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So I keep reorganizing where everything is in my condo. There isn't too much storage here. I have one small closet in my itty bitty hallway. There is a huge California closet that takes up one entire bedroom wall, so I've been trying to figure out how to put things in there...except that I don't want to have to store cleaning supplies...or random junk that I don't want to have to look at every morning when I'm getting dressed.
I'm thinking of getting some of those under the bed boxes, but I especially need more space in the kitchen and by my desk. I'm not really sure what can be done with the kitchen. I can't figure out how to get both my food and my dishware onto the shelves/into the cabinets. And of course, I have to put paper towels somewhere. And pots and pans.
Also, I store my bike in my condo because I'm paranoid. Apparently there are pulley things you can use to pick the bike up off the ground, except that I'd still hit my head on it, so I donb't know if that would really help save any space at all. The new bike is going to be the same color as sone of the details in the living room...I'm trying to figure out if I could hoist it up on the wall somewhere. But that might look weird or make it difficult to get the bike in and out of the house.
posted
If you don't like what you see at Ikea, check out Container Store for shelving ideas. They have several options and styles.
As for the bike, what about a single hook up high, and hook the rear tire into it? Then it'll hang vertical, basically against the wall, and you only have to worry about the handlebars sticking out.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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The only stuff I see at Ikea is more clothing storage. And I have tons and tons and tons and tons of that. I've been moving more and more things into the bedroom closet, since I don't own enough clothes to really fill the thing, but I can't really put a skillet or something in there, you know? Or dishes...or a box of Goldfish.
Hmmmm....how would hanging the bike by the back tire keep the handlebars from sticking out? The way I'm picturing it...they'd still stick out some...ahtough hanging it by the back tire, I could maybe put it behind the tv.
I have one bookcase...I should take pictures and post them, probably. There's a big built-in shelf, but it's open, so I think it would look really icky to have cleaning supplies or dishes there.
posted
The handlebars would still stick out, but because the rear tire is not going to turn the way the front will, it would be easier to grab the frame to hoist it up to the hook.
And I think that we're envisioning shelving in a part of your closet that you could divide up to different uses. Leave a certain amount for clothes, put shelves in the rest, and you only have to open the doors in front of the clothes when you're getting ready for the day and the doors in front of the other stuff when you're cooking or cleaning or whatever. And depending on the shelving option you choose, yo umight also be able to put a "wall" up as part of the shelving unit to further break it visually.
You could put cleaning supplies into baskets to make them less obvious, same with foodstuffs. All your canned veggies into a bin, boxes of Hamburger Helper into another, soups in a third, etc. Label the outside of the bins so other people know where to look (because you'll get used to it quickly and not need to read the labels anymore).
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
Would you have enough space to get a kitchen cart/island? My apartment has really really limited counter space, and not really a lot of cupboard space, so I got a cart to put in this handy big blank space between the door and the oven.
This one is pretty much exactly like mine (but mine wasn't as expensive), and I really like it. I use the basket-drawers for stuff that I'd normally keep in cupboards, like boxes of pasta, and also for fresh veggies that don't need to be in the fridge. And dishtowels - my kitchen only has two really narrow drawers, so the dishtowels and potholders needed a place to live.
Also, if you don't use your oven a whole lot, you could keep your pots and pans inside it. My mom used to do this when I was really little because our kitchen then had the same lack of cupboard space - whenever we needed to use it, we'd just pile the pots and pans up on the table. If you actually use your oven on a regular basis, though, that might be too much of a pain.
Posts: 952 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
Another thing is to do a clean sweep of your kitchen. Take everything out and pile it in the living room. Add some shelves, or the island, or whatever.
When you go to put things back, be extremely brutal. If it is a pan you use once a year, give it away. Try to thin k like you are camping. What pots and pans do you absolutely need? Which ones can do double duty?
It feels really good to do that. I just did it with my nasty spice cabinet yesterday, tossing old spices, and ones which I never use. If I make a special dish, I will go to Whole Foods and get 2 tablespoons of it.
