2 bedrooms + 2 kids = ...

...clutter and chaos.

When we purchased our 2 bedroom condo, it was intended to be a starter home for 5-7 years, tops. Well, here we are, 8 years and 2 children later. Still here, with no prospects for an expansion. The sad truth of living in an area with a million-job economy is that everyone wants to be here. The limited supply of living space translates into irrationally high real estate prices. What this means is that a moderately-sized home now has a million plus price tag, and that's just the asking price. This moderately-sized home ultimately gets sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars over that million plus price tag. For a dual-income family this means chasing an unreachable target.

And so, a family of four makes the most of their 2 bedroom condo. The question is, how do you make the most of this space, without feeling like you are stepping on each other, allowing the kids to have some kind of space of their own, and attempting to keep things organized and uncluttered? As a child, I never lived in a space bigger than two bedrooms with my parents and older brother. In fact, for the first 9 years of my life, we lived in a one-bedroom apartment. Yet somehow, everything had its own place.

Trying to make due with what we have, I am always on the lookout for organization ideas and keep track of them on a pinterest board, which I created specifically for this purpose. When we were adding furniture, we looked for multi-purpose items. Our couches have storage conveniently hidden underneath. Perfect for extra toys or other items not in everyday use. The entertainment center is not just for the TV but also has shelving for books and a separate area to display the nicer bar ware. When purchasing my son's big boy bed, we opted for a twin with storage underneath. Since the boys have to share a room, this added additional drawers to fit all their bedding and pajamas. And of course there are drawer dividersto keep everyone's drawers in order. The best thing we ever did was to customize the existing closets in the condo. It is amazing how much more we were able to squeeze out of the existing space. We drew out the plans for our closets ourselves, but the Easy Closets website seems like a nifty idea.

Ultimately, life is what you make of it. I've become a big fan of Apartment Therapy. Especially their small spaces section. Always interesting to see how others make the most of their spaces. I recently came across an article that showed the life of a family with four children making the most of a two bedroom apartment, and so, it's all possible with a little planning.

If you can relate to the above, how do you make the most of your space? Share in comments below. I can't wait to see what other tips I can pick up!

Until next time...