I specialize in small space design (thanks to 10+ years living in NYC) and today I’m sharing some awesome small space storage tips I’ve perfected over the years. These tips will guide you in your own home, helping you maximize storage, usability, flow, and decrease clutter.

Small spaces are tricky if not thought through properly. A small space allows you to live more authentically. You are left with only items that bring you the most joy! Your small space tells the most about your personality (because for better or worse, there’s no room to hide). So let me help you today. You can create the most spectacular space for yourself, no matter the size.

While in a small space, you’re faced with all the parts of you: the clutter, the chaos, the collecting, the everything. You often need to put your life under a magnifying glass to figure out how to best live there. Which brings me to my first tip:

Tip #1: get to know your routine

Design: Amber Interiors | Photography: Shade Degges

This tip will inform every other tip on this list. We want to understand ourselves and remove the blind spots. You cannot solve what you cannot see. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve brought something up to my clients about their current space and they never realized it wasn’t working when it seemed so obvious to a fresh pair of eyes! Let’s combine your space and routine and make a visual to guide us.

Your task: Take a piece of paper and draw your floor plan (loosely and messily is totally okay). Now using your pen, go through your routine from AM to PM and draw the path you take, circling the places you stop and do something like sit or cook, and keep going until you’ve run yourself through your day.

Now look at your map. Do you see the hot spots and hot paths? The hot spots are areas we use a lot and hot paths are pathways most used (this is important as it informs traffic flow and furniture position supporting that natural flow). We need small space storage solutions for those areas and then everything else can casually support what happens in those key spots. 

When studying your hot spots, consider these questions:

1. What do you do there?
2. What do you use when you do it?
3. Where do you store what you use?
4. Is the place you store what you use within the hot spot?
5. How many people use this hot spot? Any at the same time?
6. Where do you face when using this hot spot? Could that view be improved?
7. What are you missing in your hot spot that prevents you from enjoying that part of your routine?

An example I give my clients is my coffee table. My coffee table is BIG and I need it to be because the coffee table is also my dining table, occasional work desk, the location of my skincare, makeup, jewelry, nail polish, and books. It’s my main small space storage solution and all of my living room actions are stored in it. Get to know your own hot spot because that’s where our Sneaky Storage plan (more on that next) starts.

If you are doing this in a family home, it would be a good idea to map out each family member’s path as they move throughout their day. Use a different color for each person in the family and see if a certain area gets used the most for everyone.

Once you have the hot spot figured out, you can use the rest of these tips to figure out how to select small space storage pieces with intention so you can live clutter-free. 

Tip #2: use pieces outside their label

Assembly Line | photography: Matthew Williams

This is my favorite tip to present to clients and blow their minds. It happens every time. Nobody wants a storage unit in their living room, so the success of our small space storage plan hinges on out of the box thinking. 

Ever heard of the ‘bridal tax’? Well, I believe there is also a ‘furniture category tax’. A bookcase labeled as kitchen storage will cost you nearly double. So it’s time we ask ourselves, “How else could I use this?”

Furniture hacks:

• Need home office storage? Look at a credenza/dining buffet/sideboard. 
• Need a TV console? Again, look at a credenza or a vintage sideboard. 
• Need a kitchen hutch? Look at a Scandinavian style bookcase with glass doors. 
• Need a large work desk in a common area? Search for a cool dining table and store your office supplies in a nearby credenza. 
• Need a filing cabinet? Thrift a vintage nightstand with deep drawers–I did this in my own home; I rescued a midcentury nightstand from the trash area in my building.

Think outside of the box and don’t follow the rules. Shop outside of what you’re looking for. Think about what you need: what shape should it be? Does it need drawers, shelves, or both? Now, what furniture piece in a different category has similar functionality but looks nicer? BINGO. 

Pro tip: I also love to use kids’ dressers and nightstands in designs because they often have really awesome architecture and are at a much lower price point than the same item labeled for an adult.

Tip #3: use Sneaky Storage

Design: Katie Monkhouse Interiors | Photography: Stephanie Russo

In a small space, there’s no where to hide, so you need spots that don’t leave your lifestyle/routine out in the open. Your small space storage needs to cleverly conceal while also allowing your stuff to be conveniently accessible. And the hardest part: it needs to not look like a storage piece of furniture. It needs to be beautiful. So, I developed a strategy and coined the term Sneaky Storage.

The issue: Many of our tasks require small items: a laptop, notebook, pens, paints, etc. We have a tendency to store the small items in pretty woven baskets that are also small. Then we tend to buy open shelving to store our millions of baskets that don’t have lids. The end result is an attempted organization turned into unexpected clutter. Not to mention our designated storage area isn’t near our hot zone. You are less likely to put something away if you have to hike to its location!

The solution: Store your items as close to your hot zone as you can, in whatever furniture piece looks prettiest and is the most functional. One recent example is a gorgeous MCM high boy dresser for my client’s living room that will store toys and work stuff. You would never guess how many lifestyle items are stored in that dresser that have nothing to do with the dresser’s intended purpose. SNEAKY STORAGE. Kids’ toys in a stunning walnut MCM piece? No one would ever guess. It was also secondhand and under $700!

