10 Real Ways to Create More Space in Your Home (No Renovation Required)

Feeling overwhelmed by clutter in your Chicago apartment or home? Between work, family, and the hustle of city life, finding time to organize and clean can feel impossible. You’re not alone. Many of us live with “dead zones”—wasted spaces that could be smart storage—simply because our homes aren’t designed for modern life. The good news? You don’t need a bigger place or a major renovation to create a serene, organized space. Sometimes, all it takes is a fresh perspective and a few clever solutions to reclaim your home. And when you need a hand maintaining that fresh, organized feel, a reliable cleaning service near me can be a game-changer.

Let’s be real: decluttering is essential, but it’s often not enough. To truly live comfortably, you need smart, functional storage. Here are ten practical, life-changing ways to add real storage to your Chicago home, making daily life easier and your space more peaceful.

1. Conquer the “One Bar” Closet

Have a walk-in closet with just one hanging rod? That empty space below is a major storage opportunity. The most impactful change you can make is to simply add a second bar, instantly doubling your hanging storage. For a total transformation, consider an affordable closet system with multiple rods, shelves, and pull-out drawers. You can quadruple your storage for a few hundred dollars, creating a custom-organized haven for your clothes and accessories.

2. Claim Your Wall Space

Look around. Every room has at least one underutilized wall. My favorite fix? Bookshelves. They’re the perfect solution for items cluttering your flat surfaces. Whether you choose a deep cubby system for toys and craft supplies or a classic bookshelf for decor, adding wall storage is a game-changer. It clears your counters and gives everything a designated home, making subsequent apartment cleaning sessions much faster.

Pro Tip: Think Outside the (Shelving) Box

Don’t get stuck searching for the perfect pre-made unit. Consider a modular rail system—like those used for closets—attached directly to your wall. You can design the perfect configuration of shelves and baskets for any space, often at a fraction of the cost of furniture-store shelving.

3. Install Floating Shelves

Short on floor space? Look up! Floating shelves are a renter-friendly hero. Install them above a desk, dresser, or in a narrow hallway to gain storage without sacrificing an inch of floor real estate. They’re perfect for books, plants, and everyday essentials, keeping surfaces clear and your mind at ease.

4. Create a Closet Where There Isn’t One

No coat closet or a place for your vacuum? This is a common Chicago apartment dilemma, but it’s easily solved. An armoire or a ready-to-assemble cabinet system can create an instant “closet in a box.” Line a wall in your bedroom or entryway to store cleaning supplies, outerwear, or hobby gear. It’s an instant organization win without needing a contractor. Once everything has a home, keeping it clean is simpler, but for a truly refreshed space, consider deep cleaning help from the pros.

5. Embrace Narrow Cabinets & Organizers

For super tight spaces, narrow cabinets are lifesavers. Think shoe cabinets that are only 4-6 inches deep. You can line a hallway with them, creating a sleek wall of hidden storage for everything from shoes to pantry overflow. They maximize every square inch, which is crucial in a smaller Chicago home.

6. Master Under-Bed Storage (The Right Way)

We all stash things under the bed, but it’s usually a chaotic “out of sight, out of mind” zone. Transform it into real storage with rolling bins or low-profile containers. Use it for off-season clothing, gift wrap, or memory boxes—items you use periodically but need to store neatly. This clears out other closets and drawers, making your entire professional home cleaning routine more efficient.

7. Don’t Ignore the Back of the Door

This is arguably the second most wasted space in any home. The back of a closet, bedroom, or entry door is a mini-closet waiting to happen. Add an over-the-door organizer to create a mudroom, a pantry for snacks, or storage for office or craft supplies. It’s a simple, no-renovation way to add massive functionality.

8. Add Adhesive Mini-Shelves Everywhere

Need instant, budget-friendly storage? Self-adhesive mini shelves and magnetic strips are your best friends. Stick them inside kitchen cabinets for spices, on the shower wall for toiletries, or on the side of the fridge for oils and coffee. For about $20, you can declutter your counters immediately. Keeping these organized spots clean is easier when you have a routine, but for a comprehensive reset, you can always schedule a cleaning with a trusted team.

