Issue #50, March 23, 2007

Size Matters

by Christian McLean

Size does matter. When moving from a home to an apartment, you are forced to deal with the fact that you are losing floor space. Organization is the key to establishing a spot for everything.
You can probably get everything you need to organize your new apartment from a big box department store or home store. In one trip to Riverhead in the Escalade you can visit them all, but who wants their apartment to look just like it just came out of a Pottery Barn catalogue? There are more interesting ways to establish space, without buying out (or “selling out”) a giant retailer.
Apartments are notorious for lacking windows. A great fad in recent years has been to reuse old windows as mirrors and decorative pieces in the home. If you have an old window from your house it isn’t that difficult to transform the window to a mirror. You can place a mirror behind the window frame then attach it with metal brackets. The nice thing about these mirrors is that the window gives the illusion of an actual window and the mirror gives the illusion of depth. To make the window mirror more efficient, add a bookshelf to it. Wooden bookshelf kits are available at craft stores such as Michaels. The kits are inexpensive and have all you need to create a bookshelf out of that old window. It’s really just three pieces: a flat plank of wood and two supports. Depending on how ornamental you are looking to get, you can use brass or wrought iron supports. If you are going to stain the wood, avoid getting any stain on the metal supports, or if you choose to use entirely wood, you can paint or stain everything once it is all together.
A benefit of many apartments is that they have higher ceilings than you may be used to – so what you lose in floor space you can make up for in wall space. By using bricks and mahogany planks you can build floor-to-ceiling shelving units which offer an “exposed brick” feel as well as a lot of storage space. You must remember that this is a very heavy shelf system so check to make sure the floors are level and will support it. If not, the bricks will lean to the downward sloping side.
You can purchase the mahogany at most lumber yards. For the wood, ask them to cut at the desired lengths. Mix a little cement mortar in a plastic bucket and stack the bricks, starting with a solid base. Make two “towers” of brick, and place the wood at the desired heights to bridge the towers. Stack more bricks, repeating the process as needed. The unit is a bit permanent, but then again, this is your home, you will need something to make it feel permanent.
Hooks can be your best friend. I cannot stress it enough, use the wall space. If you have a dinner table and it has four chairs, but you almost never use more than two (except for company) sink large, STRONG hooks into the walls and hang the chairs so the seats are at almost eye level or higher. If you want, you can even use the chairs as shelves to display photos or to hold books. A great look is to use the chairs to store your dishware. The vertical nature of the chair and the stack of plates play off each other quite well, just make sure the colors work.
Put small hooks under bookshelves, on the backs of doors and throughout the kitchen to hang odds and ends. Finding cabinet space for pots and pans is very difficult, so look into a hanging pot rack. They run about $150 and can be installed rather easily. Just make sure it is high enough that you don’t hit your head.
When it comes to clothes, you almost never have enough space. Those bulky sweaters tend to take up all the room, but they don’t have to. Storage products like Space Bag, which allows you to fill plastic bags then vacuum them flat, help save dramatic amounts of space. They are ideal for seasonal items, bulky jackets, snow pants. etc. Just fold the clothes, place them in the bag, seal it, and suck it flat.
While all these ideas are great to save space, the real secret in moving from a house to an apartment is to sell everything that you don’t need. It clears out the clutter, puts some cash in your pocket and gives you a clean slate to start the next phase of your life.