How do I create storage in a small flat?
Where usable volume actually hides in a small flat, what can be done without drilling or a landlord's permission, and the trade-off between storing more and living in less.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 2 hr
- Read
- 4 min
Short answer
Find the volume in three places: above head height, under the bed and inside furniture. Buy furniture that stores — an ottoman bed, a lift-top coffee table, a bench with boxes under it — rather than adding storage furniture, which eats floor. Go tall and shallow rather than short and deep, because deep storage in a small room becomes a place things are lost.
A small flat does not have less volume than people think; it has less floor. The usable cubic metres are mostly above shoulder height and under things, and both are ignored because neither is convenient. The other half of the answer is unwelcome but true: in a genuinely small space, the amount you own has to come down, because every extra storage unit is floor you no longer stand on.
Step by step
- Measure the volume you already have and are not using.The band from about 1.6 metres to the ceiling, the space under every bed, the depth behind everything on a shelf, and the inside of every piece of furniture that is not a box. In most flats that is more than the total of all the visible storage.
- Take the storage up rather than out.Tall, shallow units use the same floor as a low deep one and hold considerably more. Shelving that stops at picture-rail height wastes the best storage band in a small room, which is the band you do not need daily access to.
- Use the space under the bed properly.It is the largest single unused volume in most flats. Flat lidded boxes on castors, or an ottoman bed if you can afford the change. Keep it dry, dust-managed and reserved for things you genuinely do not need often.
- Choose furniture that is also storage.Ottoman bed, storage footstool, lift-top coffee table, bench seat with baskets, a bed with drawers, a headboard with shelves. Each of these adds capacity without adding footprint, which is the only kind of capacity a small flat has room for.
- Go shallow rather than deep.A 20 cm deep shelf where everything is visible beats a 40 cm one where the back row is invisible and therefore forgotten. In a small space, findability matters more than capacity, because you cannot afford to own things twice.
- Use the backs of doors and the walls in the dead spaces.Over-door hooks and racks, a rail inside a cupboard door, hooks in the boiler cupboard, magnetic strips in the kitchen, and the wall above the door in a hallway. None of it costs floor.
- Work within the tenancy if you rent.Freestanding, tension-fitted, over-door and adhesive solutions cover most of what is needed. Where you do want to drill, ask — many landlords agree in writing to reasonable fixings, and the answer is far better than a dispute at check-out.
- Set a firm limit for the categories that expand.Bedding, towels, kitchen equipment, shoes, hobby materials. One shelf or one box each. Volume control is not optional in a small flat, and setting the limit deliberately is much easier than being forced into it later.
- Keep one area deliberately empty.A clear worktop, a clear table, an empty shelf. In a small space, visible empty surface is what makes it feel liveable, and it is the first thing lost when storage creeps.
Tips
- Vacuum bags roughly halve the volume of bedding and coats, but they permanently crush down, feathers and wool, so use them for synthetics and cotton only.
- Hooks are the highest capacity per pound spent of anything in this list, and they take seconds to use, which matters more than it sounds.
- A mirror opposite a window does more for the feel of a small room than any storage decision does.
- Watch for damp on external walls behind stored items in a flat — poor air movement behind a full cupboard is a common cause of mould on the wall behind it.
- Before buying any storage unit, measure the floor it will take and decide whether you would rather have that floor. Sometimes the answer is genuinely no.
Questions people ask
Is it worth renting a storage unit if the flat is too small?
Almost never for ordinary possessions, because the annual cost quickly exceeds what the contents are worth. It makes sense for a genuinely temporary gap — a move, a renovation, a period abroad — with a date on it.
How do I store things without drilling into the walls?
Tension rods, over-door hooks and racks, freestanding tall units, furniture with internal storage, and adhesive fixings within their honest weight limits. Anything carrying real weight still needs a proper fixing, so ask the landlord for those.
What about damp in a small flat?
Full cupboards against cold external walls are a common mould site because air cannot move behind them. Leave a gap, avoid packing anything tight against an outside wall, and ventilate rather than sealing.