9. Choose Double-Duty Furniture

If you’re short on space, every piece of furniture should work hard. Ditch the hollow coffee table for an ottoman with storage inside. Use a bench at the end of a bed to hold extra blankets. Look for end tables with drawers. This approach ensures your belongings have a home, reducing visual clutter and making it easier to maintain a tidy environment.

10. Declutter (Yes, Really!)

We started by saying it’s not enough, but it is the essential first step. Decluttering is the easiest, free way to instantly “create” storage. By bravely letting go of what you don’t use or love, you’ll discover how much space you actually have. Make room for the things that matter by removing the things that don’t. Once you’ve decluttered and organized, the final step to enjoying your home is to get your space cleaned thoroughly and professionally.

Your Home, Your Sanctuary

Our homes should support our lives, not work against them. By looking for those “dead zones” and implementing even a few of these storage solutions, you can dramatically improve your daily flow and reduce stress. A well-organized home is easier to clean, more enjoyable to live in, and truly feels like your own Chicago sanctuary. And remember, maintaining that pristine, organized feel doesn’t have to be your job. When you need a break, a top-rated Chicago cleaning company is just a click away to help you clean your apartment.

I’m totally going to get slacked for saying this, but I’m going to say it anyways. Decluttering is not enough. I’m going to show you 10 real life ways to add more space to your home. You don’t need a bigger house. You do not need a renovation. All you need are some of these simple solutions to create way more storage. Do you know what annoys me so much? That our homes aren’t actually designed for the way we live our lives. There’s so many spots that are just dead zones, wasted space that could 100% be storage. And I’ve gone to home furniture stores and I see beds and I see couches and tables. Where do my craft supplies go, Susan? What about the kids toys? What about books, our hobbies? What if we want to do things other than just sit and watch TV? Where does that stuff go? I always want to say Susan. Who is Susan? So, let’s talk about real storage. And we’ll start with my biggest pet peeve, which is the one bar. Itis builders out there building homes and just putting in one bar. You could have a walk-in closet and yet one bar. What about on the bottom? That’s where we shove stuff, right? Because we’re not maximizing the space. This is the biggest and most impactful change that you can make to literally double the storage in your closet just by adding a second bar. If you really want to go like hog wild with your storage, just adding a simple closet system can transform the space. You can have four rods, shelving in the middle, lots of spots for bins and baskets or pull out drawers. And believe it or not, closet organizing systems don’t have to be expensive. Closet made from Home Depot, really great price. For a few hundred, you can quadruple the storage in your closet. So, this is what we’re doing today. We are looking at our home with like new glasses. We’re decluttering the old glasses. We’re putting new ones on. And we’re looking for those dead zones. if there’s spots that are just not being maximized for how we’re actually living. Which leads me to another dead zone that I see all the time, which is wall space. Now, we can’t fill every single wall in our home with storage because that would be crazy pants, but every room should have at least one wall with some type of storage. And my favorite way to add storage is to go with bookshelves. This is perfect solution for all the things that are on your flat surfaces. I’ve done a lot of organizing makeovers and I’ve gone to a lot of clients homes to help them and almost every single one the most impactful thing that I do is add simple shelving. And if there are things like light switches or plugs, I try to work around that. If there’s a cold air return, I will literally cut it out of the back of the cardboard backing of the shelving. If there’s a floor vent, I’ll put legs on the bottom to raise it up so there’s still air flow. Take a look at your room right now. And how can you add wall storage? Not all shelving is created equal, though. I definitely love like a cubby cube system for things like toys, craft supplies, clothing, because they’re really nice and deep, and it’s just easy to fill with bins and baskets. And I prefer bookshelf style for things like knick-knacks and picture frames or office supplies, things that you don’t want them to be really deep. My point is, evaluate your space, choose a wall, and create some storage. Behind me, this, believe it or not, is a closet organizing system. It’s like a rail system where you just attach the shelves right to the wall. It’s completely module, so you don’t have to look on Pinterest for the perfect storage unit and spend a bazillion dollars. A closet system is a fraction of the price. So, if you have a wall and you’re like, I wish I had the perfect storage for that, but it doesn’t exist. Please know that you can design