If you page through any leading interior design magazines, you’ll probably notice that a lot of the content is aimed towards some pretty spacious and illustrious living quarters. While you may be fortunate enough to live in a large house, or to be in the process of working towards one, there is also a good chance that you live in more modest accommodations and have to look for ways to fit your interior design aesthetic of choice around that fact. There are great specific tips out there, concerning things such as how to make the most of your small bathroom space, for example. Here, though, are a few best tips for making the most of a small living space.
By Team Savant
Image: Toa Heftiba
Make sure that the belongings you have are ones that you really want to hold onto
The Japanese tidying up Guru Marie Kondo is famous for promoting a decluttering methodology that is based on the concept of only holding on to those belongings of yours that actively cause you to feel a “spark of joy” when you hold them in your hands.
It’s worth noting that living spaces tend to be significantly smaller in Japan, therefore making her advice quite specifically tailored for compact homes and apartments.
In order to make the space that you do have go as far as possible, make sure that the belongings you have – and hold onto – are ones that you really want, or ones that you really need. Don’t allow extraneous clutter to accumulate as it will quickly make the place feel overcrowded.
Have a regular schedule for cleaning and arranging the place
In larger homes, you can perhaps afford to be a bit more “easy-going” about letting the household chores slide for a day or two.
In a compact living space, however, any amount of mess is likely to be very noticeable, and to negatively impact the overall aesthetic of the space. A few plates sitting on your kitchen counters, for example, can have an outsized visual impact.
Make sure, then, to have a regular schedule in place for cleaning and arranging your home, so that the entire mood of the home does not get thrown off by something as minor as a pile of unwashed laundry. Establishing the right habits here is paramount.
Use the power of carefully selected decorations and ornaments to really cultivate the kind of atmosphere you want
One plus about a small living space, is that it’s not only the clutter which will stand out more — it’s also the ornaments and decorations that you specifically choose in order to create a particular atmosphere in the home.
While in a larger home, a small statuette or painting might fade into the background, these features are likely to jump to the forefront of the room when placed in a smaller home.
Be especially selective about the kinds of decorations and ornaments you choose to bring into your home, so that you can really shape the aesthetic in the direction you want.
Find and position the right furniture
Not only do you need to find the right furniture that will fit into smaller spaces, but you will also need to position it effectively. First, you want to shop around for places that offer a range of furniture, so you can buy it from the same place to create cohesion in your small space. You will also be able to find items that are the appropriate size. Giants like West Elm and Pottery Barn are great sources of furniture. Secondly, you want to position the furniture correctly, as this can make or break your space. Many people believe that you should push all the pieces of furniture against the wall in a small room, to create more space. This is not always the case. Instead, you should push the furniture to the center of the room, to create a more open feeling. You may also keep an open plan space, or use the furniture to create zones.