It’s a new exciting chapter in your life. Independence. Freedom. You can go out for as long as you like without anyone checking on you. You can have pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner; accompanied by frizzy drink without your mum complaining.
But, there are also responsibilities. You have to start taking care of yourself, cook your meals, do your washing, decorate your flat…
If you are like any other students, chances are that you have more stuff than you have space. What with books and video games; clothes and shoes; food cans and snacks boxes; pots and pans; mugs and bowls… And as the years go by, you will accumulate even more.
So we thought we’d put together a list of things you can do to maximise the precious space in your student flat:
1. Create flow
It might be a good idea create mini-rooms; such as bedroom, living room and kitchen within your flat to organise the flow of your space.
This will help you disconnect when you need to rest or stay focused when you need to concentrate. Or to simply hide your messy bed when your friends come over.
Use your furnitures (sofa, cabinet, bookshelf..) as room dividers. Or use floor to ceiling curtain so you can always add/remove the divider whenever you want.
2. Don’t waste your floor space
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Don’t let your floor space go to waste. Get some specialised storage boxes for under the bed and use them to store your your bedding, your shoes and clothes.
3. Maximise wall space
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When buying bookshelves or cabinets, get those than go all the way to the ceiling, this way to can maximise your storage space.
Floating shelves is a smart way to expand your storage without taking up floor space. Do get creative with where you hang your shelves, for example, bathroom or toilet can be a good place to add shelves as well.
If you have little space around your bed, add some shelving unit above your bed and ditch your side table.
This is also applicable for TV, instead of putting them on a cabinet, you can hang it on the wall to save space.
4. Get space saving furniture
Multi-functional
Instead of buying a couch, why not get a day bed? We love this piece from Ikea because not only it serves both purposes, there are also built in drawers for a lot of storage space.
Foldable/stackable
Foldable dining table and chairs won’t take up a lot of space when they’re not in use. If you don’t like foldable chairs, get something that are stackable instead.
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Movable
If you are going to buy a desk, consider getting one with built-in wheels so you can easily move it away when not in use. Or you can roll it into the kitchen and use it as a working surface when you cook.
5. Create hidden storage space
Add over the door organiser to store your shoes, accessories…. basically anything that fits. You can either hang it inside the door of your wardrobe, or behind the door of your bedroom.
6. Clear clutter
Finally, no living space can look good or feel good if it’s filled with clutter. This is especially crucial if you don’t have a lot of room. Clearing clutter will help save you time from cleaning up, clear your mind and help you better focus, for those upcoming exams.
Put away things you don’t regularly need, for example, you won’t need all your thick winter coats in the midst of the summer, so you can either compress them in vacuum bags and store them under your bed, or put them in a self storage unit.
Did you know at Shurgard we also offer self-storage for student at low prices? Plus we have over 30 stores in and around London, all easily accessible by public transportation, surely there’s something near you. Check it out!
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