If space is very limited in your home, then it is important to think carefully about storage as you will not want your home looking cluttered and untidy with no space to move. It may be wise to invest in some multi-functional furniture, like folding dining tables, coffee tables with storage underneath and beds with hidden drawers in the base. But how else could you be creative with storage?

Shelving is obviously essential for storing books, children’s toys and kitchen equipment. However, it needn’t look boring. Shelving can be stylish and add interest to a tall, bare wall. Consider square or hexagonal shaped boxes on the wall of a child’s room to store toys. A net strung above a bed or in the corner of a room can be a great place to keep the endless cuddly toys that children seem to acquire these days.

Make use of the space on the landing and stairs for book shelves. You could have a shelf running around the walls of the landing, above the height of the doors for paperbacks. Put narrow shelving on the wall facing you as you walk down the stairs and store things which you want to keep but do not use much, if at all, like photo frames or holiday souvenirs.

You may be able to store toiletries and spare toilet rolls under your timber bath surround. Make a little door at one end for easy access. In a kitchen, use a ceiling rack which can be lowered by a rope or pulley system, to hang pots and pans and large kitchen utensils. You can buy butchers’ hooks in most good cookware shops or hardware stores.