The Storage Wars of Small Spaces

There's an infamous east end Toronto house that has caught the eyes of passersby for years, and thanks to the Toronto Star last week I discovered that it's up for sale for the first time in over a decade!


Photos by Susan Pigg, Toronto Star

Look familiar? This eco-friendly abode is located on Coxwell Avenue and was created by architect Rohan Walters.

I'm not actually looking to move - as you may have gathered, I'm in no position to buy a home right now and I'm quite content in my little nook for the moment!

Nonetheless, I was thrilled to finally have a sneak peek inside this unique, three storey "Box House".

While it seems like a cool place to call home (and I'm sure it is!), really the square footage is no bigger than  your average downtown condos today at a mere 800 sq feet!

As is usually the case, small spaces like this one offer very little in the way of storage, and as many urban residents know, having a compact home can very much impact your everyday life.

The way you cook, the way you clean, how frequently you get to your pile of laundry, and how productive you are every morning as you get ready for work... all of these things are affected by how well (or how poorly) you organize the space you have to work with.

Now that MLo and I have painted a couple rooms and added a few more aesthetic touches to our apartment, I'm realizing that it just might be time to turn my focus (correction, some of my focus) towards organizing the storage spaces within our home...

Here are a few spots that I can't wait to spruce up that I think will really improve the functionality of the place and, more importantly, improve the way that we function in it!

• Under the bathroom sink
• My bedroom drawers
• Our entryway "closet" (aka a little corner with a shoe and coat rack that is out of sight thanks to a couple of trusty West Elm curtains!)
• Our kitchen "junk drawer"
• The one kitchen cupboard that has been taken hostage by millions of reusable grocery bags

What's on your short or long term organizational to do list? What have you done to make the most of your space? Do tell!

KLI