Space is always an going to be an issue when living in a small home, and the last thing you want in your tiny space is clutter. Here are some space saving tips that will inspire you to create a spacious and functional home setting for your small homes.
Simple Furniture
Don’t clutter your small home space with exaggerating or complicated furniture! Go for simplest and clean design is one of the best ways to make your home spacious and organized.
Sofas, coffee tables, dining table, chairs etc should come in plain colours with simple or no design at all because less is more. Also, size does matter, choose the right size for your space. Always buy small pieces of furniture, as they can be fitted based on the size of your space and are also easy to move around. Bulky and oversized furniture in small spaces not only limits your remodelling options significantly as it’s hard to move around, and also makes your space appear cluttered.
Another clever way to store and display items without taking up your precious floor space is installing floating shelves. You can use floating shelves for TV table or bedside table, so that it doesn’t diminish the size of your spaces while also save your money on purchasing tables.
Furniture Placement
One common mistake to maximise your space is to push all your furnishings up against the wall. Placing large furniture pieces against the wall do maximise your open space, however it would make your space even more cramped when you push ALL your furniture against the wall. It would be better to pull some furniture away from the wall and keep it more central, to add more volume to the room. The more floor you see, the bigger the room will appear.
To create another illusion that makes your home more spacious is using furniture with legs. Furniture with legs gives a sense of openness that allows light and air to flow under and around it, therefore making it appear as if it’s floating in a larger space.
You can consider a glass coffee table, or sofas and chairs with visible legs instead of floor-length upholstery that obscures the floor.
You can also go for vertical and utilise wall-to-ceiling storage, to add depth to a room and make your floor space looks clear.
Compact and Multifunctional Furniture
In most small houses, living room and dining room are often combined to maximise space.
Multifunctional furniture pieces have become a must-have, minimizes the amount of your furniture and utilizing as much space as possible, that help to make a smaller living area feel more spacious. These pieces may come in a variety of style and design, from dining table to bed. Some are even foldable and can be put away or move around. Murphy beds, convertible table, sofa beds are useful pieces for small homes. You can compact and expand them whenever you need, or move them around for seating or sleeping.
If your household only consists of you and your partner, a 4-seater dining table may take up a huge amount of your space. You can consider buying a high-quality, compact multi-purpose table, or buying a 2-seater dining table, which will make your living space less crowded.
Wall dividers might take up too much precious space in your small apartment. You can use things like curtains, bookshelves, or folding screens to divide the living space from the dining space, and thus create a more functional feel to a home.
Mirrors Mirrors are great tools when you’re looking to breathe new life into a space. A large mirror in a small room can also add more depth to it, by giving the illusion that the room is actually bigger than it really is, and it also appeals to the entire aesthetic of the room. When placing mirrors, always bear in mind what will be reflected in it. You could hang a mirror on any free wall space, but whatever is reflected will have more importance placed on it.
A neat place to place a wall mirror would be near your home entrance. It would create a spacious feeling the moment you enter your home, and also allows you to check your appearance before you go out. If you like the idea of a bright home, then placing a mirror in areas like the kitchen or dining area is ideal.
Try placing a mirror behind the light source, it will illuminate the room and give an impression of a brighter and bigger space.
Soft and Light Colors
Dark colours may make your room feel cosy, but it also makes a space feel smaller. Light colours are known to be more reflective, giving the illusion of a larger and open space, making it more inviting. Whereas dark colours will absorb light, therefore they will visually shrink the size of the room. White, light blue, or light shades of beige are some of the many options, try painting your wall trim a lighter colour than your wall as this will make the walls appear further back, contributing to the illusion of a broader space.
Too much colours in a small space will work against your already limited amount of space. It is better to paint all your walls in one colour or use a similar pallet hue for small subtle changes from room to room. Also, keep the ceiling and floor in similar colours to make sure that you don’t “break up” the space.
Light coloured floor works the same way as light-coloured walls, it opens up the space and makes it appear more spacious. You can select light coloured tiles or light wooden flooring to create the impression of a bigger and roomy home. You can also place rugs to separate a large room into smaller spaces, like dividing dining and living area, to create the appearance of having more than one space.
Natural Light
If you have a balcony or big windows, it’d be a crime to hide it as this is one of the best features of your house! Utilising natural light during daytime is another best way to make your small home feel larger than it is. Windows allows sufficient natural light in to fill the room with brightness, gives the impression of spacious.
A wall of windows brightens up your rooms and draws the eye out into the landscape or yard, making your living space fresh and expansive. Even if you only have one or two windows, you can try placing mirrors on the walls to reflect light from the windows and increase its reach. You can also use window treatments like soft fabrics as curtains, which offer the impression of taller windows and give a good balance between your space and design.
The Focal Point
Try picking up one large art piece and hang on your empty wall, you’ll be surprised the wall becomes larger and so is the space! Instead of focusing on the room with so many elements inside, you can create a large focal point in the room. It naturally draws all eyes to it, rather than the less-favour feature in the room like low ceiling and narrow corner.
You can choose a piece that either stands out against its surroundings, or use a piece to tie together your colour scheme, but ensure that it ties in with the decor of the room. Although the focal point should be instantly visible upon entering the space, but it doesn’t always have to be centrepiece of the room. One perfect place for a focal artwork is the empty space on a wall above a sofa.
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