If, like many young Americans, you’re one your own for the first time and moving into an apartment or condominium with a small space, here are some wonderful decorating ideas to make your new home more livable. You’ll create the illusion of bigger space, or at least make your quarters a place you’d like to come home to.
Hang long curtains. Hang them close to the ceiling to give an illusion of tall windows. This will make your room appear larger. The San Francisco Chronicle provides some tips on how to make your own long hanging curtains.
Paint your furniture. Small dark spaces can feel claustrophobic. Introduce color into your apartment by painting your furniture with bright colors. Check out this video from Better Homes and Gardens on how to paint your furniture.
Make your pieces multi-purpose. Instead of cluttering your small space with lots of furniture, stick with a few but make them serve two or three purposes at the same time. A dining table can serve as your home office, or as an extension of your kitchen when you need a bigger working area.
Conceal eyesores. Sometimes you don’t have a choice. Your space might come with a hideous radiator or some other unsightly feature. Use room dividers to hide them.
Skip the dedicated dining area. Dining rooms take up huge amounts of space. You can extend your kitchen into a dining area, freeing up precious square feet for living and working space or extra built-in storage.
Make full use of vertical space. Take advantage of your walls by hanging floating shelves that can be used for just about anything, and adds a clutter-free way of updating your décor as your moods or needs change.
Embrace open storage. If you’re young and hip (you probably are if you’re living in a small condo), use industrial shelving to store your things in. They’re chic, cheap, and configurable. Plus, they don’t enclose precious open air space.
Hang mirrors. This is a classic condo trick used by all professional interior decorators. You can almost double the feel of space inside your small unit by strategically placing mirrors in tight spaces. In fact, you don’t have to hang mirrors on the wall. Huge mirrors can be propped up on the wall from the floor for an even larger reflective area.
Get hip with loft beds. They’re getting to be more popular these days because loft beds can serve two purposes at the same time. Many are designed to be home offices at the first level, with the upper level used for sleeping purposes.
Let there be light. Good lighting can completely transform a room, and its source doesn’t necessarily have to be a hardwired ceiling fixture. Invest in lamps to place on end tables, nightstands, and side tables. Position floor lamps to illuminate dark corners.
Got any decorating tips of your own to share? We’d like to hear it straight from you.
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