We might not be living in our dream home. But just because it doesn’t exactly look like that magazine picture we’ve been saving doesn’t mean it can’t act like it. What makes a dream home isn’t its size or price tag but its beautiful functionality. One seems to effortlessly glide from room to room. But watch out not to trip over the toy trucks on the floor because “real life” exists even in a dream home .

A dream home has a flow- a flow of color and style (the beauty part) and a flow of layout (the functional use of the space). We may not be able to knock down a wall or replace the slider with french doors but we do have a say over the placement of furniture & decor and the function of the rooms.

How to Make the Most of Your Home Space

Back to my farm analogy from my post Small House Big Love. One of the reasons small farms make more net income per acre than large farms is because small farms use each square foot of land more intensively. Smaller farms just have to make better use of their land because they don’t have excess to spare. They creatively rotate crops and animals through pasture. They purpose land and barn space for multiple uses.

Let’s apply these principles to our home and see if we can maximize our space!

• Use Every Square Foot Effectively

Because space is limited, our small homes need to be used well. Each room and wall must have a purpose because there isn’t space to spare. A room or piece of furniture may need to serve multiple purposes to get the most out of the small square footage.

For Example:

-In our living room, I created a pseudo-entry by placing the back of our couch in the middle of the room, designating a walkway. Against the back of the couch, I’ve placed a bench and basket for shoes to serve as a mini-mudroom minus the mud! We take our farm boots off in the garage.

I created a pseudo-entry way/mudroom with our bench & couch as a divider

-Recently, we moved all 6 of our boys into 1 room in our 3 bedroom home. Sound crazy? Unamerican? Well, my older boys were primarily using their room (it’s 10×10 ft) for sleeping because there wasn’t much extra floor space for playing. Also, the boys love to sleep at least 2 to a bed. Often we had 1-2 beds lie empty every night. So, we gave a bed away and squeezed everyone into our largest bedroom.

It works like a dream. The spare bedroom has become my office, a reading room with bookcases and beanbag, Lego showcase and clothes storage for the older boys. Kind of a hodge-podge but I feel the house is so much bigger now that we’ve redefined these 2 rooms.

• Define Each Room’s Purpose

Spend time thinking about the purpose of each room, each piece of furniture, and each closet. Don’t forget the space under the bed for storage as well. Ask: Is this the most effective way to use the space or have I allowed other things to creep in and take over (like clutter)?

In our American society, we tend to think individually rather than collectively. It’s beneficial to have a collective perspective when evaluating our home. Can several family members utilize the same space?  Can it serve more than 1 purpose? To encourage the space to be used as intended gather the appropriate materials and store them nearby.

For Example:

-In our dining space, we eat meals, homeschool, and do arts and crafts. In a cupboard next to the dining table (in the kitchen), I store a bin of art supplies. The older boys keep their homeschool bins just off the dining room in 2 cupboards. A napkin holder and salt & pepper shakers serve as a centerpiece while the drawers in our dining table house placemats. Most things I use in this space are within reach. People with a larger home might have an arts & crafts room or homeschool room. Because we don’t have the space, I have purposed our dining room to be multi-functional.

-In 1 home we rented, our 3 boys at the time shared a room.  The little room only

Our closet wasn't this over-the-top! But I wanted to give you an idea of how efficient 3 rungs can be.

contained 1 dresser and we needed extra clothes storage space. We hung 3 rungs in the closet to maximize the space. This way there was no wasted space below the clothes. I also wanted my younger boys to be able to hang their own clothes without much help. I purposed their closet for clothes storage only and made it accessible to their size.

• Re-purpose Beloved Furniture

I wish I could say I knew how to refurbish old furniture. I’m lucky if I take time to add a coat of paint to something old and worn. We might love an antique but its original design may not serve us well in our home. That doesn’t mean we have to toss it. Instead, find a functional way to use it!

For Example:

-I was given my grandparents’ serving table. When we lived in a larger house, I used it

I re-purposed my grandparents' serving table and use it as a bedside table

for its original purpose- to hold serving dishes that didn’t fit on the dining table during a meal. We don’t have room for it in the dinning area of this house. We almost gave it away but I was too sentimentally attached! So, I replaced a smaller bedside table with the serving table to hold the books I’m reading. I love the space I gain. I plan on painting it a bright color to compliment the bedroom.

-My Grandmother’s buffet sits in our living room/pseudo entryway. She used it to hold her fine china. We have plenty of space for dishes in our tall kitchen cupboards. So, in our home, it holds winter hats, homeschool bins, table linens, Cds, phone books, car keys etc. It’s many drawers and cupboards provide wonderful hidden storage and we still get to enjoy the beauty of this antique!

• TIP: Give Away Unused Furniture

Seek to have pieces in your home that you love but serve a function as well. I know. It’s hard to let go. We’ve stored an armoire we got at a thrift store in England 6 years ago in our garage ever since. We keep hoping in our “next” house there will be room for it. I think it’s time to bless someone else with this piece of furniture we love. It just doesn’t serve a practical function for our space.

As you make room in your home for furniture that serves a practical purpose but is pleasing to your eye, you’ll be one step closer to your functional yet beautiful dream home.

For more encouragement on letting go, read my post on giving fearlessly!

Instead of pinning away for what we don’t have, let’s seek to be content with what we do and enjoy it by making the MOST of your small living space!

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