Little by little, I am doing this. My dream is to live in a Tiny House. The family would be tough to fit in, but fine. I will take it as a tiny vacation home.
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Yes! George Carlin is right. "Your house is just a pile of stuff with a cover over it." Of course, it's very dangerous to proclaim him to be right without specifying what he's right about. He also said that rape can be funny. Which is something that most people would have a hard time agreeing with.
Just to post something that's a bit more on topic: You can always design and build some cabinets yourself. Or have a handy relative do it if your not that good with tools (like myself). This way it can be made to order, specialised for the space you have and the things you want to store. Good luck!
Posts: 993 | Registered: Jul 2006
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Nell, I defintiely don't have enough space to put an island here. The kitchen is what I think of as a typical apartment kitchen. The front room is all one open area, with a sort of island thing to indicate where the kitchen starts. I was thinking of hanging baskets from the ceiling, but there are also those floodlight type things up there. Would that be cluttered?
I've decided not to even get a dining room table because of the space it would require. I'm just going to buy a couple of barstools and put them by the counter/island thing.
I DO have boxes of crap that the woman who used to live her left behind. Rusted pots, a toaster with dog hair in it...I should probably just take entire boxes and put them in the dumpster, since I'd feel guilty about giving most of that stuff to charity because it's so ratty.
Ignore the fact that I'm not done painting and still really need to clean.
The kitchen area, viewed from the door. The refrigerator is back across from the stove, where you can't see. I've been storing things I don't need often way up above the refrigerator where even I need a stepstool to reach, just because it was empty space. Up at the end of the counter/island/penninsula thing, you can see all my exercise equipment. I was hoping I could fit it into that metal box, but I was wrong. I'm trying to find some kind of hollow bench...or something that I can store it in that won't take up too much floor space.
The office area, also from the door. EVERYTHING that's there, aside from the desk, the chair, and the bike, is crap that really needs to go to charity, except that I need someone to help me drop it off. Along the left there is a big window that takes up pretty much the entire wall.
posted
I thought you were a student? What ever happened to cinderblocks and pine boards? And, if you put enough cinderblocks under the legs of your bed, you could park the bike there. EDIT: Whoh! I just saw the pictures. You really do need a couple of trips to the Goodwill. Unclutter is worth a new closet.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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The things that woman left behind are driving me up a WALL. There's just SO MUCH junk. For a while, I had two sofas in my tiny house because I couldn't get a charity to pick up the old one (which was saturated in long dog hair and gave me pretty bad allergies), so I had to wait until my boyfriend had time to do it.
She also left like fifty wine glasses, the wino. I threw a bunch of them away after using them for things like soaking paint brushes.
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You could have another set of cabinets built in to the L part of the counter between the kitchen and office. Not sure how much that'd cost, though. Custom cabinetry work is pricey. Other than that, I think some hanging baskets is a good idea, along with what Liz suggested about cleaning out your kitchen.
Don't know what wall your couch is on, but I'd get two big J hooks and hang it right side up above the couch. That way you don't have to worry about hitting your head on it and it's at least a little out of the way.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Yes get rid of the junk quick. It'll make it easier for you to figure out your options.
You could see about hanging a pot rack in the kitchen to give you a place to keep your pots and pans.
You might want to consider getting a different desk (larger and with a huge hutch portion) so instead of having an entire wall taken up by a desk and mirror, you have super storage.
It looks like kitchen was icky designed. In a perfect world, I'd redo those pitiful cabinets above the counter (dumping the phone on the wall for a small one on the counter or desk), but I know that's "pie in the sky" thinking. I'd see about getting doors for that large bookcase looking thing (and possibly another shelf or shelving device for that tall mostly unused part) so you could use that for storing foodstuffs and kitchen things. Maybe the turtle (I'm sorry I've forgotten his name) could move to the kitchen counter below the phone?
