For those of you who don't know--I live in a studio apartment in Brooklyn. In fact, my boyfriend, cat and I share a 500 square foot apartment. We've been living here for about 2 years. Granted I am grateful for having any apartment that I can afford in Brooklyn, but it's getting a little difficult space-wise. In order for us not to perish under the mountains of paper and other miscellaneous crap we have, we have to think about ways in which we can maximize our small space.
THE PAPER
I can't tell you how much PAPER I have--mail (important and junk), documents, catalogs, receipts, etc... As of now our only official eating space (the breakfast bar) is our unofficial office space. It is also the living space for our laptops and other electronics. Stacks of papers are finding homes on our stools. It's not a pretty sight...
STORAGE SPACE...WHAT STORAGE SPACE?
Not enough storage space. The thought of buying one of those ugly metal filing cabinets makes me cringe. I would like a piece of furniture to store all my papers but I don't want it to scream "Hey, I'm a filing cabinet!".
MORE "REAR END" SPACE
When we have guests come over two unlucky people have to either sit on uncomfortable stools (of course only when the pile of paper has been removed) or on a floor pillow--which after a long period of time you might need to call someone to help you up from. Our couch fits about three people tightly but still for conversational purposes, it's not ideal to have a bunch of people seated in a row.
The ultimate goal, besides creating a super duper awesome, practical apartment, is not to get too overwhelmed. Since I am an HGTV fanatic I have all these ideas of how to make our studio space awesome, but with that said, it can get a little overwhelming. Plus we're on a budget so no, I can't get the $2,000 couch (which I don't know why I 'm looking at since it's totally not part of the reorganization shebang). In any case, we're going to start this project corner by corner so we don't end up with reorganization meltdown and thus, give up.
I'll keep you guys posted! More pics to come!
How do you keep your abodes organized?
-Sophia