SENIORS IN SMALL APARTMENTS..I desperately neeed help with storage...?

Places to use as storage would be coffee tables that are trunks, end tables that have drawers in them I also got bathroom drawer units that I am using for night stands by my bed. My bed is high so I got two units with 5 drawers in each and I use them as I would chest of drawers.They are about 34-36 inches high. If you have a regular night stand you my want to use a low chest of drawers in place of it or them. Frees up space and holds the lamp.

Don't be afraid to go for something not so conventional in place of the those things designated for use .

I suggest you do put things up high & just make sure you have a list of what is stored up high & not need the stuff too often.

My brother moved into a building where the people are very helpful to each other. He just turned 60 & I know that if he was your neighbor & you asked him to come in once a month to take something off the shelf or put something back up he would love to help you. Everyone wants to be a hero.

If you have something to give back out of appreciation then do that but if not that is ok, we never know when a neighbor needs someone to put a box in our house until we get home or a more serious need that requires some help.

I guess it depends on the kind of energy in your building some people don't want to be friendly I live in a very conservative county & I know people just mind their own business or gossip so if you live in a building like that you might want to find out if there is a handyman who will come by for your "to do". list & have whatever you need done all at one time.

Decorating, I would find the most beautiful pictures to look up. Find things that make you feel great. That way you will have more space since they can go on the wall.

I know what you are going through. SInce I have one room with a half bath where I live in a

senior housing home. I've never had to live so cramped in my life. I have a couple more

advantages to living here, rather than the big facility where I moved from. I eliminated my

twin bed from my room. And I sleep in my comfortable recliner, as well as watch TV from it. I

now have extra room than before. I have out of season sweaters and sweatshirts on the

closet shelf, and everything else is hanging or in a dresser drawer. I have two hangers for

Christmas wreaths hanging inside of the closet door and my entrance door. Over those, I

have hangers hanging with jackets for fall/winter, and inside the bedroom closet door, I have

bathrooms for different seasons. I have almost four seasons hanging on the rack. I still have

some things left at home, but when I find a place here, I will transfer them over also. If I had

a movable clothes rack, I would use it. But it would not be allowed, to clutter my room more.

At a home store like Menards or Lowes you can buy ready made shelf supports. You could have shelves across the whole wall along side your bed, or over the head of the bed. Or stack totes of the same size in a room. My biggest problem is bedding becuase I have to keep on hand enough for the family if they all come as once. So I have several huge bags of bedding I have to move from room to room according to which room comapny is using.

For decorating, cover lamp shades with bright materials, or even cover a whole small wall with material. Or make sofa pillows. The stretchy sheets, called t shirt sheets, make really nice furniture covers. They seem to stay in place better, and come in pretty colors. Bathrooms are fun to brighten up with all the pretty colored rugs and shower curtains.

If there is room in your bedroom or living room, find an armoire which will fit. There is hanging space in many and shelves, sometimes there are drawers below. Out of season clothes can be hung , the shelf side will store shoes, sweaters, linens. With the doors closed it looks like a nice piece of furniture.

Look on line, I bought one we had to assemble from Home Depot, not so elegant but very functional.

I live in a small senior apartment building and have gotten rid of a lot of stuff because of lack of storage. I purchased an armoire to give myself another closet which helps. In the bedroom closet I keep my upright bureau with clothes so it does not take up space in the room. I have my shoes on a rack and easy to reach. I keep my record collection in a linen closet with shelves. In the bathroom I have an over the toilet rack for all my towels so they dont take up space in the closet.

To jazz up the joint, you can buy red rugs, or a matching set of bedroom curtains, a rug and comforter, and have red shelves fixed on the walls to give you more space for display.

To reach things on the floor or very high up, buy a "grabber", not collapsible type. A senior building usually has a manager and maintenance person who can reach high for you when they are around.

while I know that mirrors, light colored fabric and white bedroom dressers and open type shelves make the room look larger I think you're just asking about storage.

My aunt lives in a nursing home and has some of her things but her daughter-in-law comes and switched out the winter things for summer things and visa versa a couple of times a year. All you can do is buy dressers. My place is wall to wall boxes (some heavy cardboard and some plastic boxes) each well marked, 5-6 high.

Get some storage containers with wheels to go underneath your bed. I bought an armoire.years ago and had to put it together, but they are very nice for storage, have shelves and a bar to hang clothes on. I put my TV into it and books instead of clothes, but you can put anything you like in it. It has doors that close, and everything is not out in sight. Get some really colorful pictures to hang on the wall and maybe a pretty rug you could put over the brown that is not small enough to trip over. Armoires can be found at Macy's, Pier One, and other places on the internet.

Yes, many of those senior apts. are on the small side.

We lived in one in Vegas, loved it but storage for 2 people was a problem.

We rented a temp. controlled storage unit for items we didn't use much.

Sometimes it was a hassle to go and pick something out of the unit but we tried to organize the unit to be able to find things that we might have need of.

Here in Hungary we live in a 50 meter apt. about 500 sq. feet or so.

We have a loft in the living room which is used for storage of clothing and seasonal items, suitcases etc.We also bought a portable clothing rack to use in the loft.

Would be nice to clear that out it would be like having another room but storage units around here are hard to find and not as cheap as in the US to rent out.

My biggest problem is all of my shoes.

We have everything ready to build a shoe cabinet , maybe this winter we will get around to making it.

They sell all sorts of furniture over here for small spaces as most apts. are about the size we have.

Just don't want to invest in allot of furniture right now, not many second hand furniture shops here either.

Our beds have extra space build in underneath to store blankets and pillows for daytime, the beds are modular in design, like Ikea furniture.

We are lucky although we haven't made use of the space as of yet in that we have nearly 13' high ceilings.

It would be possible to build cabinets up high out of the way if we wanted.( Another project)

Stacking things is a good idea but sometimes you can forget what you stored so be sure to label the boxes.

I'd say babies, in fact they don't even come packaged. You have to get the packaging ready in advance. I have never bought saffron. I have no idea what it smells like or tastes like. Can anyone explain what makes it so special - other than that there is little of it to harvest. Also, what do you use it for? Another suggestion for good things in small amounts is Essential Oils. Some of those are very expensive also. One teaspoonful (5mls) of it can cost up to £50 and smells wonderul and has so many uses regarding one's health. Not to be taken by mouth - always diluted for massage or making creams.

I'm not in a senior apartment yet, but I did buy one of those Entertainment centers with doors. Two larger ones on top and two smaller ones on the bottom. I never intended to use it for my TV, but for extra storage. It is about 40" wide and deep enough to make it worthwhile.

It sits in my dining room, in a corner and holds an unbelievable amount of stuff. You could put seldom used kitchen stuff in there, photo albums, cook books, pantry items, linens, handbags, whatever you need to put out of sight. etc.

You could also put some of those smaller plastic containers with lids in it, the size you would put shoes in. They stack nicely and you can see through them.

You can only rid of so much stuff and a lot of what you want to keep you are emotionally attached to, so you have to store it somewhere.