Even small apartments can look elegant and stylish with the right touch of design
Making a home look and feel like a home is the primary purpose of interior design. Small spaces, however, can make this task seem difficult because the rooms are so, well, small. Not having a sprawling living room is not something to be upset over, however, it simply requires a different perspective about what makes a home inviting. Change your thoughts about interior decorating, adjust your prejudices; the rooms are not small, they are cozy. With that in mind, consider the mistakes that home decorators often make when choosing a design theme.
It is only natural to assume that a small room should come equipped with small furniture, such as using small desks in a tiny home office. There is not much space to work with, so the brain thinks that by installing pint sized couches and tables it will provide an area with more room to walk. While this is technically true, the eye disagrees; using one or two larger, bold pieces of furniture in a room fools the eyes into thinking the area is bigger than it is. Choose a large coffee table or even a stately mirror to hang on the wall, and the eyes will read it as being spacious rather than diminutive. This seems counter-intuitive, but try it and you will immediately notice the difference.
The colors of the room are equally important; modern interior design teaches that darker colors make a room seem smaller, while lighter colors open a room up and make it seem airy. Much like with the concept of small furniture, this is only partially true. The eye reads darker colors as a smaller space because of the contrasts, usually between the wall and the floor or the ceiling. If a room is not very large, it is possible to see the entirety of it: wall, floor and ceiling from a single vantage point.
Keeping open surfaces clean and clutter-free also impacts how neat and attractive your home appears. Store away often-used but space taking items in the bathroom and kitchen in an easy to access but concealed location. Keep paper towels on a dispenser above the kitchen counter, and makeup supplies like airbrush makeup kits in an attractive container below the sink in the bathroom.
If a room is decorated in warmer, darker colors, and the contrast of wall to ceiling and wall to carpet are taken into effect, it is very possible to create a sense of comfort and coziness. Choose a wall and carpet color that differ in hue only by a few shades, and if possible, place some sort of decoration near where the wall meets the ceiling to break up the sharp contrast. When viewing a room with a coordinated color scheme like this, it gives off an air of home, warmth, and comfort.
Remember, small space does not have to mean small ingenuity. Think about various other ways to invite the cozy feeling that only a smaller room can provide and use them to your advantage to make a unique look that is all your own.
