10 Tips on How to Maximize Space in a Small House

Many of us want space but struggle to achieve it in small living areas. Even with only the bare essential furniture, finding a way to fit beds, couches, tables, and desks into a tiny home while leaving enough surface area to feel comfortable is a tall task, but not an impossible one.

Below, we will share ten tips for how to maximize space in a small house so that you can live comfortably and clutter-free.

Invest in Proper Storage

The most important thing you can do to create space in a small area is purchase storage for loose clutter and items without a permanent home.

With baskets, storage totes, and bins in every room of your house, you will condense the surface area taken by smaller items down to one confined space. Storage receptacles are great in kitchens for bottled spices and small boxes and in living rooms for remotes and small electronics.

Proper storage is about more than buying the first bin you find; you need to strategize to get the most out of your investment. For example, ottomans and coffee tables with drawers double as attractive furnishings and storage devices that save you even more space than having to purchase a separate tote.

You can also get creative with your storage. For example, using magnetic strips and hooks to hang coffee mugs is a stylish way to create a bit more space in your cupboard. Though cups might not take much surface area, to begin with, every square inch you free up matters when dealing with a cramped space.

Buy The Right Furniture

Bulky furniture is a nightmare for anyone living in a small space. Of course, we need items like our couches, chairs, and desks to live comfortably. But these furnishings take up massive amounts of space in our already cramped living areas when we buy the wrong ones.

Thankfully, you don’t have to get rid of any staple furniture to create space in your tiny home; you have to strategize the items you buy. For example, exposed-leg coffee tables and desks will give your living spaces an open, airy feeling, all while creating storage space underneath.

You can find spacious alternatives for all kinds of standard furniture. For example, barstools instead of dining chairs, clothes hangers instead of dressers, and standing desks instead of traditional ones with big office chairs are all impactful ways to create more space.

Get Creative with Building Architecture

Sometimes the biggest obstacle to creating more space isn’t the size of the room or home but its architectural layout. For example, many buildings have nooks too small for a couch, television, or average-sized dining table. As a result, most people will under-utilize or ignore the space entirely.

But just because you can’t use a particular space the same way you would a traditional living room doesn’t mean you have to ignore it altogether. For example, you can arrange throw pillows, blankets, and a wall shelf in an oddly-shaped corner or room to create a comfortable reading area near a window.

Homeowners wondering how to maximize space in a small house will achieve outstanding results by seeing every corner and square inch as an opportunity.

Use Walls to Your Advantage

Even if you live in a cramped home with small rooms and floors packed with furniture, your walls will always offer massive surface area and potential for decoration and furnishing.

Using walls to your advantage helps create more space, creating a modern home aesthetic when you utilize them correctly. For example, mounting your television and speakers to your wall will clear up floor space, but many contemporary homes wall-mount their entertainment centers.

There are more ways to put your walls to work than just wall-mounting your TV too. For example, many modern homes use wall-mounted shelves for books and movies rather than traditional bookcases and wall desks rather than ones that stand on the floor.

There are modern, wall-mounted solutions to bulky furniture that traditionally eat tons of space, like lamps and even using ceiling-mounted hammocks in place of chairs.

Install Sliding Doors

Traditional swinging doors eat up more space in homes than many people realize. When you need to create a wide enough area for a door to open without hitting anything, you’re leaving vacant space that you could use for shelves, furniture, or decorations with a modern door alternative.

Sliding doors, also called pocket doors, are popular ways to create space in smaller homes. Rather than swinging open and shut on hinges like a traditional door, a sliding door is on a horizontal track that slides open rather than pushing into a room. These doors are standard for bathrooms, bedrooms, or other private areas with minimal floor space that need bulky storage units.

Build Multi-Purpose Rooms or Areas

If you don’t have enough rooms to fill all your wants and needs, the best thing you can do is create a space designed for two or three separate roles.

With creative thinking and the right furniture, you can build small spaces within larger areas that feel natural. For example, you can invest in a bar cart for a comfortable chair in your living room to bring parts of your kitchen to the common space.

Another popular design combination is to divide a bedroom with a suspended curtain and use the secluded area to build a small office with a wall-mounted desk.

The key to maximizing a room’s potential is to use all the surface area at your disposal. If you can find furniture for the walls and window ledges and put those features to work, you won’t have a problem finding space to create a multi-purpose room.

Find Multi-Purpose Furniture

Like creating a multi-purpose room, investing in furniture that addresses multiple roles is excellent to create more space.

For example, if you have a dedicated guest bedroom but want that space for another purpose, you can purchase a couch that folds out into a bed. That multi-purpose tool will give your guests a place to sleep and eliminate the need for a guest room.

You will find furniture that serves multiple roles for various rooms and purposes. For example, you can turn dining tables into desks and kitchen islands into dining areas, each of which can eliminate the need for a separate room.

Go Small Wherever Possible

The tip that many interior design experts offer on maximizing space in a small house is to spring for small furniture wherever possible. Love seats instead of couches, day beds instead of king-sized mattresses, and compact dining tables over spacious ones are great alternatives to bulky furniture.

Create a Spacious Feeling Without Creating Space

With the right furniture, mirrors, and a fresh coat of paint, you can make your living areas appear more open without creating more space.

Mirrors are the most useful of the previous resources at creating a spacious appearance. If you position them on your walls correctly, they will reflect the entire room and make the space feel more extensive as a result.

The same applies to other reflective surfaces as well, so if you want to make your kitchen look bigger without installing a mirror, install high-gloss backsplash tyles wherever possible.

Paint and narrow furniture will also give your rooms a spacious appearance. We’ve already examined how exposed-leg furniture makes rooms feel more open, but combining that furniture with a light wall color can exponentially add size to a room.

And with those three elements working together, you’ll have a home that feels looks and feels far more open than its actual surface area.

Declutter Your Living Areas

Clutter is at the heart of most space issues. When clothes, furniture, and personal effects start to pile up, they will eat up more surface area than you can spare in a small home. So, the most effective thing you can do to create more space for yourself is to eliminate that clutter.

You can attempt to sell your clothing and home goods but finding a buyer for used items is more of a hassle than the money you would recoup is worth in most instances.

It’s easier to declutter your rooms and closet by donating goods, and there is no easier way to donate in the Los Angeles area than with Easy Donation Pickup.

Donate Unused Household Goods Today with Easy Donation Pickup

If you’re wondering how to maximize space in a small house but don’t know where to start, there isn’t any easier method than donating your gently used home goods through Easy Donation Pickup.

Not only does our team allow you to contribute to a worthy cause, the National Veterans Foundation, but we will pick your donations up from your home for no cost.

Call Easy Donation Pickup today at (855) 628-8387 to schedule a pickup and start decluttering your home.