Storage in a 65 square metre apartment

At Luxembourg prices, a cupboard is one of the most expensive objects you will ever own. A square metre of storage in a city apartment represents a real and calculable sum, which is why the question is never simply how to add more, but how to make the volume you already have carry more. Most apartments have between a third and a half of their storage potential unused, and it is almost always vertical.

Measure the problem before you solve it

Before buying anything, do two things. First, empty one cupboard completely and sort its contents into what you have used in the last twelve months and what you have not. Second, measure the height of every room and note how much of it is currently in use.

In most apartments, storage stops at around two metres and the ceiling sits at two and a half. That half metre, run along a single wall, is a substantial volume that costs nothing extra in floor area. It is the cheapest storage in the building.

The hierarchy that actually works

1. Go to the ceiling

Wardrobes and shelving that stop short of the ceiling create a dust shelf and waste the most valuable volume in the room. Full-height units read as architecture rather than furniture, and the top section is ideal for the things you use twice a year: suitcases, winter bedding, Christmas boxes.

If a full-height wardrobe is not possible, the modular systems that stack a top box on a standard carcass achieve the same result at lower cost.

2. Use the depth you have, not the depth you want

A standard wardrobe is 60 centimetres deep because that is what a hanger needs. A hallway or a corridor rarely has 60 centimetres to spare, but it very often has 35, which is enough for shoes, coats on hooks, books, files and almost everything except hanging clothes.

Shallow, wide and tall beats deep and square in almost every apartment. Deep cupboards lose their back third permanently.

3. Claim the awkward volumes

• Above door frames. A shelf running the width of the wall above a door is invisible and holds a surprising amount.
• Under the bed. Either a bed with drawers or a bed high enough for boxes on castors. In a one-bedroom this is often the largest single storage volume available.
• The hallway. Usually the most under-used square metres in a Luxembourg apartment and the place where clutter is generated.
• Above the kitchen units. If the units stop short, box the gap in or use uniform baskets. Assorted objects on top of cupboards read as mess from every angle.
• Behind the sofa. A shallow console against the back of a floating sofa gains a run of storage in dead space.

4. Buy furniture that stores

A bench with a lid at the entrance, an ottoman with a hollow base, a bed with drawers, a dining bench that slides under the table. Each of these replaces a piece of furniture you were going to buy anyway with one that also holds something.

Making storage disappear

The reason a room with a lot of storage can still feel calm is almost entirely visual discipline.

• Paint tall storage the same colour as the wall. A white wardrobe on a white wall recedes. A dark wardrobe on a light wall is a piece of furniture the eye counts every time it enters the room.
• Doors rather than open shelves for anything that is not deliberately displayed.
• One family of boxes and baskets, not seven. Uniformity is what turns storage into a surface.
• Keep the floor clear. A room reads by how much floor is visible. Wall-hung and full-height units preserve it, low sideboards and floor-standing clutter consume it.

What to do in a rental

Everything above is achievable freestanding. Modular wardrobe systems, tall shelving units, storage beds, benches and over-door shelves all leave with you. The only elements that require permission are anything screwed to the wall, and tall units frequently need a single anti-tip bracket for safety, which is a small fixing that most landlords will agree to in writing.

If you are letting or selling, the calculation reverses. A viewer reads a full cupboard as an apartment without enough storage, even when the cupboard is generous. Empty half of it before photographs.

Storage for the things nobody plans for

Every apartment has a set of objects that no standard cupboard anticipates, and they are the ones that end up in the hallway.

• Bicycles. In a city with free public transport and a serious cycling network, most households acquire at least one. If the building has no bike store, a wall-mounted vertical rack in the hall or on the balcony is the only sane answer.
• Winter sports and outdoor equipment. Skis, boots, walking gear and camping equipment are bulky and seasonal, which is exactly what a cellar is for. If there is no cellar, dedicate the top of one wardrobe to it.
• Suitcases. Nest the smaller inside the larger and store them full of the bedding you use twice a year. A suitcase stored empty is wasted volume.
• Drying laundry. Rarely planned and always necessary in a country where outdoor drying is impractical for much of the year. A ceiling-mounted or wall-folding airer in the bathroom or the utility area keeps a drying rack out of the living room.
• Documents. Residence papers, tax files, lease and insurance documents accumulate quickly for anyone who has moved country. One labelled box, in one place, from the first month.

Assign a destination to each of these categories before you move in. Storage failure is almost never a shortage of volume; it is a shortage of decisions.

Three questions we are asked

Fitted or freestanding?

Fitted uses the space better, particularly in rooms with awkward geometry, and adds to the appeal of an apartment at sale. Freestanding is cheaper, moves with you and does not require anyone's agreement. For an owner staying five years or more, fitted usually wins. For anyone else it does not.

Is a cellar worth paying for?

In Luxembourg apartments the cellar is often the difference between a workable apartment and a cramped one, and it costs a small fraction of what the same volume costs upstairs. If you are choosing between two similar apartments, the one with a proper cellar and a bike store is worth a meaningful premium.

How do I stop the hallway becoming the dumping ground?

Give every category a place within two metres of the door: hooks for coats, a closed bench for shoes, a bowl or drawer for keys and post, and a designated spot for parcels. Clutter accumulates where there is no assigned destination, and the entrance is where the most objects arrive.

Where this fits in a Luxembourg apartment

Storage is the first thing tenants ask about at a viewing and the first thing buyers count. In the apartments we let, a full-height wardrobe and a usable hallway do more for the achievable rent than almost any decorative choice.

A useful editorial test for three questions we are asked is to look at the consequence rather than the headline feature.

A feature connected to three questions we are asked should also survive a budget check.

For measure the problem before you solve it, note what you can see, what you can measure, what you need to ask and what would be expensive to change.

The final decision around where this fits in a luxembourg apartment should be explainable in a few sentences.