These Clever Space-Saving Interiors Will Give You Hope For Your Tiny Spaces

Monica Gray - May 4, 2023

Photo: House Beautiful UK

When we have small spaces to work from, we need to get clever with our organization. That means we need to make use of small spaces and areas of our rooms we didn’t think we’d ever use. Believe it or not, there are tons of spaces in your home you can utilize to store your items and save space. Better yet, you can make these spaces creative and cute, so that way, your friends and family won’t even realize they’re storage units. Also, strategically using colors and mirrors in your home can also create the illusion of space. The more organized and decluttered your home is, the better you and your family will feel. With a little bit of imagination, you’ll increase the space you have in your home.

Use A Pegboard For Storage

A clever way to save space and add some storage to your home is to use a pegboard. By using a pegboard, you can add schedules, photographs, or paintings. If it’s hanging in your kitchen, you can hang pots and pans on the wall and keep them out of your cupboard, to keep that area of your kitchen decluttered. If they’re on your wall, they’re within easy reach. The best part is that they dry quickly after you wash them, as long as they’re not dripping water onto your floor (Apartment Therapy).

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Use Nesting Tables

If you have smaller spaces you want to make the most of, use nesting tables. They increase in size, making it look like you have more space and room in your home than you normally do. They can be used together or independently, depending on your home. Use them for drinks or snacks when you have your friends and family over, and when you’re not using them, you can fit them within each other and store them away, neatly. You can even store them in a storage basket. Add house plants and other trinkets if you want to use them for decorations and make more space for other lamps and plants in your home (Homemakers).

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Use Vintage Accessories To Your Advantage

You probably have tons of vintage items lying around your house, collected over the years from your parents, their parents, and maybe even their parents. But that old vintage suitcase doesn’t have to collect dust in your attic, you can use it as a TV stand and storage unit. Since the suitcase opens, you can place books and other small items inside, getting them out of your space. Then, stack the suitcases upon one another for a sturdy TV stand that also doubles as an aesthetic piece in your living room (Pinterest).

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Repurpose Lockers For Storage

There’s a reason schools use lockers for storage. Not only are they great for storing items and keeping them out of sight, but they look good stacked next to each other. They help contain the clutter of paper, art projects, and other tiny items that don’t normally have a home (Good Housekeeping).

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Use Awkward Spaces To Your Advantage

If you have slanted ceilings in your room, don’t fret. You can easily use these slanted ceilings to your advantage. Simply tuck a bed in between the slanted walls, and then mount a small bedside table next to your bed. Use that table to store any extra lamps or plants you might have to lie around. You can also purchase an ottoman bed to make use of the space between your mattress and the floor (Real Homes).

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Strategically Hide Your Television

If you don’t want a clunky television taking up space in your home, mount it inside the wall and cover it with a foldable photo when it’s not in use. Take an art panel to keep it hidden. Place swivel chairs in your living room to keep them facing the opposite way of the television when it’s not in use, and easily turn them towards the television when it’s in use (House Beautiful).

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Use An Accent Wall To Your Advantage

Even though having an accent wall looks nice, if you’re short on space, you need to use that wall to your advantage. Basically, you can turn the accent wall into a storage wall by adding a storage unit that you can squeeze into the tight space. The unit can double as a record shelf, food pantry, bookshelf, and even a dresser. Camouflage it into your home by adding decorations on top that’ll conceal its true purpose

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Kitchen Island On Wheels

If you want a kitchen island, but your home didn’t come with one, you can have a DIY kitchen island. To make your space even more efficient, put your kitchen island on wheels so you can move it back and forth between the kitchen and other spaces in your home, depending on the occasion. Choose one with narrow, tall, open legs that will let in light and keep your space looking bigger than it is (The Spruce).

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Use Old Soup Cans

Old soup cans, like Campbell’s Tomato soup, look great against a white background. The colors make wildflowers pop. They’re great ways to easily decorate your home, while also using items that are small enough that they don’t take up any space. If you don’t want to use them for plants, you can use them for pens, pencils, keys, and other small items. It’s also a great way to repurpose items you would otherwise throw away (House Beautiful).

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Rebuild Your Stairs

If you have the time, you should consider rebuilding and restructuring your stairs to make them into storage units. You can add pull-out drawers inside the stairs so their function doubles. This is a sneaky, clever way to add extra space into your home without sacrificing wall space or room space (Apartment Therapy).

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Decorate Your Radiator

That old radiator sitting in your living room is the perfect space-saving object. Not only can you make it look cute and aesthetically pleasing, but you can use it to hold plants, lamps, books, and other small objects you have lying around your house. You can add gold accents around the rim to give it that extra little pop you’ll want inside your home (Love Chic Living).

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Deep Window Sills Are Your Friend

Don’t overlook deep window sills, which can help you save space in your home. Deep window sills operate as a two-for-one, as you can use them to put plants, while also making sure they have ample sunlight. Add some cute vases that match the colors of your room for additional decoration. If you use any solar-paneled devices, this is also a great space to charge them. You can use your deep window sills whether your window faces the backyard or the street. You’ll just have to use soft, flowing curtains or blinds to keep your room private if it’s facing the street (Pinterest).

