Small home storage/organization problems

littlemommy1

When we bought this house 2 years ago, it didn't occur to me that there are no closets on the main floor. This leaves me no place to put my vacuum, broom, and other miscellaneous items. 

It's an old house (almost 100) and has a bedroom right inside the front door. We use that bedroom for storage, and it's our pet room. (We have 2 chihuahuas and a cat that stay in there when we leave, all 3 are litter-trained.) 

Now that I do daycare, the kids I watch and DS are accumulating a lot of toys! I'm running out of toy storage in the large living/family room. I would like to clean out the animal room and have it be a toy room, but then would have to move the animal's stuff. The bathroom is not large enough.

Wow. That turned into a long rambling vent. If you have a small home and have organization tips, please help! Thanks. 

Sunny1s

I guess I'm not sure what specifically you are looking for but I've had to do a few things myself in small spaces so maybe one will work for you.

I found these leather covered boxes that are actually kinda big.  They were at Hobby Lobby if you have one of those.  The thing I like is how they look.  You can fill them up with whatever but they look nice so don't stick out like other storage items.

For vacuum and other cleaning items, I'd buy a stand up armoir - you can get a cheap one and have fun painting it, finishing it however you like.  You'll need to not put shelves on one side so you can put the vaccum or other long handled items there.

And i can't say enough about baskets.  Fill them up and put them on a shelf and no one thinks twice.  You look super organized but it can be filled with random crap. :P  Good luck!

 

mrs_j_may_08

Also, if you had an area you could section off you could get a room divider screen and put some of your 'less decorative' items behind it.

jakesbride2be

My house sounds eerily similiar to yours. We have no closets downstairs either and also have a bedroom right when you walk into the downstairs. I bought an armoire from Ikea and use that in that bedroom, it holds coats, etc. I usually just store my vacuum on the other side of that, or I have a little nook in my kitchen where our garbage can and the stairs to our half basement are and I put it back there. I've had to get pretty creative with my storage and hobby lobbby has helped out alot, I have gotten alot of pretty decorative boxes and put them out around my living room, doesn't look cluttered and it's something nice to look at.

littlemommy1

Thanks for the suggestions-these are ideas I hadn't thought of! I guess one of my main problems is the animal's room. We re-did the floor and walls this summer, but can't even show it off. I wish I could move the animals and their supplies (litter box, food, beds) to another room, but the bathroom isn't big enough and the kitchen has carpet (future project!!)

I would love for that room to be a toy room for DS, as well as some extra storage. I can't leave that door open now...last time I did he got in there and ate a piece of dog food! 

jennypants

Could you split the animal stuff up? Put the litter in the bathroom, the beds in the living room and the food in the kitchen. You could buy one of those plastic boot mats to set the food on to corral it in the carpeted kitchen.

littlemommy1

jennypants:

Could you split the animal stuff up? Put the litter in the bathroom, the beds in the living room and the food in the kitchen. You could buy one of those plastic boot mats to set the food on to corral it in the carpeted kitchen.

I've considered this before. The only problem is when we leave we put them in their room together, where the litter box is.  The bathroom is really small to put them in.

One option would be to put a baby gate at the base of the steps that go upstairs. the basement stairs already have a door. Then put a gate in-between the kitchen and living room. Then they would have run of the kitchen and still have access to their litter box. 

littlemommy1

jakesbride2be:

My house sounds eerily similiar to yours. We have no closets downstairs either and also have a bedroom right when you walk into the downstairs. I bought an armoire from Ikea and use that in that bedroom, it holds coats, etc. I usually just store my vacuum on the other side of that, or I have a little nook in my kitchen where our garbage can and the stairs to our half basement are and I put it back there. I've had to get pretty creative with my storage and hobby lobbby has helped out alot, I have gotten alot of pretty decorative boxes and put them out around my living room, doesn't look cluttered and it's something nice to look at.

I need to make a trip to Hobby Lobby. I even have $30 left on a gift card!

What do you use your main-floor bedroom for? Our 2nd floor has 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. We probably won't ever use the main-floor bedroom as a bedroom, probably a hobby/toy room. 

We have a little open nook-type area by our bathroom (off of the kitchen) where we have our recycling containers. I could get something to close/hide that area and make it a closet. It looks kind of cluttered right now.