Find value in home with little-used rooms

There’s a simple mathematical formula that will help you calculate the hidden value in your home. Divide your mortgage or annual lease by the total square footage in your home and use that value to calculate the cost of your living room, dining room or other underutilized rooms.

“You may be spending thousands of dollars for space that you use only twice a year,” said Standolyn Robertson, president of the National Association of Professional Organizers and owner of Things in Place, an organizing consulting company in Massachusetts. You can increase the value of each room by finding new uses for the space.

Myscha Theriault, a personal finance and home-living blogger at www.wisebread.com, knows the value of space. After relocating from Arizona, Theriault and her husband, David, a retired military man, moved into a small New England cottage, a temporary home until their permanent house is built. Faced with limited space, Theriault developed several tricks for expanding her living quarters.

* Use the restaurant model. Vertical wire shelves and racks popular in industrial kitchens can serve several functions in homes. In her cottage, Theriault uses vertical shelves in the kitchen, entertainment area, bathroom and on a porch.

* Experiment with lofts. Medium-density fiberboard, plywood and other affordable materials can be used to build a platform, stage or bilevel lofts in an attic, bedroom or garage. Raised platforms can create a teen hangout, entertainment zone, craft work space or storage for sports equipment.

* Forget room titles. “If you’re stuck on labels, you’re losing a lot of available space,” Robertson said. A formal living room, for example, can double as a home library or rehearsal room for family musicians. Likewise, a buffet credenza in a dining room can serve as a work space for a home office during nonmeal hours. When it’s time to set the table, tuck office supplies into decorative baskets.