CREATING SPACE
With House Doctor

The need for more space in our homes is a perennial problem. The current housing situation, low inventory, tighter mortgage lending combined with a fear of interest rate hikes has meant fewer people feel able able to move up the property ladder to gain an increase in space. Many families are also being squeezed space wise by young people unable to move out and elderly relatives moving in.

Here are some tops tips to finding more space:

1. Clear the clutter. Clutter eats up space and bogs you down. Have a good sort out of coats, shoes, magazines, paperwork and other items you don’t need, including children’s toys. Donate, sell, gift or throw.

2. Clear your floor space: remove all unnecessary items from the floor by positioning and placing your possessions vertically. You’ll be amazed at how much floor space you can re-gain by finding other places to put things. Use shelving, rows of wall hooks, over door storage and stackable storage boxes to get your possessions organised.

3. Bounce the light around: Your home will appear most light and spacious when it is light and this is best achieved by using large mirrors in darker areas and making sure the windows are sparkling clean.

4. Make an Entrance: If there is one area to really concentrate on make it your hallway. If it is clutter free you will get a subliminal boost as you enter or leave your home. This area will feel most spacious painted a light warm colour. Make sure you have appropriate storage for shoes, coats and other items which can make a hallway feel cramped. There are some great narrow storage solutions available from stores such as Ikea etc.

. Create a system for items such as keys, letters, phone chargers etc. Only use furniture in a hall that is the right size and scale

6. Look at your floors: Rugs and additional floor coverings do make a home feel warm and cosy, but they do take up visual space which can make an area seem smaller.

7. Check your furniture position: If you feel that a particular room isn’t right you can’t beat moving the furniture around to get a fresh perspective. Remember not to block doors with furniture and make sure your biggest items are along the longest walls.

8. Sense check your furniture is the right size: Now you can see the house clearly, take a good look at your furniture in the key rooms. If you have lots of smaller pieces of furniture then these eat up more visual space and removing some will help.

9. Look for multi-functional furniture. We are all familiar with sofa beds but how about a coffee table which turns into a dining table? Look for a compact workstation to make you home office as small as possible. ( NB The link is for a German supplier of compact workstations, but I wanted to show how thin you can go) In children’s rooms high sleeper beds are a possible solution .

House Doctor is led by our Founding Member Annie Doherty. For more information, tips and training please visit www.housedoctor.co.uk