Did you catch the idea one gal incorporated? She actually raised her living area floor to use for storage underneath. Wonder how she did that with enough stability. And did she have really high ceilings to accomodate this? I could see creating a raised stage area in my office for the desk and chair for storage underneath. But this could be a dangerous option the way I flit around.

Am sure I mentioned before that I volunteer at Restore (Habitat for Humanity). There is so much that comes in for possibilities in storage. I keep looking at all the drawers from kitchens and commercial offic builtins. Some of them are huge and made of cherry, ash. They would work great with wheels to slide under beds or the dumb stage idea mentioned above.

Or the pantries that show up which could be coupled together, (painted and aged/add class inserts) for major closet space. We are also starting to see a lot of the 60 plus year old kitchen cabinets. Most are solid wood, they have a lot of character and would be beautiful redone for another setting which needs storage. Most of these are bought for garage storage, workshops or sheds at $10 - 15 each.

Another nice link - thanks. The NY vertical storage and the raised floor reminded me of a tree house in my DD's second grade class long ago. It was about five feet off the floor (a raised deck with railing) and a tree painted on the wall. Her teacher used the underneath area for storage. The tree house was for reading incentives. Do you have any links on vertical storage? Thanks.

emagineer ~ Our ceilings are only 8' at the highest, so we won't be raising any floor areas. I think it would be a dangerous option for me also, as I flit around too sometimes. : -)

lexi ~ Here is one website below that might have some ideas for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Need more storage - think vertical

Flowerlady, thanks for the great link. I saved it! When I have time, I need to go back and read all your posts. You found great ideas for us. :)

It's getting harder to find links for living in smaller spaces, but I keep searching and will keep posting things that sound interesting for all of us here.

FlowerLady

The part about keeping everything picked up or it becomes claustrophobic is one I can relate to. With me and DD (she's 3 and drags her toys out everywhere) in our 970ish sf space, there comes a point where I have to stop everything and clear the room of toys to prevent a mental meltdown.

Sometimes I get frustrated at this...don't get me wrong, I LOVE my little house...but at the same time I love the fact my DD is out in the living area playing, and we are playing together. She's not holed up in her room, out of sight, or in a place where I have to miss out on the interaction and cuteness of child play because I'm doing some necessary household chore.

In my last McMansion home when I was married (just 2 adults in 2700sf), I am CONVINCED one factor (among many) of our marital problems was attributed to having too much space, and too many separate spaces where we could go to do our own things. Funny how we had 2 living/family rooms and neither of us did anything separately or together in either.

Also, I was recently watching an old "Little House on the Prairie" episode, and Caroline (the mom) scolded the kids for not doing their chores in the house...not putting their things away. Caroline said something to the effect that the house is very small and nobody could get around each other or be comfortable unless everyone did their part by taking care of their things and putting them back in their places.