10 Answers

• Reputation: 4209 Q&A: 121 4 6 1581 87 19 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 5 Russ Campbell, NWEBS

  5 0 Check out GORM shelving at Ikea for storage ideas that can also be used for other surfaces for electronics, TV, etc. - very versatile for putting it together to fit your spaces. Paint it if you want some accent color or a more formal look than wood. Lift your bed on blocks or other risers specifically made for supporting a bed frame so you have storage space underneath. Hang you bikes from the ceiling and camping gear on the wall, use your wall space as storage sites, think of them as the artwork of how you live your life. I am thinking of a bench designed for a kitchen table with hinged seats over storage chests for putting the various pots and pans you may not need every day. Find a space for that loveseat that commands the room and make a good effort to keep stuff from landing on it. That way, no matter how much your space gets a bit cluttered you have a refuge there with space to relax, talk, read. Don't forget to have one really healthy looking potted floor plant to share space with. You need to share living space with at least one living being. Just some ideas. Russ Campbell, NWEBS answered in Interior Design 10 months ago | Report 4 comments by RM, Julia Anderson, and Russ Campbell, NWEBS… 0 0 Seriously awesome ideas, and love the GORM stuff. I get overwhelmed trying to weed through Ikea and usually just give up unless I have a mission when I go. I'll have a cat with me as well, although she's pretty happy with minimal cat "stuff". I'm hoping to either create or find lots of surfaces to grow things. I have two great windows and excellent light to work with. It's a bit overwhelming to think about at the moment, though. I don't have a bed frame at this point and was considering asking a friend to help me build one that would be a bit higher off the ground and thus allow for storage space. Unfortunately I don't see this being the most realistic option for my move-in time. Might have to get crafty with an Ikea frame. RM commented 10 months ago | Report 1 0 You could buy or build a murphy bed so you can fold it away for extra floor space as needed. You could have built in shelves above, under, and to the sides for extra storage. Or get a day bed that can be tidied up and used as an additional couch if needed. There are also tables that you can get that fold up into a cabinet when not needed. I've also seen a great tutorial on how to turn an Ikea cabinet into storage benches for a breakfast nook/table seat. I'll try to hunt it down for you. -Julia Julia Anderson commented 10 months ago | Report 1 0 Dependent on the height of the ceiling you could always raise the bed up high and have a desk work space (sewing nook?) underneath, think a loft, like in many dorm rooms. The other plus to this is that cats love having a place up high to lounge on. The fact you will have good light and windows is great. Think about using them when you plan your sitting locations - being able to see out the window makes the room seem larger. Also, getting window shades that can move from bottom up allows you to keep privacy and leave a space at the top of the window to allow good light and view of the sky simultaneously. (Success dependent on the demeanor of your cat not being destructive to this kind of window covering.) Example: http://www.hunterdouglas.com/product-option.jsp?id=36 Russ Campbell, NWEBS commented 10 months ago | Report 1 0 Oh yeah, I wanted to make sure you knew about websites that show inventive idea/solutions that people have used with Ikea products. The ideas you can get from these are really fun and unique. Here is one, there are others: http://www.ikeahackers.net/ Russ Campbell, NWEBS commented 10 months ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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• Reputation: 1627 Q&A: 33 0 3 1043 136 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 2 keshmeshi

  1 0 Unless you're totally attached to the loveseat, I recommend getting rid of it and using the bed for seating when you have people over (or for your own use). Push it up against a wall lengthwise, and pile pillows on it for back support. If using the bed for that isn't optimal, you could still push the bed against the wall, and place the loveseat in front of it. Putting a screen or bookcase between the two would create some privacy. One problem with putting the bed on a loft structure is that air doesn't circulate very well near the ceiling. If you're at all sensitive to sleeping in stuffy air, you'd be better off keeping the bed at normal height. I find Unclutterer's workspace of the week very inspiring for organizing workspaces; if only I had the time and money to fix up my office/craft room. Apartment Therapy similarly has great suggestions for small space living (although perversely, you'll have to slog through a lot of posts about the next great thing to buy). keshmeshi answered in Interior Design 10 months ago | Report 1 comment by cew… 0 0 Apartment Therapy is a GREAT site, loved it since I first saw it! cew commented 10 months ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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• Reputation: 1090 Q&A: 19 0 13 431 51 14 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Moderator Charles B is a moderator on Questionland Seattle Follow Following 4

  1 0 I'd do this. Looks easy:   Charles B answered in Interior Design 10 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  1 0 If the celling is high enough, build a frame with 4X4's and 2X6's to raise the bed, put love seat under or sewing machine. Sell everything you don't need or use on a regular basis. Shelves, Shelves, Shelves. Hooks, hooks, hooks. Utilize all "dead"space Hang a rod from some eye-bolts in the ceiling and use S-hooks to hang pots and pans. There are many blogs done by yuppies in living tiny apartments as either a result of living in over priced areas or as experiments in faux poverty chic/simple living. There are some good space saving ideas in there, but some of them are expensive or require remodeling. From someone who lives in a 320 square foot cabin, good luck and best wishes. amelia answered in Interior Design 10 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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• Reputation: 2677 Q&A: 45 2 29 1206 139 18 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 2 soundslikepuget

