• This room's designer has incorporated useful shelves into the design.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Storing a lifetime's worth of knicknacks, clothing, cooking utensils, bedding and sporting goods in a small apartment isn't always easy. Tiny closets and limited cabinet space can limit an apartment dweller's storage options, but there is hope. The key is to use every nook, cranny and empty area your apartment provides to create storage spaces.
  
  

Kitchen

• If you live alone, trade in your full-size refrigerator for a smaller counterpart. If you can learn to do without the extra space in your ice box, you'll be rewarded with much more storage space in your kitchen itself. Using hooks, pegs and special racks to hang items around your kitchen can also help. Hang pots and pans you use infrequently from the ceiling or against a wall. Small items like coffee mugs can be suspended from the bottom of your cabinets. You might also place items that can't be hung below your cupboards on top of them. The space between the top of your cabinets and the ceiling can hold items like camping coolers and picnic baskets. This hideaway doesn't have to be unattractive either; curtains can be used to cover the clutter.
  
  

Bedroom

• Put your bed on lifts. Bed lifts are small but sturdy block or cones designed to be placed under your bed's feet. Most will raise your frame about 6 inches, and you can use the extra space to store shoes, extra bedding or anything else that will fit that and you don't need every day. To prevent your new storage space from becoming an eyesore, invest in a lovely bed skirt that is long enough to keep your items out of view.
  
  

Living Room

• Include storage compartments into your living room interior design. One option is to replace any framed artwork you display on your walls with floating shelves. Another sleek and efficient feature you can include in your interior design is an entire wall of stylish storage units of varying colors. Selecting the right furniture can help too. Look for pieces with built-in storage. Coffee tables with drawers are one example. Chests that double as benches are also practical. Another trick of the trade is to place items such as bookshelves and other large pieces of furniture at an angle, which will make your room look bigger as well as create little pockets of space where you can store things.