Sort It: The space you crave may be right under your nose

Do you feel like your house is running out of space? Whether you live in a city centre apartment or a detached suburban house the need for additional space is an issue that most people face at some point. The good news, however, is that there are ways to find some, if not all, of that additional room without having to extend.

One of the most common reasons people lack space is an over accumulation of their “stuff”. In an effort to contain and organise everything, the impulse is to go out and buy furniture to store everything but these pieces can become more problematic than their contents and the room can start to feel filled to capacity with bulky pieces of furniture.

A far better course of action is to be ruthless and clear out anything that is no longer required, including any bulky furniture items. Once your room is stripped back look at the items that you need to store and then invest in some purpose-built storage. By opting for a customised unit you will be able to tailor it to fit seamlessly into your room and make sure it can hold and organise the contents easily. It will be totally functional whilst being an unobtrusive and even attractive addition to your room.

Look for any available wall surface or alcove that could be transformed to a useful storage space. If you are refurbishing look for clever ways of incorporating storage into otherwise unused spaces such as sections of non-structural walls where you could create alcoves or recessed shelving areas, like the end of a bath where you could create a section that lifts up or pulls out for storing bulky bathroom essentials.

Could a box room be converted into a laundry room or study space to free up other areas of the home? Is the storage that you have functioning well? For example, could kitchen cabinets be brought right up to the ceiling to add storage space for those appliances you use less frequently? The area under the stairs is often poorly utilised and there are a number of companies who provide excellent bespoke solutions that maximise this space.

Cramped

These under-used spaces are the key to finding the extra space that you need but sometimes they’re just not all that obvious. We had clients who lived in a bungalow they bought when they were just married. With the addition of three small children, the house was feeling very cramped. They had already extended to create an open-plan living space to the rear of the house and were reluctant to extend again as they did not want to eat into their garden any further.

There was a good-sized master bedroom and three additional very small bedrooms and they really could not see how to gain any additional space. We advised transforming the attic space to create a mezzanine level over the living space to the rear to create an additional seating/den area and a further mezzanine level in the children’s room allowing us to put the beds on the higher level freeing up valuable play and storage space below.

Really assess your home and don’t be afraid to think outside the box a little as the very space you crave might be right under your nose or, as with our clients, right over your head.

Denise O’Connor is an architect and design consultant