  1 0 I live in a small house, and I have a shitload of toys and tools. Crab pots, fishing rods, boat motors, golf clubs, bikes, gardening tools, car & truck repair tools, etc. I've discovered that seasonal rotation is the secret to keep from dying in clutter. I keep things on deep shelves and in boxes, tucked here and there and everywhere, many of which are inaccessible or very difficult to get at. The trick is to rotate the boxes and stuff into the accessible locations when they'll be needed. Come April, the tire chains and the winter boots get stashed away so deep they're pretty much dead to me. Around that time, the fishing gear comes back out. You get the drift. Does your stuff follow a similar rotation? I don't imagine you do much camping in December. And I'll bet you do less indoor arts and crafts when the weather's nice in August. And from what I recall from my mother's canning, that seems to be a Fall activity. Think about what you'll need, and when you'll need it. Then find the places where you can cram stuff out of the way for the seasons you won't be using it. Get creative, even the smallest living spaces are chock full of hard-to-access storage nooks, under the bed, behind the loveseat, in the back of the closet. Find those out-of-the-way hard-to-access extra square inches of storage space, and cram them full of the stuff you're not going to use this time of year, then rotate as the seasons change. soundslikepuget answered in Interior Design 10 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 The following site has tons of ideas and studio apartment makeovers, should be very useful for you: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ cew answered in Interior Design 10 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 Build your bed to a loft bed. Then use lots of shelves. Monique Balistrieri answered in Interior Design 10 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 I have both a very large dresser (waist height, six feet wide, very sturdy) and a very large bed (queen size) and a VERY small apartment. I cut some sturdy lengths of... um... they're very thick pieces of wood, I don't remember the exact size, I just went to a lumber yard and said "I want that one!". Those became the supports for the wall side of my bed and the visible side is supported by my gigantic dresser of doom. I use a step ladder to get up and down (I highly suggest using glow-in-the-dark paint so you can see where you're stepping in the dark) and there is a metric shitload of storage space underneath. And if you have a cat? "Cave Explorer" becomes their new favorite one-player game. An additional bonus is that when it's bath time, you know exactly where the little stinker will be hiding. Brammimonde answered in Interior Design 10 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 You do realize how small 300 sq. ft. is, don't you? I had an apt. once that was 275 sq. ft. and could fit almost nothing in it. That said, building up will probably be your friend at this point. I agree that you'll probably want to get rid of the loveseat, because there just will be no room to move around otherwise. For your bikes, I would suggest one of those systems where you can hook your bike up and lift it to the ceiling, but make sure you have enough head room too. I don't know how tall your ceilings are. If you are getting a new bed, get one with storage under it. If you already have your bed, then cram as much stuff under it as you can. They have boxes for that sort of thing. Utilize your wall space as much as you can. I know it is a bit of a bummer not to have wall space, but you can always put pictures on shelves or something. I've lived in small spaces a lot. I have to say that you *might* have to give up on the completely aesthetically pleasing aspect of it if you don't want to get rid of all of your "stuff." But, here again are my pieces of advice: think vertical AND think multipurpose for everything! Have a way so that if you have a table it can be used for many things. Turn the bed into a couch, etc. Good luck. I feel your pain! Kristin Bell answered in Interior Design 10 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 I always have this problem when I move. I don't know how much money you are will to spend on elaborate storage systems. I'm never willing to spend any but I'm also willing to living in a bit of a cramped and salvage chic environment. First I would suggest hanging your bikes from the ceiling in an accessible space. I also leave most of my stuff clothes and fabric scarps in labeled, medium size boxes which I keep in a closet. Hardier boxes make a good side table especially with a discard board on top and nice fabric scrap as a table cloth. These boxes should be seasonal or irregular use items of course. I also use other crap I accumulate to make book cases. I have a lot of house paint, things in coffee cans, milk crates, and old painted boards to use. I just leave a couple of cans of house paint available to switch in when I need to use the ones providing structural support. Then I fill the book cases to the brim so the contents also support the structure. Only use the things you need on the top shelevs the bottom should big milk crates or boxes you can store more stuff in that is acessible. Make sure everthing is structurally sound and more or less earthquake safe. Finally everything that can be hung should be hung from the wall ceiling or any other place avaible. It saves space and makes for easy access. Use baskets or maybe that pasta strainer you don't use that much to hang from the ceiling and store more things.  Use everything you can as a rotating storeage place. When it's not in use it holds something else. It's not pretty but it works. Good Luck! Finger Games answered in Interior Design 10 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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