Decorating small living spaces is often looked at as too difficult or too challenging. I think that with the right attitude and the right guidance you can turn small spaces into peaceful, cozy wonders you’ll love going back to day after day. I for one, have a small home and love working with small spaces – I love a good challenge! Plus I think they are so much fun 🙂 .
I have a few key rules when it comes to small home decorating ideas that I stick by to reach a good end result. Let’s look into how we can apply them to each room of your house:
- Lighting. When it comes to small spaces, it’s great to have lots and lots of light. To help with the brightness, make sure you have light colors on the walls, preferably pure or off-white. This ensures the light coming in is not absorbed by large surfaces, but rather reflected back in the room. It makes a huge difference since the same space painted in darker tones can feel like it’s caving in on you making the room appear smaller instead of feeling open and fresh!
- Have as many multi-use items as possible. It stands to reason that you need to use the space to the maximum and you’ll be able to do that if most of the items in your house serve more than one purpose.
- Create the illusion of more space. There’s a quote that says “appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak”… so, if space is what you’re lacking, try to make more space appear! I’ll give you some tips on how to do this, but as a golden rule, remember to always avoid clutter!
Guided by our three rules, let’s find practical solutions for each important room in your house.
Small Living Room
Let’s say you have a small living room. What can you do to make it look bigger? Well, first tip – you should hang your curtains as high as possible! Don’t worry if they are well above your windows. This will make the room seem taller, with higher ceilings! Another trick is to make good use of a few ottomans. They can be used for sitting down or double as small accent tables. You can also place a tray on top and you’re good to go!
For small living rooms, it’s essential to use large room-sized area rugs. This will create the illusion of space and will give a rich texture to the whole area. It will also bring the room together, creating structure. The walls should be white or very light in color and they should match the sofa so that it blends in with the wall and the illusion will be more visible and believable!
Another simple yet very effective trick is to slightly downsize your furniture. If you can change the sofa to one with a fewer less inches in length that will not affect how comfortable it is but still make it look better in the small living area, then go for it! It will also save you some valuable space to let the room breath.
Small Bathroom
Pretty simple – here you might want to stick to calming palette tones as well: white, off-white, or tan. The pattern in the tiles on the floor also play an important role in making the bathroom decor a bit more interesting – busy floors and simple walls will help draw the attention off the size of the bathroom. Try to go with fixtures with storage options or use decorative bins as well!
Small Bedroom
The best way to go about creating more space in your bedroom is to add mirrors. They work wonders with the illusion and can also be inexpensive (depending on your choice and taste) and are relatively easy to install. You would need to place them facing a source of natural light so they can reflect it inside but also some artificial lighting like candles or a light fixture will do. Lastly, try to stick to a single theme throughout the bedroom décor — bring in some calming good vibes by keeping the scheme consistent.
Bonus Tip!
Going back to furniture, opt for a bed with storage options! If you can stash things in a few drawers on the bed you’ll gain a ton of room that would otherwise be drowned with clutter – trust me I know! There are a few modern chic styles available so you can be still be stylish while you use your bed for storage. It can be a simple and cost-effective way to turn what appeared to be a bad hand into a pot of gold!
For additional inspiration, check out my decor in my small half-bath and beauty room! Simple wall art and greenery / accent pieces, can make a huge difference in your small space! Do you know of any other tips worth mentioning that I missed? Leave a comment below!