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Use A Sideboard

If your living room doesn’t have a sideboard, you’re missing out on some serious space-saving! You can easily hide away items that don’t want to be seen, without sacrificing style or aesthetics. These are perfect storage solutions, as sideboards have hidden drawers and cupboards. If your sideboard has a wide top, you can use it to add touches like candles, lamps, or mementos. For a look that’ll never go out of style, use a good-quality oak design (Mirador Life).

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Build Your Shelves With Purpose

If your home has tricky alcoves and slanted roofs, you can use those awkward spaces to your advantage by building your shelves. You can easily have frames designed to fit the spaces that need them the most. If you’re creative enough, you can fit your frames to hold a television or books, utilizing the space to the maximum. You can also build shelves behind doors, or use pantry shelves in other spaces in your home, like your garage or laundry room (Family Handy Man).

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Get Rid Of The Wardrobe

Hear us out! Sometimes, your wardrobe is doing your room more harm than good. If you feel like your room is cramped, try taking out an unnecessary piece of furniture and replacing it with something unexpected. A cute clothing rail will work just as well, if not better, than a wardrobe. It’ll also force you to keep your closet clean and organized. This saves space because it doesn’t take up a lot of room, and you can use the area behind the clothing rail to build cute shelves (The Interior Editor).

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Utilize The Space Under The Stairs

All the nooks and crannies of your home are perfect for saving space. You can easily transform an empty, unused space into something for storage and organization. Using baskets and boxes, you can find a new home for lesser-used items like toys, books, clothes, holiday decorations, and shoes. It’s an easy hack to keep the clutter to a minimum. If you have a crawl space you want to utilize, you could build a tiny playroom for your little ones. This will keep the clutter out of your living room and out of sight (Bob Vila).

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Make A Floating Bookshelf

If you enjoy flipping through a good book during a rainy afternoon, then you probably have tons of books with nowhere to put them. No bookshelf? Stack the books on each other instead to make a floating bookshelf! Mount one shelf low to the ground, in an unused or awkward space in your home. Stack the books on top of the shelf. Because this area is unused, you don’t have to worry about anyone knocking the books over. It also looks mystical and adds a bit of charm to your home (Real Homes).

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Decorate With A Key Tree

A key tree is a cute way to keep your keys organized. You’ll never lose them again, and won’t have to fight with your family members when you can’t remember where you last saw them. Keys look great dangling from a tree on a small table near your front door or garage. This is a better alternative than having an unnecessary drawer or large table taking up space in your home (BHG).

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Hanging Table For Small Balcony Dining

Hanging tables come in handy, especially for tiny spaces. If you’re lucky enough to have an outdoor space in your home, you can build a small hanging table for breakfast, snacks, and drinking. Better yet, if the space is cramped, you can hide away the table and chairs when they’re not in use. If the table is attached to the side of your wall, you can place plants and lamps on it when it’s not in use, so it doubles as a decorative piece (The Kitchn).

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Use Vertical Lines

One of the most clever hacks for saving space in an interior is to decorate using vertical lines. While this won’t necessarily save space, it’ll create the illusion of space. By using vertical lines, it naturally draws the eyes upwards. To add these vertical lines, use a ladder shelf. This also doubles as storage for books, vases, plants, and lamps. The vertical lines make your space seem taller and wider, especially in rooms with low ceilings (Kate Moynihan).

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Install A Hidden Pantry

If you have a large, unused wall in your home, consider installing a hidden pantry. You can use a butler’s cabinet to create the hidden pantry. No one will know the drawers and cabinets are inoperable and are a door leading to a wide pantry behind the cabinet. This is ideal if you have a too large space and need a way to fill in the gaps. This will also keep your room uncluttered, since you can put your food items in the pantry and out of sight (Bella Tucker).

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Use Your Door Moldings

It may come as a surprise, but the moldings above your doorways are great for small plants. This will make your room seem bigger than it is, without compromising that precious space. This is a clever spot for an indoor garden, where you can use that wasted space to your advantage. Even though watering your plants will take a little bit of extra effort, it’s worth it! (Pinterest).

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Built In Wall Dresser

You can store your clothes neatly, without having a huge, clunky piece of furniture taking up the space in your room with an in-the-wall dresser. This is a tactful way to save space and organize your home. You’ll need to get a bit more hands-on with this one. Cut a hole in your wall that’s wide enough to fit a dresser. Place the dresser inside and mold together the wall and dresser for a neater look (Pinterest).

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Use Architectural Nooks To Build An Office

Use that awkward wall space in your room to build a DIY office. By installing a floating shelf, you can make a table that’s the perfect size for a laptop and notebooks. Install shelves above the office to make it look bigger and neater. For extra lighting, secure light to the wall. You can even add drawers to the floating desk for added storage for things like pens and pencils (Jenna Kate At Home).

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Under-Joist Shelf

The space between overhead joists is your ideal storage solution. This is space waiting to be used! If you install a heavy-duty wire shelf, you’ll be able to store things like sports equipment, coolers, and other outdoor items that are lesser used. This will keep those items out of the way, but still easily accessible (Family Handy Man).