You certainly have your work cut out for you. Good luck with making it work. Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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I REALLY can't move Elmer...if I put him below the phone, I can't use that space for eating. Because I don't have a table, and I don't think I have space for one. So as soon as I get all the crap out, I'm going to move the desk over to the side of the wall and hopefully use the countertop for eating. The coffee table just isn't the same!
I'm thinking of trying to get a cuter stepstool so that I can, as you guys suggested, put food in bins and put it up in the bookshelf thing (I have another, free-standing bookshelf that I actually use for books). Then I could maybe put the little stepstool on the side, leaning on the wall by the tv? Would that work?
I wish I could do stomething with the stupid microwave. Normally, I'd put it on top of the refrigerator, but there isn't a plug on that side, so I put food on top of the refrigerator instead. I want to take off the cabinet doors, which don't even close properly, and maybe paint the wall behind the cabinet the brighter blue. It needs more of a bold color to compliment the light one that I painted them, I think.
If I were to hang the bike above the couch (which is on the opposite wall), how would that work? Wouldn't I have to hoist the bike up onto the couch to get it onto the hooks?
posted
I'm going to agree with the comment that your first move needs to be to start hauling out stuff to Goodwill or to the dumpster. Start with the things the prior tenant left behind, anything that's broken, anything you don't use with sufficient frequency.
I assume from your description that the refrigerator is behind the shelves that we see. And considering storage is the goal here, those shelves really need to be cleaned off of the tchotchkes and small pieces that are wasting tons of space. If you don't like seeing what's on those shelves, you could hang floor-length curtains on a pocket-rod to provide a visual block.
Do you own or rent? That's going to make a big difference in what you can do.
I'd also love to see those cabinets and the wall phone vanish in place of better cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling (yes, you'd need a stepstool to get to the upper shelves, so you put things that get used less often there). And without the wall phone, you could put Elmer on the island where the phone and fire extinguisher are now, and either get a real terrarium light and lid or mount an under-cabinet light for him rather than using that clamp on light that I know is generating a ton of heat and is a potential fire hazard. Yes, I see there's a light switch, you just don't back the tank up all the way against the wall so you can still reach the switch and the outlet.
I may come up with more later, but that's my first set of reactions to the pictures.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
I was thinking more of putting a small cart along a wall somewhere rather than an island off by itself, but it doesn't really look like that'd work either. Unless you put one at the end of the counter, but that would probably be awkward and/or unsightly.
I like ludosti's ideas - the tall bookcase thing definitely has potential. You could even just add doors from the middle shelf down to the floor and use the upper ones for decorative things or whatever. And yes, I'd turn the middle shelf into two shelves too - why would they make it so tall?
And yeah, I agree that the desk area could turn into a lot more storage space with a nice tall hutch/bookcase on the desk, and I bet you could use a desk with more drawers underneath it. If it were me, that mirror right behind the desk would either be really distracting or it would weird me out.
I disagree about getting rid of the phone, though - I think that one's cool!
I'm assuming that there are more cabinets underneath the counter peninsula on the kitchen side - are there? And does the microwave have to stay in that cubby, or could it possibly sit on the counter so you could use that space for other things? I can't see if there might be space past the flowers.
Edit: Oy. I need to not get distracted in the middle of posting. So I take it the microwave is not moveable?
Posts: 952 | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:If I were to hang the bike above the couch (which is on the opposite wall), how would that work? Wouldn't I have to hoist the bike up onto the couch to get it onto the hooks?
Ideally, you'd stand on the couch to hang it. There's nowhere you're not going to have to hoist it, assuming you want to hang it. If you use a pulley, it'll swing.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
I absolutely cannot put Elmer on the island. Then I will have nowhere to eat. The tank is BIG; it's not going to fit lengthwise unless I arrange it in such a way that it's sticking out into the island where I need to be able to eat.
