Ideas to decorate a small home
Small apartment? Don’t despair! What small homes lack in space, they make up for in lower rent, being close to bustling downtown areas and a cozy charm. Of course, that depends on your interior decorating skills. We are here to help you with just that. Read on to find out more. Many people fret about the fact that living in a smaller space means you must give up on style, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Rather, it’s finding the right balance between the two is critically important to creating a space that you’ll be comfortable living in for the foreseeable future. You need to focus on filling your home with items that fit your needs while highlighting your personal style. Follow these decorating tips that ensure that you make the most of the space you have while still letting your personality come through.
1. A place for everything and everything in its place
Don’t limit yourself to an open plan when decorating a small place. Open plan can make the place feel overwhelming and the lack of delineation may lead to the room looking messy.
At first glance, it may seem like open concept living is the way to go when decorating a tiny apartment. However, this can be overwhelming to the eye and over time a lack of definition to the space can lead to things looking messy.
Do your best to define separate areas and give each area a specific purpose. Put coat and shoe racks by the door to round off your entranceway. Position a buffet between your kitchen and dining areas for easy serving and extra storage. Back your sofa up to the foot of your bed to instantly draw the eye into your living area. If you have trouble demarcating your bedroom, then look at our ideas for decorating a small bedroom.
2. Invest in Furniture that can do double-duty
When decorating a tiny room, every bit of space matters. Make the best of the tiny situation by getting furniture that can serve a dual purpose.
Think trundle bed that can be folded into a sofa when watching TV, a hollow couch that can be used for storage, or a dining table that can fold back into the wall to form a shelf or extra storage space.
3. Rethink Unused Spaces
It is entirely easy to get lazy and stuck in a rut when you’ve lived in the same space for a while. Remember the adage “out of sight is out of mind”? For example, for most of us, extra baking dishes are kept in the oven when not in use, extra candles in one of the coveted kitchen drawers and clean linens in a storage box under your bed. But, have you ever considered the possibility that maybe you’re not using your space in the most effective way possible?
Look around your home and identify all the spaces that aren’t currently living up to their full potential. Think about unused corridors and corners. Now think about how you could put these to good use.
Turn a large windowsill into a workspace for when you need to take business home for the night. Purchase a corner shelving unit to give yourself a place to store your bar essentials. Place a few baskets on top of your refrigerator and use them to hide your lesser-used serving plates.
4. Make friends with vertical storage
When thinking of small homes, don’t underestimate vertical storage.
Place two similar bookshelves on both side of an entryway for a built-in shelve. Or, a large entertainment center that goes from floor to roof and serves as a room separator between your sleeping and living areas.
5. Organize, organize, organize
In small apartments it’s very easy to get lost in clutter. Here smart storage is your best friend. However, finding storage is just the tip of the iceberg. Once you’ve identified the vehicles to mask your clutter, make sure you organize it in a way that you know where everything is. Because nothing is more annoying than having organized everything in the most efficient way possible only to forget where you kept your favorite sweater and then have to take it all apart. We suggest investing in some organizers that will help keep you on track.
Back-of-the-door shoe-hangers offer pockets that can be used to hold anything from cleaning products to extra snacks. Lining shelves with small baskets creates a uniform look while hiding any clutter from view.
Once you own a few organization tools, the key is actually making use of it. Set a goal to return items to their proper places immediately after using them.
6. Choose pastel Colors
Rich, darker colors look luxurious but they have the disadvantage of making the room look smaller. Light and pastels on the other hand open the room up.
When choosing your palette, focus on using three colors: two, light, bright shades that decorate most of the space. Then, add in one darker accent color to ensure things stay visually interesting. For that pop of luxury, go dark with your furniture. But make sure to not go over the top because too many colors in a tiny space can be overwhelming.
7. Floating Design
Huge and clunky furniture can make a tiny space seem too crowded. Try to introduce floating pieces into your home to open things up. You can do this by incorporating floating shelves or a floating sink in lieu of the traditional wall mounted ones. Also think of using furniture that has standalone legs instead of sitting flush on the floor. Floating shelves also have the added benefit of introducing that “gallery-style” look into your home.
8. Don’t just wait for spring when it comes to cleaning
If you’re anything like yours truly, you are bound to accumulate a lot of junk over-time. In a small apartment it is a lot more difficult trying to hide your junk because of the lack of many hiding spaces. Hence, at least once or twice a year go through your home and throw away things that you haven’t used in a while or have no use for. You’ll be so happy with the uncluttered results.
While living in a small apartment might sometimes bum you out, this does not need to be the case. There is no rule that says that you must give up your style for functionality. Instead try to balance the two.
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Written and published by Propertyeportal Editorial Team.