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Paint A Faux Table

If you like to paint, you’re in luck! You can take your paint skills and use them to paint a faux table underneath a floating shelf. This is a fun project which can add a bit of character to your home. If you have a wall painted in a dark, warm color, take white paint and create a design that mimics a table underneath a floating shelf. You can place plants and lamps on the shelf to give it the illusion that it’s a table (Pinterest).

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Choose A Console Bedside Table With Storage Space

If you’re clever enough, you can purchase a console bedside table with integrated storage. This means buying a table with an added shelf tucked between the top of the table and a pullout drawer. There are some pretty cute nightstands out there, and if you’re feeling creative, you can repurpose some old furniture and make one yourself. Drawers are great for storing small things like phones, chargers, and batteries, while the larger spaces on top are great for books and lamps (Real Homes).

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Install Hammocks

Hammocks are great ways to add a bit of extra seating room to your living room. They’re easy to install and take down, so you can choose when you have that extra seating room in your living room. They function well in small spaces without sacrificing any room. Install the hooks on either side of your wall. When you’re not using the hammock, you can hang plants on the hooks to make use of them (The Canvas Prints).

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Lighten And Brighten Up Your Space

Having an efficient and comfortable home space is a necessity, especially if you’re working from home. In this new day and age, our home offices are our actual work offices, so it needs to be as bright and light as possible. Not only will this help your mood, but it will make your space seem more open and bigger. Soft, rounded edges and pale wood will help the space look cohesive and cozy. Keep your walls light so they reflect the light and make your space seem bigger, airy, and larger. Even though this isn’t a technical way to save space, it’ll give the illusion that you have a lot of space (The Spruce).

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Exposed Shelf Over Bed

Instead of a headboard on your bed, use an exposed shelf. This can double as storage space while making your space seem bigger and more open. Not only that but depending on what you decorate with, you can make your bedroom pop with tons of green plants and soft lighting. Build a shelf over your bed. If you need the headboard, you can build the shelf around the headboard with two large columns on either side (Pinterest).

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The Two For One Cutting Table And Garbage

We can’t stress enough how important storage space is when you’re living in a small space. When it comes to your kitchen, every space counts, which is why installing a pullout cutting board and garbage is a clever way to utilize your space. Next to the cutting board is a small hole you can use to toss the extra vegetables and other pieces you cut off that you don’t use. Not only does this solution save space, but it saves time, too! (The Canvas Prints).

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Wall To Wall Strip Of Pegs

If you’re constantly looking for an easy place to hang your jackets and coats, consider installing a wall-to-wall strip of pegs. Not only will this save space in your closet, but you’re utilizing wall space that would normally go unused. Put the pegs across your room to make it look more symmetrical (YouTube).

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Drench Your Room In Color

To keep the eyes distracted from the edges of the room, drench the entire room in one color. This will give the illusion of a large space. Patrick at Farrow and Ball said, “Another good trick is to paint EVERYTHING in one color- a soft neutral such as Joa’s White or Stirabout will work in all lighting conditions and create a good backdrop to introduce your identity through cloth, pictures, and furniture.” This is a fun and easy project, especially if you have one favorite color (Ideal Home).

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Use A Bookcase And TV Shelf As A Room Divider

One of the best ways to separate a room and create extra storage is to use a bookcase as a room divider. This open-storage solution allows you to mount your television and books in the middle of your living and dining area. This gives off the illusion that your space is bigger than it is. It’ll also help declutter your living area since the abundance of shelves provides ample space for your things (Pinterest).

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Install A Retractable Bed

One of the best ways to save space is to install a retractable bed. This bed is mounted against your wall. When you’re not using it, it’s pushed against your wall, leaving ample space in your room. When it’s in use, you simply remove it from the wall and bring it down. For homes with little space, this allows the room to double as a home office or living room, in addition to being a bedroom (House Beautiful).

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Hide A Front Loader Washing Machine

Looking at a front loader washing machine isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing. Instead, you can hide it behind the cabinet doors of a tall cupboard or a curtain. You can also use the space inside to store small items like books and other things you don’t use too often. To get even more creative, you can hide a washing machine behind a butcher-block countertop by cutting a piece of matching countertop and placing it over the machine. These little tactics go a long way and add even more storage space to your home (The Spruce).

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Vintage Card Catalogue Cabinet As A Wine Holder

Even though a card catalog feels like an outdated piece of furniture, considering we store everything electronically nowadays, it doesn’t mean it’s completely obsolete. You can use a card catalog as a wine holder. A bottle of wine fits perfectly into the drawer. If you’re not using all the drawers for wine, you can use them for other items like cards, pens, and keys (Good Housekeeping).

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Mount Your Bicycles As Decoration

Even if you have a minimalistic styled home, you can use your bicycles as decoration. This is a great alternative to leaving them standing against your wall, as they’re aesthetically pleasing to look at when they’re mounted on your wall properly. If you paint an accent nook in a color that corresponds to your bicycle, it’ll add to the style (House Beautiful).

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