawling homes, small space organization is an important element of home organization. By utilizing all the spaces in your home, you’ll be able to create an open, homey feel even in the tiniest of corners.

20+ Easy Ideas for Organizing Small Spaces

1. Digital Filing

Gone are the days of filing cabinets and file folder organizers. By switching to digital filing, you’ll save physical space. And the best part? It’s easy. By taking pictures or scanning paper documents and downloading bills from your email, you can simply save the files on your preferred cloud storage service, many of which offer a decent amount of storage space for free.

2. Floor Storage in Coat Closet

Floor storage is often underutilized in coat closets. Add a shoe rack. shelves, or bins beneath your hangers to add more space to your closet and clear out the entryway clutter. You can also add hooks onto the inside of your closet door to keep things like purses and backpacks off the floor and out of the way.

3. Stair Storage

If you don’t already have a closet under the stairs, you’re missing out on great hidden storage. Upgrade your stairs by turning them into drawers, slide-out shelves, or building a traditional under-the-stairs closet and adding shelving. This will give you extra space for toys, books, and whatever else you might have cluttering up your space.

4. Wall Space

By utilizing wall space, you’ll add additional storage that’s functional and decorative. From adding hooks, building floating shelves, or using pegboards, you can remove bulky bookcases and plastic drawers and add extra floor space back to your home.

Want to make a cozy room feel larger? Hang a wide mirror, and the reflection will add depth to the room. (You can also add some hidden storage behind the mirror if you’re feeling adventurous!)

5. Floating Desk or Murphy Desk

Traditional desks take up a lot of floor space. Switching to a floating desk helps keep extra table legs out of the way. Just use a small stool (or folding chair) you can tuck away when you aren’t using the desk. Or mount the floating desk at waist height to be used as a standing desk.

6. Above-Door Floating Shelf

A rarely used wall space is available right above the door frame. By adding a simple floating shelf, you can maximize the higher wall spaces in closets, bedrooms, and more. This shelf can be used for storage, decoration, and lighting.

7. Decorative Baskets

Decorative baskets are a great way to hide clutter in small spaces. Add them to bookshelves, closet shelves, under the sink, bedside tables, or on the floor to visually and physically clean up your space. A great way to save closet space is to store larger blankets in a decorative basket. It provides a place to keep all your blankets together while giving you space to store smaller items.

8. Furniture That Doubles as Storage

If you have a small space, furniture should always be doing double duty. Ottomans can have storage spaces within them. Bed Frames can have storage built-in. Mirrors can double as jewelry boxes. Each piece of furniture that has some sort of storage in it will help you save floor space and keep your home clutter-free.

9. Corner Shelves

Corners are often underused spaces throughout the house. From the kitchen, to the entryway, to closets and bedrooms, every nook and corner has the potential to add extra storage. 

10. Can Organizers

Cans take up a lot of space in the pantry. You can add small can organizers to your shelves, but you can also add a rolling organizer in the small space between the fridge and the counter (or wall depending on your kitchen design). These rolling organizers are the perfect size for your canned goods and spices and give you extra space in your pantry for dry goods and kitchen supplies.

11. Hanging Organizers

When there isn’t a lot of cabinet space, an easy way to add kitchen storage is to use vertical space and hang as many items as you can. Hanging pan racks, hanging fruit baskets, and wall-mounted coffee mug racks can help you clear off your counters and reclaim your cabinets.

12. Pantry Bins and Jars

Pantry clutter takes up a lot of space. By using labeled bins and jars, you’ll be able to organize your food, making it easier to find items quickly and creating more space. And the bonus? If you use clear jars (or clear plastic containers) instead of the food’s original box, you’ll be able to see better when an item is low and needs refilling.

If your pantry shelves are tall enough, use containers that stack. By using the vertical space, you’re giving yourself more room for food storage.

13. Refrigerator Storage

The fridge is one of those small spaces that seems organized because of the shelves, but often it’s a cluttered mess. By using small bins or adding short shelves, you can add stacking space for your cold foods and utilize the entire fridge space.

14. Magnetic Spice Rack

Get an entire shelf or drawer back by switching to using a magnetic spice rack. Hang them on the fridge or create a metal board to attach to the wall or inside a cabinet door.  

15. Door Hooks

Door hooks allow you to hang items that would normally be taking up space on shelves or the floor. Hang your mop and broom, add hooks to the inside of cabinets, or use hooks in the pantry to hang organizers on the door for lighter food items. Each door has a myriad of ways to help you organize and save space.

