Small Space Tips and Ideas

Photography by Daniel Blue

Live in a small home? That’s the case for a lot of us. But it doesn’t mean that your house has to be cluttered, or have ugly style. Instead, take these tips from homeowner Rendi Trent of The Vintage Bucket, who has a home of 840 square feet—and shares it with her husband and four kids! Here are our 10 small space tips and ideas for how to make the most of the space you do have.

Laundry area in master bedroom for small space tips — Rendi and her husband Andrew did a full remodel of their tiny 840-square-foot home, and used small space tips to get the most of their space. Rendi included floor-to-ceiling storage throughout the house to make use of every square inch. Photograph by Daniel Blue.

Use wall space up to the ceiling.

When you have a small home, you need to maximize every square foot. And that includes wall space. “A lot of people will put in a piece of furniture that doesn’t reach the ceiling,” Rendi says. But when she designed her tiny home, she included plenty of built-in storage space that uses even the last few feet up to the ceiling.

Apron front sink in open kitchen with small space tips storage underneath — Rendi only has one open shelf in her whole house, which she uses for decor. But elsewhere, she took out upper cabinets and open shelves to create closed storage.

Avoid open storage.

Open shelving is beautiful if you have the room for it, but—small space tip—for shelving that’s practical, put doors on. “Keep everything closed,” Rendi says. “If you have anything open, it creates a sense of clutter. Close it up so it looks more streamlined and less cluttered. I tried open shelving, but I couldn’t do it. It feels too busy and cluttered.”

Small space tips for garden sheds with how to hang tools in an aesthetically pleasing way — Rendi added charm to her practical garden shed by mounting a peg rail and using it to store the tools she and her family use on their property. “We need so many tools for the orchard, so all of them are working tools,” she says.

Use everyday items as décor.

Use your everyday items as décor to bridge the gap between practical and beautiful for small space tips. “In my kids’ room, their skateboards and hats are hung on the wall, and that’s their décor,” Rendi says. “In our living room, we have a music area. The guitars are used on a daily basis.”

Vintage-inspired gallery wall in bathroom with gold and black frames — In her home’s single bathroom, Rendi has built a collection of vintage and vintage-inspired wall art that gives the space a bit of retro whimsy.

Get cozy.

Though you want to avoid a cluttered look in your home, sometimes, grouping items close together is one of the small space tips that will allow you to fit more. Just don’t use this strategy everywhere—choose a few key areas to allow more items to crowd together, like Rendi did with her vintage art gallery in her bathroom.

Master bedroom with small space closets on either side of the bed — In the bedroom, Rendi designed 2-foot-wide closets for her and her husband on either side of the bed. The closets are small, but hold the clothing they need for each season.

Be minimalist.

You knew this small space tip was coming. “My biggest rule is that if you haven’t used or worn it for 18 months, then remove it,” Rendi says. This especially applies to clothes—even the Trents’ closets are small. “If you haven’t worn it for two winters, you won’t wear it again, or you’ll want to replace it,” Rendi says. Keep the number of knickknacks and sentimental items to a minimum, too.

Open living dining area for small space tips — Even though her home is only 840 square feet, Rendi has a large open living space where she and her family spend a lot of time. It looks uncrowded and unhurried.

Keep living spaces uncroweded.

Have you noticed that in large houses, there’s often lots of room between furniture pieces? It makes the home feel large. This is a small space tip in disguise. Make your living space have the same uncrowded feel you can get in larger homes by keeping the number of furniture pieces down. Adding open space to a room will increase the visual space too.

Tiny mudroom area in a small home — Rendi enclosed a tiny (4 x 8-foot) side porch and turned it into a mini mudroom area for holding shoes, coats and purses.

Hide clutter.

Even if you’re the best minimalist out there, you can still use small space tips to hide practical items that inevitably fill up your home. Items like shoes, a purse and keys, and practical dishes you use. Store these items away in hidden areas wherever you can. Add storage to benches, baskets, bookshelves and any other place you can hide items away.

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Small chapel with white walls and a brown door on grass — Rendi’s storage shed doesn’t look like one. Instead, she added charming architectural details to make it into a chapel lookalike.

Use off-site storage options.

We’re not suggesting you pay a ton for a storage unit—in fact, avoid that if you can. Storage unit companies increase their rates frequently, and soon you’ll be paying way more than you bargained for. But this small space tip is to look at other potential storage options. Does you home have an unattached garage? Do you have a garden shed you can use? If you live on a larger property like Rendi, try storing your extra stuff in an outbuilding.

Outdoor dining table with patio area and arching trees overhead — Rendi and her family host outside, since their 840-square-foot home won’t accommodate any guests. The large table on their patio, however, sits 16.

Move outside.

Hosting inside a small home can be a big challenge. If you have room outside your home, such as a backyard or a larger property you own, move outside for your hosting. Another small space tip? You can even use a combination indoor-outdoor solution to maximize all your space—serve food inside and sit outside, for example.

Bedroom with four bunkbeds for small space tips — In her kids’ bedroom, Rendi added everyday items as decor, and let the kids take ownership of the items they keep in their room.

Let kids share.

Kids are very adaptable, and can easily share spaces when they need to. For example, Rendi’s four kids share a single room together in their 840-square-foot house. As a small space tip for kids’s rooms, let them each have their own area where they can store toys, and give them free reign over what they keep there, as long as their stuff doesn’t overflow out of their area.

Ready for more small space tips? Check out these small decor ideas! Of course, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to get your daily dose of farmhouse inspiration!