Welcome to another edition of Small Home Style, a blog series dedicated to sharing small space ideas to help maximize small spaces. For new readers out there, I started the series to celebrate small homes. As a small home dweller myself, I have a soft spot for sharing creative ways to help my fellow #SmallHomeDwellers.

Today on Small Home Style, we're talking all about baskets! I love how functional baskets make small spaces, going beyond just being an accessory in a room. My favorite baskets are made from natural materials; they add color, visual interest, and texture.

Adding a basket in a small space is a game-changer. I love how they keep 'stuff' organized and out of sight all over the house. They also make cleanup time with kids easy. Today I’m sharing my favorite ways to use baskets, how I use them around my house to keep everything looking tidy. I'm also sharing my ultimate beautiful basket round-up.

WHERE TO USE BASKETS

Living Rooms // Use baskets to store kids’ toys, under side tables and coffee tables and to add hidden storage to bookcases. I also love baskets in living rooms to store extra pillows and throws, helps keep everything looking nice and tidy

image via Pinterest (no direct souce give)

Kitchens & Laundry Rooms // use baskets to hold cookbooks, table linens, silverware, towels, cleaning supplies, fruit, bread the list goes on. You can also remove lower kitchen cabinet doors and add side rails to create basket drawers. In small kitchens it’s all about presentations and making the baskets look purposeful vs. just decorative.

Bedrooms & Bathrooms // use baskets to hold towels, hair products, under nightstands to hold books & throws, hold plants (make sure the basket has a liner inside!) You can also use baskets with lids for underbed storage and help maximize a small space.

Kids Bedrooms & Nurseries // use baskets to hold all the kid stuff, organize clothes in closets, on bookcases to hold books and 'kid papers/artwork'

WHERE I USE BASKETS IN MY HOME

In my bedroom, I added a basket under my nightstand to hold books and throws. The Woven Seagrass basket is so pretty and brings in additional contrast and texture to this corner of my bedroom. Having it tucked under my nightstand makes it feel like I have an extra drawer without it feeling heavy.

Woven Seagrass Basket

I love this basket it tucks perfectly under my nightstand giving me extra room to store books and throws

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In my laundry room, I use baskets to hold paper towels, toilet paper, dishcloths, and extra napkins. I found a cute wire basket with a wood handle at IKEA to hold small cleaning supplies. Read more about my laundry room here.

In my bathroom, under my sink I have and open space which is perfect for baskets. I used two Modern Weave Harvest baskets, one holds towels and the other bedding and toilet paper. They slide out which makes them easy to access.

Modern Weave Basket

These baskets make me so happy! They fit perfectly under my bathroom vanity and look great on bookcases and work as under bed storage!

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SMALL HOME STYLE, BEAUTIFUL BASKET ROUND-UP

Below is a round-up of beautiful baskets perfect for all over the house. My absolute FAVS are #3, #5, #6 and #9

SHOP THE LOOK

How do you use baskets in your home?

Happy New Year, can you believe its already 2020? I’m so pumped about this upcoming year and the projects I plan to tackle around my house. I feel like this is the year, I want to address as those ‘un-seen’ areas in my house no longer want to ignore — for example, messy kitchen cabinets, closets that need help. I want to be very intentional about creating systems in my home to keep those areas organized and clean.

Over the weekend, we kicked off our first DIY/Demo project of the year! I’m so pumped about this project, its been years in the making. Our linen closet is the first project we’re tackling, and I’m so excited! When we first moved back into our home in mid-2013, I planned to finish our hallway linen closet by installing doors. BUT, a few things held this project up. The way our contractor built the shelves and framed out the area for a small door vs. a built-in linen cabinet. Which honestly was my bad! I should have been more clear with my plans/look for the linen closet.

“When a small space is maximized to its full potential, function happens, its easier to keep the space organized”

That stalled project, because I knew it wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted a built-in seamless cabinet with deep storage and drawers. Over the years I’ve learned its OKAY to make changes to your original plans, YOUR HOME should suit your needs for your current season of life, not the one ten years ago.

Last year after we added a PAX Closet System in our master bedroom, I wondered if we could do something similar in our hallway. The PAX System has been a #GameChanger! We now have much more storage, and it stays organized. Read more about the project here.

Fast-forward to a few days ago, and I started measuring to see if a small PAX Closet could fit in where I linen cabinet/shelves are in our hallway. It would almost fit, but space is a 1 1/2 inches too short. I went back to the drawing board and began brainstorming more ideas about how we intend to use the area. But first, inspiration! I love all the beautiful linen cabinets below, so so much!

SMALL LINEN CABINET INSPIRATION

“I feel like this is the year, I want to tackle as those ‘un-seen’ areas in my house, I no longer want to ignore”

Lovely Linen Organization

Linen Cabinet Wish-list

Exterior drawers for linens: Bedding, Throws, Toliet Paper, Cleaning Supplies
Shelves for towels and large blankets
Interior cabinet drawers for extra bathroom items: cotton balls, q-tips, washcloths, etc
Pretty Cabinet Hardware
Glass doors would be a bonus, but not a must
Double the current space and make it usable

As a small home dweller, I’m constantly looking at ways to improve the storage in my home. Our linen closet is in our small hallway, and I want to transform it for a dumping ground of junk to an organized Household Hub.

Our linen cabinet is tiny guys, I mean tiny! But when a small space is maximized to its full potential, function happens, organization happens.

Here’s a look at our messy and underutilized linen cabinet before and after the demo! I never stored linens in the cabinet because of this area of our home was a #JunkMagnet for all the things, bathroom product overflow, paper towels, and all the random crap.

SMALL LINEN CABINET BEFORE & AFTER DEMO

Let’s be honest, my little linen closet potential was unveiled once demo began!

Our linen closet measures a whopping 19 inches wide and 26 inches deep! After looking at a lot of the options IKEA offers, including books and various cabinets, it made the most sense use a tall kitchen cabinet that we could totally customize the interior. Plus using the kitchen cabinet allows us to take advantage of the depth in our small closet and fully maximize the space.

We visited IKEA on Saturday and looked at all the options and features we wanted and placed our order! We ordered the IKEA Sektion / Maximera High Cabinet which typically is used as a pantry cabinet. It’s going to make an awesome linen cabinet.

The cabinet will have three lower drawers and two interior hidden drawers on the upper cabinet. I’m debating if we need two pull-out upper drawers, so one might go back and get replaced with a shelf. We chose the Bobyn Grey door/drawer fronts.

The cabinets arrive on Saturday and I can’t wait! Crossing my fingers all goes smoothly and fast! Thankfully after building four IKEA Pax Closets, I feel confident we can knock the project our quickly. After we install the cabinet, we'll trim the cabinet out and I’ll paint. Crossing my fingers, updating coming next week!