16. Overhead Garage Storage

Sometimes even the widest of two-car garages isn’t enough space when you’ve got a truck, an SUV, and a bike for everyone in your house. Traditional shelves may not fit between the wall and your car. Add overhead shelves, hang your bikes, and raise your storage bins off the ground so you have enough room for your cars, walk space, and all your storage.

17. Loft Beds

Even if your kid’s bedroom is plenty big, using a loft bed gives more floor space. If you need to utilize the extra space, adding a desk, bookshelf, a wardrobe, or even a futon under the loft bed can maximize the space you have.

18. Under the bed storage

You can add storage underneath any bed frame or buy one with storage built-in. This can be a great way to add clothes storage to your room or find a way to hide your kids’ toy bins. Don’t have a coat closet? Keep your linens and towels under your bed. Sick of stepping on Lego? Add long, flat plastic bins that fit under beds.

19. Bedroom Closet Organization Systems

The standard bedroom closet comes with a closet rod, a shelf, and lots of empty space. By installing an organization system, you’ll create compartments for your clothes and not waste empty wall space. And you don’t have to spring for expensive, custom shelving if you don’t want to. Even simple floating shelves or cube shelves can help organize your closet and give you more space for all your clothing needs.

20. Shoe Storage

Keeping your shoes on the floor near the door takes up space. Switch to any kind of shoe rack that gets them off the floor. This can be over-the-door storage, hanging shoe storage in your closet, or floating shelves. If none of these work, use a shoe organizer that fits under your bed or tucked away in your coat closet.

21. Closet Rods Above Laundry Machines

By adding a closet rod above your washer and dryer, you’ll create a space to hang delicate clothing needing to dry. This removes the need to use a drying rack, freeing up storage space and floor space.

22. Rolling Carts

In a small space, any kind of storage that is moveable can come in handy. Small rolling carts can add extra storage that looks good and can be rolled around to where it’s needed. You can replace your bedside table with a tiered rolling cart, add one to your kitchen for a little extra storage space, or create a rolling craft cart. 

Additional Organizing Advice

How do you declutter small spaces?

Decluttering can be simpler than the Konmari method. 

• Simply take all the items from one space, dump them into a pile, then organize them into three separate piles: keep, donate, and throw away.
• Throw away your trash pile immediately. This will give you an early win and make it easier to tackle the other two piles without the excess getting in the way.
• Take care of the donate and throw away piles as soon as possible. Take the donate pile to local donation bins. Holding onto these piles for any length of time adds more clutter to your home and will take up valuable floor or storage space.
• Put away items in the keep pile. Make sure there is a designated space for each item. If there isn’t, you’ve probably kept too much stuff and need to keep reducing the pile.
• Work in small sections at a time so you aren’t overwhelmed. This can be decluttering one small space a day or working in fifteen-minute sessions at a time. Trying to sort an entire room’s worth of stuff at once won’t lead to progress. 

How do you organize a small space?

The trick in organizing a small space is to find the unutilized areas and find ways to use them. Is it the odd corner that doesn’t fit anything? Empty wall space in a closet? Hidden space under furniture or above door frames? An empty wall? Once you’ve found that space, add storage items to make that space useful. Shelves, hooks, bins, etc. It doesn’t need to be fancy, but it does need to be functional.

Can you DIY most of these tips?

Small space organization doesn’t need to be fancy or expensive. You don’t need to hire an interior designer to add maximum storage space to your closet. Simple wire shelves and command hooks can give you the organization you need for every space in your home. You can also build your own wooden shelves. There’s always a DIY option for your comfort level.

My space is clean–how do I keep it this way?

Now that your space looks amazing, you have to maintain it. The following tips will help you keep your space clean.

• Declutter often. Don’t let new items that come into your house pile up. Too much stuff will overtake even the best organizational system.
• Limit what you buy at the store. Do you really need it? Where will you put it when you get home? If there isn’t a designated spot for it to go, then don’t buy it. Limiting what you buy will save your wallet and keep your home clean.
• Put away your things daily. Even spending 5 minutes picking up items off of the counter, the floor, or next to a closet before you go to bed helps maintain the clean, organized look your new storage systems give you.

Still looking for your dream home? Next Level Homes can help you find a home you’ll fall in love with and help you make it your own.