I own, but I can't afford to do any construction in here right now. There are too many other things I need to take care of first, like air conditioning. See, if I can get central a/c, I can close up the window between the bedroom and the kitchen (which is way back there), which would give me room for a full-length mirror in the bedroom and probably some more shelves in the kitchen. But that's a huge undertaking. I have a tank lid, but that light that I bought is the one they told me would be best for him. I really want to keep that big middle shelf with the gumball machine and whatnot on it. I used to keep food on the shelf above it, but it looked messy, so I put all of that on top of the refrigerator. I might be able to hang things on the kitchen side of the built-in bookcase thing, though. I want to be able to get rid of those mirrors; I don't like them, either. But they're stuck to the wall somehow, and I need to have another place I can put a big mirror. Over the door mirrors aren't good because I have over the door laundry bin things, one for towels and linens and one for clothes. If I could get rid of those mirrors, I could put in some nice, long shelves or something. Maybe I should get one of those rolly mirrors? I could put it in a corner or something...but those are big.
Don't even get me started on my completely counterless bathroom.
There ARE cabinets and drawers behind the peninsula thing. They look awkward inside. I'm going to take the whole box of pots and pans and hairy toasters that she left there and just put it in the dumpster tonight. Gah, and I need a new dishwasher before the one that I have explodes; it's 25 years old, and it sounds like a monster when I run it.
I also need something to put my flowers on by the window. I have the pot of flowers on the counter and an urn thing which is already by the window. But that's another thing that I can't do anything about until I get the crap out. Let me go see if I can fit it into the bedroom closet so that I can at least not have to glare at it every day.
posted
My thing with hoisting the bike is that I don't want to have to rest the wheels on the couch. The bike I have now is really, really heavy. The one my boyfriend is building is going to be twenty pounds or less, which will probably make handling it a lot easier, though. There are two storage sheds outside where I could put my bike, except that I had a bike stolen off the bike rack inside my old, gated apartment complex that had a security guard, and both of these bikes are a lot nicer, and I'd hate to lose either of them. I'm giving the one I have right now back when I get the lighter one though, so I won't have to handle two bikes. That would be well nigh impossible.
What a great idea to put something on the end of the penninsula, though! I tried putting one of those crazy box crate high things that was in the corner on the end of it and putting my exercise equipment on the shelves, and it doesn't look half bad. I mean, I'll have to replace it with something, but at least I can not tear my hair out over that for a little while. Thanks!
posted
The bike you have now is probably not much more than 30 pounds. Point being, if you want it hung it either has to go somewhere where you can bang your head on it or above the couch. Assuming you don't have a handy corner somewhere you can stand it up.
I like hanging mine because it clears up floor space. But I understand not wanting it to dirty up the couch.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I think Michael said my current bike is ~40lbs. I can sort of get it up and down the stairs without killing myself, but I've had a few close calls. I'm not sure if the weight is the issue, or just the fact that it's gigantic and unwieldy. It's a huge, heavy mountain bike type thingamajig.
Edit: I'm not sure how this hanging a bike up process actually works. I keep picturing just...hoisting up a bike and waving it precariously about until it finally catches on some pirate-style hooks.
Also, in Friends all the shelving in the girls' apartment's kitchen is open, and it's lovely. I think it would be perfectly appropriate to store boxes of cereal or canned goods, a bowl of fruit, there as well. And certainly glassware, that's traditionally visible.
I would definitely get a desk with a nice big hutch - screw the mirror, it's kind of 70s retro in a bad way as it is, half covered up it will look cooler.
And I have many, many more ideas from Ikea! But first, declutter. Many Ikea stores offer space plannign services too. And I like West Elm as well.
Posts: 471 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Bed risers boost up your bed a few inches, making for more storage room underneath. Like maybe the bike can lay down under the bed. I'd go ape trying to boost my bicycle on and off the living room wall. Also, I'm pretty sure that I'd get dirty doing it (and so would the wall).
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
No no, the apothecary table is from Pottery Barn, not Ikea. Or possible the flea market. If you're Phoebe.
Posts: 471 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I wonder if I could fit some kind of wheeled trunk under there. I can't tell from that Ikea site, are the under-bed boxes one big box, or are they separated inside?
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