Getting Rid of Dead Space
November 13, 2008 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Home & Living
Dead space is a tiny, or not so tiny spot in your home that’s just sitting there, not being useful. Most people have lots of dead spaces, yet are always thinking, “Where can I put this?”
To use dead space:
Make a list: Trot around your house and make a list of dead spaces. Types of dead spaces include inside cabinet doors, above bookshelves, under tables, and some wall space.
Make a second list: Your second list builds on your list of dead spaces. For example; you see that you have a dead space in your hall closet. When you open the closet door, there’s perfectly usable space on the inside of the door. You can un-dead space it by adding coat hanger hooks, or a magnetic strip for keys and such. Another example may be under your coffee table. You can add a basket and get those stacks of magazines sorted away. Yet another could be that empty wall above your desk. Placing a small wall shelving unit there gives you a place to store pen holders, small index file boxes, and maybe a few books.
Be frugal: Some dead space is nice. If every single inch of your home is full of stuff, well, that’s not the idea. Dead space serves a purpose for items that actually really need a home, not silly collections, old newspapers, or junk you won’t ever fix.
Where are the usable dead spaces in your home?
This sounds like how I used to organize- use every square inch of space I could. I’m more interested in seeing articles about decluttering, not finding more spots to store your clutter. Thanks.
@Jennifer which is why I say, “Be frugal: Some dead space is nice. If every single inch of your home is full of stuff, well, that’s not the idea. Dead space serves a purpose for items that actually really need a home, not silly collections, old newspapers, or junk you won’t ever fix.”
The idea is not to find places for clutter, but places for useful items, as I noted. If you look around here, and check out the simplifying category, you’d see that I agree with you.
Very thought-provoking post…sometimes I spend so much time eliminating clutter I fail to recognize how I can creatively use (and organize) good dead space. I think I might need to take a walk around my house!