Small rooms can be tricky to organize unless you have these small room organization ideas up your sleeve. The biggest challenge we face when organizing our increasingly constrained houses is optimizing the space without compromising style and functionality.
If, like me, you’re constantly looking for ways to eliminate clutter, any additional tips are highly welcome.
Small Room Organization Ideas for a Clutter-Free Home
This compilation of small room organization ideas summarizes actual space hacks I have successfully implemented in my household over the years. They apply to all rooms and should help you declutter and manage your space, even when that space is limited.
1. Utilize Your Vertical Space
The more floor space you can free up, the easier it is to organize a small room and keep it clutter-free. A combination of open shelves and hooks on walls and the back of doors can be used to hang essentials you feel will not affect the room’s ambiance. If the shelves are the same color as your walls, they might even create an illusion of height and, by extension, space.
We also use the back of the doors and the fridge to hang paper bags, chore charts, and to-do lists in our homes.
Other ways of maximizing vertical space include incorporating a hanging organizer inside your small closet or installing a second rack to create another level for holding more items. This allows you to take stock of what you actually use and makes it easy to access what you need without rummaging through rubble.
Installing one or two extra storage shelves provides space to stack more items on top and allows you to hang others underneath them. That space in the closet beneath the clothes can also accommodate a free-standing organizer for shoes, clothes, or any other relevant supplies you have to store.
My latest kitchen installation was a pegboard. I can hang pots, pans, mugs, and other utensils as soon as they are washed. This clears up my countertops, and everything is easily accessible. And since it’s organized and matches the rest of my kitchen décor, it isn’t an eyesore.
2. Invest in Multipurpose Furniture
A storage ottoman or storage bench at the foot of the bed will increase your storage space. It even gives you a comfy spot to put your shoes on in the morning.
You can also use your bookcase as a nightstand or install floating shelves to keep a bedside lamp and your books. Keep thinking of multifunctional pieces because they eliminate the need for extra furniture.
3. Separate Items for Easy Access
My closet drawers have been much more organized since I discovered dividers. I can separate socks, bras, lingerie, underwear, and other clothing items so they hardly ever get jumbled up, even when I don’t have the energy to fold them perfectly on laundry day.
There are plenty of shelf dividers to choose from that allow you to stack your items neatly and efficiently. They make it much easier to find what you need without tossing everything out of the drawers until you find what you’re looking for. You can also use stackable containers, baskets, and boxes for the same function.
Create categories to sort your items so they are easily accessible as the need arises. You can use function, color, season, frequency of use or any other parameters that apply to your household. You want to make your daily routine smooth and reduce the chances of your items spilling out into the room and forming clutter.
Store similar items together, label containers, or use clear bins for easy identification. These room organization hacks will also enable you to monitor levels of supplies so that you can identify your staples and restock them on time.
Don’t want a clutter relapse? The KonMari Method is simple to follow but effective when you want to tidy up and ditch old clutter habits of the past.
There are five steps to follow with the KonMari Method: discard items by category, break a bigger category into subcategories, keep only those items that spark joy, organize thoroughly after you are done discarding items, and do it all in one go (ikki ni, in Japanese).
Spark joy? According to Marie Kondo, the items you keep around should inspire joy, provide you with the thrill of pleasure, speak to your heart, move you, and be something you love. She says, “Life truly begins after you have put your house in order.”
4. Use Hidden Spaces to Store Items Out of the Way
There is plenty of storage room that often gets overlooked when organizing the household. Seasonal clothing items, for instance, can be stored under the bed in a small bedroom until needed. There is also plenty of storage space under sinks and worktops for extra supplies.
My comforters and quilts go under the beds in storage bags or baskets until winter. The baskets keep them clean and protect them from dust. The best part? They are easily accessible when I need them, and I don’t have to lug a bunch of dusty boxes down from the attic or dig them out of the closet.
Also See: How To Organize A Small Closet
5. Customize Your Furniture to Optimize the Small Space in the Room
Look for furniture with small footprints that fit the shape and size of the room. Space-saving ottoman-style beds, for instance, will make your work easier when dealing with limited floor space. If there isn’t enough space on the sides of the bed to pull out boxes and drawers, get one that can be lifted to reveal storage space that is typically as big as the bed’s footprint.
Reserve this storage space for items that are out of season or that you don’t use regularly, as fishing under the bed is not something you enjoy doing daily.
I love to make an example of this slim storage cart I came upon that fits neatly between my daughter’s bed and her nightstand. She uses it for her books, small items, and makeup. Keep your eyes peeled for such gems, as each room in the household has unique needs and additional storage requirements.
Blind corner cabinets are another underutilized small-room organization idea. These corner drawers have sharp angles due to their position in the rooms. Their awkward shapes make them hard to organize, but they are ideal for small items like dish towels and cloth napkins if you fit them in sideways (instead of piling them on top of each other).
They will enable you to declutter without adding pressure to your kitchen cabinets.
6. Declutter
At some point, I got rid of extra pillows and throws from my bedroom as I realized we hardly used them at night anyway. They were adding an extra layer of clutter in our small space that was unnecessary.
This concept applies to the rest of the house when space is scarce. Decluttering is the most effective way of creating space in a cramped environment. What you don’t need can be gifted or donated, creating more storage room for your regular items.
These room organization ideas can be applied collectively or individually depending on your circumstances. The underlying principles are to keep it simple, lean, and orderly.