Look through apartment listings in New York City and you’ll notice the apartments are rather small. It’s one of the annoying drawbacks on living in the City, but it doesn’t need to be a deal breaker. Here are five tips to make your small apartment feel bigger.
Get Organized
Make sure you have a place for everything you own. Having spaces to put things helps to keep an apartment looking clean and neat rather than cluttered and messy. Look for unusual areas to store stuff if you’re running out of space. The top of kitchen cabinets could be a great space for appliances. The walls above your doors or furniture could be the perfect spot to install shelves. It doesn’t really matter where you put things, so long as you find somewhere for them to go.
Make sure you stay organized
Once you find somewhere to put things, it’s important to actually put your stuff away. This may seem self-explanatory, but it’s one of the biggest reasons apartments start to look messy. It’s easy to leave the blender on the counter when you’re running late for work, or to just toss your shoes on the floor and the mail on the table, but when you don’t have a lot of space in your apartment to begin with those little moments where you don’t put one thing away can start to pile up quick
Leave space for having more things
A simple fact of life is that you’re going to end up acquiring more stuff, whether it’s from a stroll through a flea market or from birthday presents or just some random thing you bought online, you’re going to find yourself getting more things. If you start your life in a small apartment by cramming it with stuff, you’re going to get real cramped, real soon. Leave space in your cabinets and on your shelves for when you inevitably get more things. Not only will it leave your apartment looking like it isn’t as cramped, it won’t leave you a decision of what to throw out when you buy something new.
Have less stuff
This may seem like a rather obvious solution, but you’d be surprised how many people just have things they never use. If Marie Kondo hasn’t convinced you to throw out half your things, this probably isn’t going to do much to motivate you. But if you’re feeling squashed for space, the best thing to do is just get rid of some things. Anything you haven’t used in months or years you probably don’t need.
This isn’t something that a lot of people like to hear, but sometimes there really isn’t enough room. Maybe you don’t have space in your closet for all your coats and dresses and jackets, or maybe you have Christmas decorations cluttering up your front closet – whatever it is, it’s just going to annoy you when you aren’t using it. Storing seasonal clothing and holiday items frees up space and is surprisingly inexpensive. If you store with us, we even pick up and deliver so you don’t have to leave your house.
Paying for storage may sound like a dirty word, but it’s the best way to make your small apartment big enough, and it’s more affordable than you probably expect!
However you do it, making your small apartment not seem cluttered is entirely possible!
