Small Spaces, Big Results

Small spaces – they are an organizing nightmare, right? Closets, cabinets, even the medicine chest … all at the point of bursting. How do you come to terms with these tiny Pandora’s boxes?

Use the same technique that high-end catalog artists and home stagers employ to make these small spaces look great while still performing the way you need them to in real life. First, take stock of all you have. Small items are the first things to go missing in packed spaces – pot lids, the tweezers, that other damn shoe. Pull it all out and really look at what you’re hoarding.

Do you have duplicates? Sort your collections down to what you use in a two-week period. If you have five roasting pans, leave one or two in your main pan cabinet. If you shop at BJ’s and buy eight tubes of toothpaste at a time, keep only one in the bathroom vanity drawer. If your closet is small (or you have to share it with your husband’s bulky-by-comparison pants, shirts and shoes), pull out all non-essential off-season clothing.

Take every opportunity you can to simplify your life, because simplicity is what makes a space pretty enough to photograph. Anything you haven’t needed in six months to a year (excluding seasonal and party items), go ahead and donate. Forget you ever owned it. Throw away old makeup, toiletries and expired medicine. Store anything you don’t use all the time, and be creative with your storage solutions. Annex a shelf in the garage as a pantry for bulk non-perishables. Put away your big pans till your next big party. Pack your off-season clothing in clear bins, unless you’re lucky and you’re going to Aruba in a few weeks.

Once you’ve pared down what you have to work with, it’s easier to make a plan for organization. Clearing space allows you to consider aesthetics, your personal style and most importantly, functionality. Keep out only what you need and what you love to look at every day. Create balance in your home and you will feel more at ease in your space. Balance makes small spaces sing.

Also – and this is important for sanity – be realistic and don’t try too hard. Remember that whenever you see a perfectly arranged shelf in the Pottery Barn catalog, someone has been seriously overpaid to painstakingly decide what would look just right in that spot. Though you might not go so far as to position your belongings – hello, obsessive! – you might be more likely to at least put things back when you’re done using them. When all of your stuff, big and small, is accounted for, life is more fun.

That’s better than a museum-quality room any day.