it using closet shelving. Even the desktop, it’s closet shelves. You’d never know and it works perfectly. So, think outside the box and add storage just like this right to your wall. All right, so what if you don’t actually have the floor space to dedicate to more shelving? This is why I love floating shelves. Time you can add a floating shelf above a dresser, above a desk. You are going to really maximize that wall space without losing any floor space. We did this in Aby’s old bedroom. It was so tiny. There was no spots for books. some simple floating shelving above her desk and she had oodles of room. What about the stuff that won’t fit on a shelf, like the bigger things? Why don’t homes have spots for vacuum cleaners and mops? Sometimes they don’t even have coat closets, let alone a spot for the vacuum. But don’t worry, this is actually really easily solvable with a cabinet or an armwire system. Packs unit is probably my favorite. It is an immediate closet in a box and you can line a wall in your bedroom or anywhere else in your home and make the most amazing like walk-in closet envious space literally in just one day. They can be a little pricey and they take up a lot of floor space, but IKEA also has less expensive options. I actually used a few of these in Emily’s home. She had a really small home, only 600 square ft. No spot for the vacuum. Definitely no spots for coats and boots. Two inexpensive armwires under $200 each and it solved like both of these problems. You can have a cleaning cabinet, you can have a hall closet where otherwise it was just wasted space. So if you have a room and you’re like, man, I wish it had a closet, you can make one and you don’t have to call a contractor or have a rena to make it happen. But what if what if you really really really don’t have space for an armoire? like you have a tiny room, but you still need storage. This is where narrow cabinets come to save the day. Think shoe cabinets, like IKEA’s shoe cabinets, or the really narrow cabinets that only take up anywhere from 4 to 6 in. You can literally line them down a hallway. I first saw this done by the DIY mommy, who is now Cozy DIY Home. She’s a genius. She lined her hallway with shoe organizers from IKEA. It looks gorgeous, though. Like, you would never think that this is storage. It just looks like part of her wall, but it’s maximizing every square inch. So, no matter how small your home is, these type of shoe organizers or any type of narrow cabinet is a really cool option. If you remember the Jessica McCabe video that I did, I lined her stairwell with a bunch of really narrow like locker style systems that were mesh, so they were still really visual for a visual organizer. Looked good, but more importantly, it was really functional. Do you want to know the most underutilized space in everybody’s home? It’s under the bed. Under the bed. And I know you’re like, I already store stuff under the bed, Cass. Yep. You store crap under there, but you’re not using it for storage. And what I mean by this is real storage systems like roll out bins to store offseason clothing, your memories, your wrapping supplies, stuff you actually use every single day. You can store those things under your bed instead of just the dusty old crap that you really don’t even know what’s under there. I’m feeling myself getting like weirdly excited about things in this video. Like, calm down, Cass. It’s just storage. But the truth is, storage can be lifechanging. You want to know another thing that I’m weirdly geeked about? Door storage. The back of your door, I think, is the second most wasted space in your home. Your closet doors, the doors to your bedrooms, even your entrance door. The back of those doors are basically like miniature closets. Don’t have nothing on them. create a mud room where you don’t have one or a full pantry. Maybe you need office supply storage or a mini craft room. It is endless what you can do. Please, please, please, if you have a small space and you’re like, I wish I had more storage. Do not waste the back of your door. You might be watching this thinking, “Yeah, that’s great, Cass. If only I had a couple extra $100, an entire weekend to dedicate to storage.” Don’t worry, I got you. You can instantly add storage like right now for around $20 with the thing that I’m really obsessed with, which is self-adhesive mini shelves. I use these things everywhere. It’s like Frank’s Red Hot sauce. I put that crap on everything. On the wall, in the bathroom, in the shower, inside every kitchen cabinet. I really like the magnet ones that stick on the side of the fridge, too. It’s like they just stick. So, think spices, oils, your coffee, your tea, whatever’s all over your kitchen counter just right on the side of your fridge. So, renter friendly, too. Wait, I almost forgot. What if you’re fancy? Do you know what else you can do? You can add woven baskets right to the wall. Add some hooks and then put some beautiful baskets on the wall. It looks like decor, but now you can fill them with your everyday clutter. just make it a clutter catcher or paper or anything else you need homes for. So beautiful, but actual storage, too. And I’ve