purplemama Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 We are moving to Japan in January with the Army and we are losing about 300 square feet of house going from 1500 to 1200 or less square feet. I know the houses there may have more closet and storage space than I think, but I would like to know from others here who may be better organized than I am how you manage in a small home. We will be in this house for the next three years, so I need to make it work. I have three kids, ages 13, 11 and 7. They will each have their own tiny bedroom. Any ideas for maximizing space will be appreciated. Thanks, Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiana Daniels Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 We had plastic tubs under each bed, absolutely as full as could be. Utilize suitcases for out of season clothing. Loft beds? Probably the most important thing to maximize space is to not get it too full in the first place. IOW, pare down as much as possible before moving and never buy anything that isn't absolutely necessary. That's how we've lived for a LONG time. Except my hubby's pants. The man has LOTS of pants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest inoubliable Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 As my Da used to tell us, "Maximize your vertical space." Shelving units, mama. Also? Start decluttering. We're a family of five in a 900 sq ft house. Keep it simple, everything has a place and if it doesn't then it's out of here, have items that can pull double duty. Wasn't there a Hive member who scanned their entire library so that everything was a pdf file? You might want to look into that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Visit Ikea... In the past 4 years we have gone from a huge 3 floor, 5 bedroom house to a small 3 bedroom house. Getting furniture that suited the house was key to making it liveable. In our bedroom, for instance, we started with 2 different sized dressers and a king bed - they looked great in our huge house, but we could barely move in the small room. We went to a double bed, and lined a wall with two dressers flanked by two bookshelves with doors and it looks much better. Don't hold onto stuff that doesn't work. Bookshelves line the longest wall in the house and go all the way to the ceiling. Desks are the bureau-type, with shelving unit above - tons of storage space there. Keep as much as possible out of sight - it makes the rooms feel more spacious. Decide on what you have space for, get rid of the rest, and from that point on, if one thing comes on, one goes out. DS has Ikea storage boxes (Trofast?) for toys, and when he gets birthday gifts, some stuff has to go to make space for it. Don't keep multiple sets of things! Storage furniture helps - one side of the dining table now has a storage bench - all the art stuff is in that. Beds with storage drawers give a huge amount of storage. Our bedside tables are wicker storage baskets that hold Christmas stuff and other seldom used items. Good luck adjusting - rethinking possessions and space has been a positive experience for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplemama Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 Lots of stuff on here I am already doing. We are decluttering NOW...movers come next Tuesday. We have thought about loft beds. I already have floor to ceiling bookshelves lining our dining room wall because that is the only place we have had enough wall space to put them and we are bringing the bookshelves with us...they are full already but one of the three bookshelves is filled with my husband's books that he can hopefully store in his office since they are mostly work related. That might free up space for some storage baskets for art and craft supplies. I am planning to use the suitcases for out of season clothing, and store stuff under beds. Not sure about scanning my entire library. I don't like reading from screens all the time and do not want to print everything when I need it. I WILL make space for my books. At least I know I am heading in the right direction. The closest Ikea is three hours away and I am not sure I have time to get there before our stuff gets packed up and shipped. I am sure that since everyone in Japan has tight quarters there should be some clever storage items to be found when we get there. Thanks for the ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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