Downsizing and having a minimalist lifestyle have been a trend for a few years now. If you’ve jumped on board this bandwagon or are living in a smaller space out of convenience or financial constraints, you can use these ideas to make the most out of your home.
If you live in a studio or have multiple family members sharing a bedroom, think about getting a Murphy bed – a piece of furniture where the bed folds up into a cabinet or against the wall. This is very convenient because you can have all that extra space during the day when you need it, and then simply unfold the bed at night. Kids rooms with a Murphy bed make perfect sense if you don’t have the extra space for a playroom.
Custom furniture is a great way to get things to fit “just right” in your smaller rooms. Using the kid’s bedroom as an example, you could have custom bunk beds built against the wall, with cabinets up high for storage near the top bunk, and a desk or toy shelf area next to the bottom bunk. If your home doesn’t have enough space for a designated office room, custom desks or workspaces can be built into a nook in the kitchen or living room. It can sometimes be challenging to find sofas or kitchen tables to fit into smaller areas, so expand your mindset to include that even these furniture pieces can be custom-made. And while you may pay a little higher price for custom furniture, it is a whole lot cheaper than buying a bigger house!
When decorating a small room, think vertically as well as horizontally. Wall-units for entertainment centers that reach almost to the ceiling provide extra shelves and cabinets for more than just audio-visual equipment. Decorations that hang from the ceiling can add interest to a room – mobiles, birdhouses, wind chimes and hanging plants all make unique décor accents and draw the eyes upward, therefore making the room seem larger. In a more functional space, consider putting pegboard on a wall and using it to hang bins and other types of small storage devices. This concept would work great for small children or in a crafting space.