Living in a smaller space doesn't have to mean living without all your "stuff." People handle their storage needs in different ways, but happiest are those who follow a principle suggested by Sarah Susanka in her book "The Not So Big House." She says, "Every space is considered for what is useful; special places are planned to display what is beautiful."

Two friends and neighbors in the intown Atlanta neighborhood of Atkins Park have created homes that fit around them like gloves, with their things stored away in styles completely compatible with their very different lives.

Hyosub Shin/AJC (ENLARGE)

Mary Kelly is a writer whose 1,000-square-foot cottage has an English-cozy feel.

Hyosub Shin/AJC (ENLARGE)

Patricia Paulk is a designer whose house has very high-end finishes, custom cabinetry and great storage ideas.

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Patricia Paulk is an interior designer, owner of Patricia Paulk Interiors, and a master at creating a sophisticated environment. In her own small home, she has honed her skills in creating storage to a fine point. "It's just a sweet old wonderful house that I think was maybe built in 1927 or 1928," she says of her two-bedroom, one-bath home.

Moving from 2,500 square feet to 1,500 when she bought her bungalow 2 1/2 years ago, Paulk is continually refining her ideas and her home to create a glamorous nest that fits her and her belongings perfectly. She has a luxury that many would envy, an almost live-in carpenter. "I have a fabulous worker who's been with me for four or five years. I really value his opinion and find him to be so wise about what will and will not work," she says.

"One of the first rooms I tackled when I moved in was the dining room. I love to entertain and needed a place for my beautiful dinnerware," she says as she points out the custom wall-to-wall floor-to-ceiling lighted cabinetry lining one wall of the room. In the time-honored tradition of "one thing leads to another," fixing up the dining room meant the kitchen started to look a little shabby, so the renovation and quest for storage moved on.

The kitchen was a major job — moving walls for a better flow, building cabinets on-site, shoring up the floor — and when that was done, the bathroom caught Paulk's designing eye. Taking the walls down to the studs, she designed storage that nestles between the studs and extends high up the wall.

She got the idea from the Trump Hotel on Central Park West in Manhattan. A removable slab of granite extends across the toilet to add to the storage possibilities. The small bathroom became incredibly practical and visually interesting, too.

From the bathroom, on to bedrooms. Expanding the footprint of the master bedroom by annexing the closet space next door, she built a wall full of well-lit, perfectly designed storage that maximizes the space and fits the needs of her wardrobe. Storage was designed and built in the guest room to hold such things as wrapping paper and ribbons.

Tweaks continue. Paulk wanted more shallow flatware and utensil drawers in her new kitchen. Inspired by a pair of bamboo cutting boards, she designed an addition to the granite-topped island that adds storage and uses the cutting boards as a utilitarian top.

For a chest in the living room, she had the idea for — and her carpenter created — a series of drawers with pegboard bottoms and dowels that adjust to provide secure storage for varying sizes of plates.

"It's brilliant and another idea I found in a magazine and adapted for my own use. I'm lucky to have someone who can figure out how to do all these things," she says.

The ideas never stop. "Keep a running list of what you'd like to do. I still have a list, and it's got about 40 more items on it. I have ideas, I see things in magazines or in books or in other people's homes and suddenly there's an epiphany of something wonderful, and there's another item to add to the list," she says with a smile.

Another way to look at it

Across the street lives writer Mary Kelly and her husband Ted. She's been there more than two decades, downsizing from a 3,400-square-foot home in Morningside to this 1,000-square-foot two-bedroom, one-bath bungalow.

Kelly was a real estate agent who wanted to be a writer. Downsizing was a way to make that happen. "I wanted to get away from domestic considerations and concentrate on writing. I didn't get too much into decorating, or at least I tried not to. 'This is my time to write,' I thought. I laughingly say, 'I have one eye on publishing and the other on obscurity at all times.' "

Scaling down the space presented challenges. "I didn't have any notion of what to do except to get rid of a lot of stuff," she laughs, and she did. But there was still "stuff" she didn't think she could part with, which is still in boxes in the attic. "I don't even know what's up there any more. I've probably duplicated things I already have by going out and buying new."

"We're just as happy as two clams in this little house. We can hold little dinner parties, but we can't have large gatherings of people," Kelly says. "It works well for just us, though. I think the house was built in 1939 and building materials were getting scarce. The house still has its original tiny closets so the second bedroom is my dressing room, and our master bedroom is Ted's."

Living in a small space allows Mary not to waste a moment. "I can cook dinner and write at the same time. My office is at the end of the kitchen, in what was the breakfast area. It was the only space I could find, and I've packed it with paper and boxes."

Ted has his office in the dining room. "That was too exposed for me," she says. "Everybody could come in and see my papers, so I'm tucked away in the back where I love my view of trees and gardens and squirrels."

As for storage, Kelly's home is full of open shelves packed with books, collections and "stuff." She says, "I stick things where they'll go. I like to be organized, but my husband leaves everything where he uses it.

"I've always admired Patricia and her great taste," says Kelly. "One day she said, 'We just need to arrange your things so they're more visible.' So she took everything out of the cabinets in the dining room, washed them and put them back in a new arrangement of her own. I loved it. I used to do that sort of thing, but I had gotten away from it."

And Kelly is gaining inspiration from Paulk's way with storage. "We'd like to build in some storage areas," she says. "We've filled the garage with stuff for Ted's main business of building pools and fountains, and now the basement is filling up with his newest venture, distributing an antioxidant fruit beverage called Mona Vie. It's great for giving you energy."

Kelly says, "Arranging your stuff in whatever space you have is a fun-filled challenge."

SHARING IDEAS:

Paulk's four tips for effective storage:

• Drawers, drawers, drawers. They keep things separate and there's no better way to be organized.

• If you're renovating, customize. If you're tall, make taller counters. If you have business paperwork to file, build deeper drawers.

• Build specialized storage in unexpected places. A plate rack on the front of my kitchen island allows me to show off my pretty Limoges fish platters.

• Centralize. Store things together so you don't run from room to room to collect the things you need for a job. Time is too valuable to waste like that.