When organizing your Sneaky Storage, store things where you actually use them, not where they are “supposed” to go. It will seem so random and counterintuitive, but, just wait until you go about your routine; there will be nothing but flow.

A note about open shelving: If you want open shelving with baskets, limit your baskets to a small etagere. This is a backless bookcase with glass shelves. It doesn’t feel like a heavy storage piece and feels decorative. Ideally, we want to configure our small space storage so that you cannot see the stuff we use behind the scenes.

Tip #4: buy beautiful 

Design: Nicola Harding & Co | Photography: Paul Massey

I use this tip most often in living/dining rooms and kids’ rooms. We don’t want our storage to look like storage. So we buy beauty in conjunction with great functionality. Most often, we use tip #2 here to affordably get what we want. 

To be thrifty, you can buy secondhand! You’ll find solid wood furniture with architectural detail. You could also get a dilapidated secondhand piece from FB Marketplace that just needs a little love and elbow grease. It is entirely possible to get a solid small space storage piece for under $100 when buying new would cost you thousands. 

Unable to buy secondhand? I’ve got another tip: get an affordable storage piece (say, from IKEA) and add your own DIY flare. I recommend a beautiful paint color and swapping out the knobs for decorative ones (Etsy is my favorite place to find these). You can give anything personality without spending a lot of money. That’s the takeaway.

Tip #5: skip secondary storage

Design: Ticiane Lima | Photography: Renato Navarro

Open storage is secondary storage and we really want to focus on primary storage hubs that are the most functional–ie: SNEAKY STORAGE.

You want your storage to be streamlined and minimal with an anchor point. Small space design means we use our space super wisely, with very specific access points. Our Sneaky Storage locations are intentional. With everything, we refer to our hot spot map from Tip #1.

Pro tip: If you want to use small open shelving, go for a shelving unit–like a ladder style bookcase or etagere like I mentioned above, not a singular wall shelf. We want everything to have big function and purpose, not just a little function and purpose. I would rather  you opt for larger open storage that is impactful, not teeny. Take notes from Scandinavian and MCM design and install a full wall unit. This way, it looks intentional and we skip over the tiny storage issue that looks like clutter. This doubles as a built in/art installation providing architectural detail and negative space. Win win.

Tip #6: balance with negative space

Design: And Studio Interiors | Photography: Nicole Franzen

Here we get the opportunity to practice the art of letting go. Your small space storage plan cannot only consist of solid furniture pieces without balancing it out with negative space and room to breathe. It’s balancing yin and yang. This is why we are nixing secondary storage; we want primary storage hubs and to also allow room for nothing.

Tip #7: select streamlined

Design: Studio Lifestyle | Styling: CJ | Photography: Stephen Busken

You’re taking a lot of care to properly design the necessary furnishings in your space, so let’s not clutter it up with the icing on the cake! A good, well placed piece will add interest without adding visual weight. 

Your small space storage design is successful when we can establish hierarchy and when each item in the hierarchy supports the other.

I like to use a balance of Scandinavian style streamlined pieces with some vintage pieces with nice details. I like to focus on the overall aesthetic rather than the individual small piece. It all has to work together–one piece balances the other, often pairing opposites together nicely.

Tip #8: choose moveable pieces

featured in Architectural Digest| design: Space Exploration Design

If you’re not like me and don’t need a coffee table that is your central hub, opt for 2 small tables or ottomans! I use this a lot when creating small space storage plans for my NYC clients. You can move them around and they can also work double duty as a stool (just check the weight limit first). Many small ottomans can fit a tray on top to turn them into a table too! You now have endless functionality that grows with you. Win win.

Tip #9: clear wall space

600 sq ft and a baby

So you have some great small space storage solutions on the ground, so it might be tempting to keep adding storage to the walls. Stop right there, friend! More is not better here. Maintaining clear wall space will allow your small space design to feel open, airy, free. Remember, it all needs to have balance.

Tip #10: choose rounded edges

featured in House Beautiful | Design: Brady Tolbert

Take my coffee table for example: it is very large for my small living room, so its round edges soften the look. When you have a very large piece, a round edge helps lessen its visual impact. It allows great flow and helps break up the 90 degree angles of a small room.

Tip #11: choose wall mounted in tight spots

Alicia Holgar

But, Kristen, you *literally* just said to keep the walls clear. I’m flattered you were listening, and this is why design requires nuance. For every “rule” there are situations that require the breaking of that rule. So it’s more of a guideline. That’s the beauty of design: literally anything goes if done with intention and reasoning behind it!

If you have a tiny corner, wall mounting a nightstand or sconce might make the most sense. A floating TV console or bathroom vanity might also make the most sense. 

Wall mounting will be important if you need storage but cannot add more visual weight. Mounting something off the floor will help it to feel more airy.

Tip #12: ditch the large headboard

Design: Natalie Myers | Photography: Charlotte Lea

I’m not sure when we collectively decided that all beds need focal point headboards fit for kings, but it’s certainly not true! In a small space, opt for the minimalist bed and instead of the large headboard, go for a wall hanging to soften the look.

And there you go, my mini master class on small space design. I am so happy to write this for you and truly hope it helps you gain some clarity in your space. Your home can benefit you emotionally so it’s a worthy endeavor to make it work well for you to be your best self.