sweaters in the oven. shoes in the kitchen cabinets. books in the freezer. new yorkers pay a median $3,400 a month fortheir tiny apartments, so they’ve learned to get mighty creative when it comes to maxingout every square foot. although your house may be much roomier thanthe typical nyc studio (thank god), you can banish clutter once and for all by pledgingallegiance to these six savvy strategies. 1.when you buy something, toss out something you don’t have to organize the things you
don’t have. “i’ve reached my saturation point withstuff, so i developed a new formula,†says matt austin, an artist and designer livingin a 700-square-foot railroad flat in bushwick, brooklyn. first, if he hasn’t worn something in twoyears, it goes. then, if anything new comes into his life,something else has to go out. “ideally, two things,†he says. in addition to ruthlessly pruning your belongings,keeping an eye on how much to buy in the first place makes an even bigger difference.
adopt a capsule wardrobe — a minimal collectionof clothes that mix, match, and layer for multiple uses. it frees up closet space considerably. ask yourself a few questions before hittingthe “add to cart†button on amazon. does it really make sense to order that quesadillamaker when you can already make quesadillas in your microwave, on your stovetop, and inyour oven? 2.think vertically walls can do a lot more than hold the ceiling up.
“people look at space in terms of squarefootage instead of cubic footage,†says ann sullivan, owner of new york city-basedorganizing people for life. “lie on the floor and look up.†sullivan suggests hanging bicycles from theceiling and installing shelves high up along the perimeter of a room. in the kitchen, free up drawer and counterspace by hanging pegboards for utensils and magnetic strips for knives. 3.add storage to your doors use the inside of every closet, cabinet, and
interior door of your home. sullivan mounts magazine file boxes to theinside of kitchen cupboards to store tinfoil and plastic wrap. in her manhattan two-bedroom, organize meinc. owner janine sarna-jones uses a container store system that allows baskets of varyingsizes to attach to the back of the closet door for vertical storage tucked neatly intoexisting closet space. a few more door ideas: • mount your hairdryer to the inside of your sink cabinet. • use shoe bags to store miscellaneous itemslike cleaning supplies, light bulbs, and batteries
in your hallway closet. • mount a horizontal towel bar on a closetdoor and hang boots, sneakers, scarves, or ties from it. • store a whole drawer-worth of bras inone vertical cascade of connected hangers mounted behind your closet door. 4.containerize everything ilana eck, a new york lawyer by day and founder of the entertaining and lifestyle blog “stylishspoon,†admits to holding on to a lot of belongings.
the only way it works is by containerizingher life. for her, organizing is all about storing hercontainers exactly where her family members will be when they’re in need of the contents. toys are in inexpensive fabric storage boxesin her children’s closet. don’t forget your furniture can double ascontainers, says sullivan, like ottomans with interior storage, or a coffee table with drawers. if you’re using containers in a visiblespot, “that can be part of your aesthetic,†says sullivan. “but you have to be on top of how you’redisplaying things.â€
uniform containers are easier on the eye,and clear boxes are best hidden in closets. 5.curate your stuff into 'art' you can double your storage space by unabashedly keeping certain items out in the open insteadof squirreling them away. for example, sullivan suggests hanging potsand pans above a kitchen door if possible. what could be more appropriate kitchen decorthan cookware? austin swears by what he calls the “anti-closetâ€â€” just a clothing rack out in the open. doing so forces him to cut back on his possessionsand keep them organized, since everything is visible.
“the whole thing is really an exercise inartistic living through good design,†he says. you can also consider which items you alreadyown that can do double duty as fun design and storage. clear out a spot on your bookshelf by usinga stack of hardcover books as a quirky lamp stand. or remove the pages from one of those booksand wrap it around your wireless router or modem to eliminate the need to store theseugly necessities out of sight. 6.use all your nooks and crannies to hide clutter in spy movies, someone is always pulling valuables
from secret hiding spots. you may not be a spy, but your home has lotsof nooks and crannies that can become hidden storage, just like in the movies. consider installing drawers behind stair risersor in the dead space under your cabinets. if there are a few inches between your refrigeratorand the wall, build a roll-out pantry for storage. hide things in plain sight. cut out the wallboard between the studs tocreate space to fit narrow shelves for small items.
then, cover the storage space with an easilyremovable painting or print. or go the extra step and hinge the art tomake a door. james bond would be proud!