Look for storage options in new places

Maximizing storage space is one of the most frustrating aspects of living in a small home. When possessions and clutter are about to get the best of you, it’s easy to fantasize about how life would be infinitely simpler if only you lived in a bigger house with more cupboards and closets.

But imagine what would happen if every piece of furniture in your tiny apartment could have two purposes, with one always being a little bit more storage capacity for items that don’t have a drawer or cabinet of their own. It will take some ingenuity and some serious shopping to find genuinely attractive pieces of furniture that also happen to have additional function, but it can be done.

The most important quality, besides the style of the item, is how sturdily it is made and how well it functions. If any piece of equipment that is meant to flip up or pull out binds, squeaks or hesitates rather than smoothly doing what it is billed to do, then you won’t want to use it.

Very often oddball pieces that fit perfectly into a tight area are marketed through catalog sales and via the Internet. The problem is that it is extremely difficult to get an accurate idea of how something is made without seeing it in person.

And while catalog vendors offer to return your money, realize it is your responsibility to ship the item back. One of my clients once bought a rug online that didn’t turn out like we had hoped it would. When we shipped the 8-foot-long roll back, we were shocked to find out that it was hard to find someone to pick it up, and it was expensive. Shopping locally for these pieces may be your best bet.

Shown in the accompanying photo is a classic European-style breakfast ensemble that might fit easily into a variety of settings. It could blend with simple contemporary upholstered pieces in an adjacent room or with more traditional details such as button tufting or cabriole legs on armchairs or a sofa.

The unusual aspect is that the table offers two good-sized shelves for storage. In this instance cookbooks and serving pieces are stashed. The attractive basket might hold linens, mixing bowls or roasting pans.

Visitors can’t tell what it stores, and that is just the point: You could store tax records there for all it matters visually. This is how you get your space to really function. The basket might hold a laptop and CDs for when the dining area must double as your home office where you pay bills, check e-mail and communicate with your office or clients.

Start trying to think outside of the traditional uses for household items. In this same kitchen, narrow shelves offer some useful storage for small and necessary kitchen staples such as cooking oils, condiments, utensils, an espresso pot, mugs and table service.

These shelves create extra storage, and at the same time they are decorative and attractive. But to get to that point, someone’s mind had to shift to the place where it was all right to expose things to everyone’s view that normally would be hidden behind a cupboard door. Think about boats and motor homes where the table easily turns into a bed at the end of the day.

Consider other rooms in your house where ottomans can open to store magazines or the top of a bedside table can lift to reveal a bin for storing linens. Investigate plastic bins that slide under the bed. Once you focus on your search, you’ll be surprised at how many items you’ll find that will make your space more beautiful as well as more functional.

Christine Brun is a San Diego-based interior designer and the author of “Big Ideas for Small Spaces.” Send questions and comments to her by e-mail at cbaintdes@hotmail.com or to Copley News Service, P.O. Box 120190, San Diego, CA 92112.