For some, downsizing the home for some can be rewarding, refreshing, and revitalizing — for others, it's downright torture. If you're downsizing to a smaller home and you don't want to sacrifice as much of your stuff as might be needed, there are a few things that you can do to maximize the storage space in your new, smaller home.

Professional Closet Design                                                                                        

The closets in your new place are going to have to hold a lot of stuff if you plan on keeping it all, so call a professional closet designer to come out and help you make some plans. You see, if the closets are designed properly, the shelving and storage features will make it possible to store so much more than if you just put shelves in there and loaded it up — not to mention how much harder it would be to access the stuff you have shoved in there.

Talk with the designer about what you're hoping to accomplish with this project. Maybe keep some pictures on hand of what you plan to store in each closet — this can help them come up with a storage solution design that will coordinate perfectly with your needs.

Raised Storage Bed

There are some really great storage beds out there today – you can find them in various sizes, styles and storage capabilities. One great design is the raised storage beds — a queen size bed can hold several drawers on each side of the bed. This could eliminate your need to have dressers in your bedroom or give you the room that you need to store bedding and linens.

Tip: As you choose the bed, make sure that you're reading exactly how high it will be with a mattress on top. If there's any possibility that you won't be able to get in and out of the bed easily, look for a bedroom stair-set — some of them even have drawers built into them to provide even more storage.

Utilize Wall Space

You can use the wall space to store things like belts, scarves, jewelry — anything lightweight. If you don't like the idea of having all of this stuff exposed on the walls, you can pick up a mirror, some wood, a couple of hinges, and some screws to build yourself a hidden storage cabinet to hang on the wall.

Talk with a local closet design company like American Built In Closets to learn more about what you can do to maximize the storage space in your new, smaller home.