10 Tips for Creating Space in a Room with No Space

Never forget that every room has eight corners. When moving into a new apartment with less space than your old place, it can be challenging to fit all of your belongings into the residence. Of course you could keep the items that do not fit in storage, but then you will be paying an additional monthly fee. If your apartment has some amount of storage in the basement, it is always wise to use. However, as in many major cities where land is a premium, it is unlikely you will have a large amount of storage space. Therefore, you need to get creative and figure out a way to keep these items in your apartment.

Luckily, there are ways to maximize the amount of space you have and store all of your items while still keeping an aesthetically-appealing apartment. The following is a list of 10 tips for creating space in a room with no space.

Create Calm with Visual Continuity

Even-toned rooms that are soothing trick the eye into thinking that they are much more spacious than the reality. Pastels and other light colors may be the best option and allow you to comfortably live in a small apartment. Plus, with all of the natural light you should let in through windows and other fixtures, the even-toned rooms will provide more of a comforting natural feel.

Create Zones

As you are laying out the room, consider all of the regular activities you do in a specific space, work, relax, sleep and eat, then create separate zones for these actions. Beautiful demarcation can add the larger feel of the space. One opportunity is to evoke “rooms” that have numerous seating areas, a window seat, curtained bed and built-in banquette. Even painting signals on the floor to indicate an entry will make the room feel bigger.

Customize your Living Space

Customizing your room or entire apartment is the best method of saving space while still effectively storing your belongings. This is where you can really put on your create hat to remain organized and eliminate clutter. Ideas include, storage nooks, furniture with built-in storage that is personalized to your specific need and utilizes every inch of space and built-in closets or hanging dressers. The ideas and opportunities for customization are only limited by your imagination.

Develop a Jewel Box

By splurging on exuberant treatments and sumptuous materials, you can play up the size of your apartment and increase the sense of coziness with these two tips. If you give a sense of grandeur and opulence to hallways and other small spaces with hanging artwork or an installation of books, your apartment will feel much larger and more like home.

Develop Sight Lines

By tearing down walls, swapping solid doors for glass to open up the room, enlarging windows and connecting adjacent spaces, you are not only letting in additional natural light, you are also creating sight lines through the entire apartment. Also, you can create visual stumbling block using new walls or even strategically-placed shelving or screens that force you to slowly take in the apartment space. Believe it or not, sight lights give you the impression that the room is much larger than it appears making you feel more comfortable and not cramped into a small space.

Embrace the Change

By selecting furniture and other elements of the apartment that have two functions while still remain aesthetically-pleasing, you can really utilize your space. For instance, having a bed frame with drawers or shelves underneath will utilize the unused space under beds. Also, finding a table that functions as a desk and dining table is huge win. Furthermore, daybeds and deep sofas that double as guest beds act as a couch during the day and bed by night without consuming additional space. Other excellent switch-hitting pieces include, Murphy beds, collapsible tables, nesting tables and folding chairs. Furthermore, using wireless technology as much as possible make it easy to reposition fixtures.

Fool your Eye

Creating the impression of size by utilizing decorations such as see-through furnishing, floor-to-ceiling curtains and strategically-placed mirrors can trick your eye. Any items that reflect or let in natural light can really make the difference in feeling like an apartment is cozy versus being too cozy.

Make All Pieces Count

Selecting the decorative elements and furnishings that best maximize the functionality in small square footage will provide you with extra space. For instance, using two small round tables are better for foot traffic than using one giant coffee table. Also, two individual coffee tables are much easier to move out of the way or when moving out of the house.

Think Vertically

When you do not have a lot of floor space in the residence but have a lot of items to place on the floor, think about stacking and using vertical shelving units. The space between the top of furniture and the ceiling is the most underutilized space in any home. Even the ceiling can be used for high-mounted of hanging elements. They will draw the eye upward giving the illusion of a larger space. Also, take cabinets and bookcases as high up as you can reach them.

Utilize Larger but Fewer Furnishings

Although the idea of utilizing larger but fewer furnishings may seem counterintuitive given that you want to maximize your space, outfitting a pint-sized space with several large pieces rather than many small pieces make the room feel larger. With that being said, do not worry about filling up the space with furniture. When room are populated with different types of furniture, they actually look much larger.

Finding space in rooms that just don’t have it can be a challenging task. However, maximizing the space and limiting the amount of clutter as well as opening up the room to light and sight can really make a difference in the way the room or apartment feels. The 10 aforementioned tips are an excellent start to maximizing the efficiency and space in your next room or apartment.