gone to the dollar store and got some small baskets and just with 3M hooks, I hung them in the bathroom and they look so beautiful. So, don’t be afraid to think outside the box and add baskets or shelves right to your wall. Next, let’s talk about double duty furniture. Especially if you are short on space, don’t you dare have a coffee table that’s just sitting there with its only purpose to hold your feet and your coffee. No. Furniture should do double duty, which means it should have some kind of storage. Ottomans are a really cool option, too. If you add a tray on top, now you have a coffee table, but it’s storage inside for things like all the exercise equipment you want to do in your living room or your craft supplies or your board games or your kids toys. And we actually use ottomans in our kids’ bedrooms at the end of the bed. So, it’s a little bench for them to sit on. It’s also a step for Penny to jump up on their bed, but it holds their stuffed animals and their offseason clothes and their extra backpacks. like an actual spot for this stuff to go, but it looks like a beautiful piece of furniture. Another double duty thing that I love in my home is my mirror. So, I have this like stand up full body mirror in my bathroom, but inside it is accessory bonanza. So, jewelry, earrings, necklaces, scarves, all the things that would otherwise need a home are inside my makeup mirror. Look around your own home at things you have like end tables, coffee tables, and how can you replace them with something that still functions as that, but also doubles as storage. And last, but not least, the absolute 100% best way to add storage to your home. You already know the answer to, but I’m going to say it anyways. Don’t roll your eyes. It’s important. Decluttering. Decluttering is the easiest, most freest way to instantly create storage in your home. And every time I do a real declutter, like a big bad, brave declutter, I’m always shocked at how much more house I discover. So, grab a bag and a box and discover some storage in your home. Make some room for the things that you actually use every day just by eliminating the stuff that you don’t. You’re never done decluttering, but it does get easier. So, I hope you’re feeling super inspired obviously to declutter, but also like we started this video, decluttering is not the only answer. It’s not enough. Once you’ve decluttered, you have to add storage. And I’m talking big actual storage to your home. So go around today, look for those dead zones and look at your space differently. How can you ignore all the stuff in the room? Look at the framework of your walls and add real storage today. Add actual space for your stuff to go cuz we live in our house despite what homebuilders may think. Thank you guys so much and I’ll see you next time. Thank you so much for those of you who have stayed to the end. Story time. Have you ever thought you were way better at something than you actually are? When I was a kid, I was 10 years old. All I asked for for Christmas was a dog grooming kit. I was a little entrepreneur even back then and I had to make some cold hard cash. I wasn’t about to deliver newspapers because we lived way in the country and it was like a mile in between each house. So, I decided to start a dog grooming business where I would cut neighbors dogs hair. I practiced on my own dog, Princy. I thought I was so good at this. Fast forward to just a few days ago. Penny had a few little mats in her face, and I was like, I’m an expert dog groomer. I did it once when I was 10. I’m just going to get in there with some scissors and just get the mats out. You know when you’re in the bathroom and you’re cutting bangs and then they just and you’re like, “Well, mistakes mistakes were made.” Well, I looked at Penny and her face was so tiny and her body was so big and it looked ridiculous. So then I was like, “What have I done?” And I just kept trying to even her out and it just kept getting shorter. So, I went upstairs and I got Joe’s um like hair trimmer kit and I was like, I’m going to fix you, Penny. Turns out dog hair not quite the same as human hair. Penny has this fluffy. Anyways, I was like shearing a sheep right in my kitchen as one does. Hair everywhere. It wasn’t going great. So then I was like, do I scissor this? I tried. Two hours later, Penny looks ridiculous. Okay, she looks bad. I also tried to trim her claws and grind them. I am not a dog groomer. I’m now going to give my dog groomer the biggest tip ever. Okay, because like I thought I was good at it. I am not. I feel like this is honestly kind of a blessing because Penny’s haircut while a casualty saved perhaps my son because I’m always like, “Hey, you want me to give you a haircut real quick? Mom can give you a quick haircut real quick.” Because during COVID, I cut Joe and his hair like one time and now somehow I think I’m an expert hairdresser. If Penny’s haircut is any indication, I should stay far away from the scissors. So, I probably just saved Milos from some major bull cut embarrassment. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. You probably suck at hair cutting, too. Put down the scissors, friend. She got six