How To Maximize Space In A Small Apartment (20 Tricks)
Although many apartment renters start with just the bare essentials, apartment living can quickly become a cramped situation if you don’t maximize the space inside of your home. Of course, not everyone enjoys living the minimalist lifestyle, and it can suddenly feel as though your belongings have consumed your home if you don’t carefully arrange your apartment. Let’s know the tricks on how to maximize space in a small apartment.
The old motto of “a place for everything, and everything in its place” is actually a great adage to apply when it comes to maximizing space inside of a home, especially inside of small homes. There are many other ways to maximize your space in a small apartment, and we’ve come up with the following list
Why Purchase A Small Home?
The reality is, purchasing a small home may be your only option, or your best option, for a number of reasons. It may be a crowded metropolitan area where you are purchasing your home, or you may only have a small budget to purchase your home. It could even be a starter home or rental home, so you are not looking to purchase a large home for that purpose.
Small homes make great rental properties for professional singles and young families, so there is still a large market for the sale of small homes in most areas, both urban and rural. By maximizing the space inside of the small home, it can feel much larger than its actual square footage deems it to be.
Twenty Tricks On How To Maximize Space In A Small Apartment
There are many design tips and tricks to make a small home feel much larger. Most of the tips don’t require you to have an open-ended budget or the funds to perform a home remodel in order to implement them inside of your own small apartment. We’ve listed a few of the more cost-effective tips and tricks in this article, and you can use your discretion when opting to utilize some of the space-saving ideas that we’ve provided for you.
Use Trunks For Tables
By choosing trunks to serve as coffee tables and end tables, you’re giving yourself room to stash everyday items that you may need to have access to, but don’t necessarily want to keep on display for anyone who should visit your home to see. Trunks are great for stowing just about anything, from remotes to old blankets, and they come in many different mediums and styles so you aren’t hindered by a specific layout or floor plan.
Avoid Unitaskers
When you live in a small home, you can’t afford to own a large item that only serves one purpose. You will quickly run out of space to store anything, and the unitaskers that don’t serve a purpose for you every day are basically large paperweights until it is time to use them again. Try opting for dual-use items at any possible time you’re given the choice.
Buy Foldable Furniture
Foldable card tables were all of the rages in the 1970s and have recently made a popular comeback. That’s because they’re great for additional seating, a craft table, or work station, but as soon as you’re finished with the task, you can fold them up and store them in any slender, open spot in your home. The concept of murphy beds is very much the same, and they make studio apartment living quite comfortable when you’re very short on space, but not short on belongings.
You might like: What Kind Of Furniture Should Be Kept In A Small Room?
Keep Your Stuff Organized To Avoid Duplication
There isn’t much worse than knowing you already own something, but because you’re unable to find it you have to buy another. When your belongings are organized and properly stored, you don’t have to buy the second item, because it’s simple to locate and use the item you already own.
Think Vertical For Storage
When you don’t have the option of moving laterally, you can and should move vertically. Shelves, cabinets, and ceiling hooks are great storage options for those who simply don’t have the square footage to branch out in any direction other than up. When you have the option of using your vertical space as storage, you should do exactly that so that your floor space can be used to live in. Also, by placing your lesser-used items up higher, you’re ensuring that the things you need and use daily are easily accessed.
Share Ownership Of Large Items
If you live in a small home or apartment, owning such items as a kayak, or perhaps a trampoline may not be a feasible option for you. However, if you share that activity or hobby with a friend, family member, or colleague who has a larger home, garage, or a storage facility, you should consider sharing the ownership of the large items with them so that storage isn’t an issue.
Not only will this help you to save space in your small apartment, but it can also help you to save money by splitting the cost of the item with the co-owners. In some cases, it isn’t feasible to do this type of item share, but you may find it beneficial to you to give it a shot.
Be Critical Of All Of Your Possessions
Most people can go to the back of their closet and find items that they haven’t worn in years, and yet they still own them, for some strange reason. It is exactly this condition that allows clutter to start to build around your home. However, if you are in a small apartment, clutter is a bitter rival. By minimizing clutter inside of your small home, you are maximizing the space that it offers to you to enjoy.
One trick is to go through your closet every six months and get rid of any item that you haven’t worn in that 6-month time frame. This also allows for seasonal or cold-weather clothing to be cycled out without depleting your winter gear. You can also apply this philosophy to other areas of your home, as closets aren’t the only area to accumulate items that are no longer needed or being used. You can also usually donate the items to charity for the tax credit.
Focus On Less, Yet Classier, Decor
When you’re decorating your small apartment or home, it can be very easy to go overboard and make the space feel cramped and cluttered. However, by focusing on less decor, but more statement pieces, you can avoid this issue. For example, choose a large statement decorative piece for the room, and then a couple of smaller items to add to the statement piece. This will keep the room or area from becoming overwhelmed with decor, and starting to feel stifling because of it.
Use Fewer But Larger Furniture Pieces
Instead of packing a room full of 5 chairs, you may want to instead opt for a large sofa, or a sectional sofa to ensure that there is seating for guests, but that the room isn’t overwhelmed by the amount of furniture placed in it. By using one large centralized piece of furniture, you’re allowing the free space in the room to remain and give an air of open space while still providing a lived-in feel to the room.
Use As Much Natural Lighting As Possible
Floor lamps and table lamps can take up valuable space that could be used for other important items or storage shelving or drawers. By using the natural lighting that your home has, you can opt for using the floor and table lamp space for other furniture or decorative pieces. Open your blinds or drapes and enjoy the natural sunlight during the daylight hours. Then, use small table lighting for the evening hours to keep the lamp space to a minimum.
Add Built In Shelving
Built-in shelving in corners and under cabinets can provide a wealth of storage ideas. There are many ready-to-install shelving kits for cabinets, and you can purchase floating shelf kits in the corners of your home. Both of these options can provide instant storage space to otherwise unused, and wasted space areas.
Use Light, Solid Colors For Walls
By selecting light color paint, and not opting for busy or hectic patterns for your walls, you can give the appearance of a much larger room than you actually have. Although this option will not provide you with any more physical storage space inside of your home, it will allow for the visual effect of much more space than you actually have.
Small Apartment Ideas For The Entryway
In a small apartment, entryway space can be very valuable and full of vibrance if you choose to use the space as a reflection of your personal style. By opting for entryway benches that double as shoe racks or storage, or using entryway furniture pieces like coat racks that double as benches, you can allow your entryway to speak to your personal style, yet still remain a functional and storage rich part of your home.
Small Apartment Ideas For The Living Room
Small living rooms can present very unique challenges for those who live there because the placement of existing furniture can be like a complicated puzzle. There are many furniture options for small spaces with the tiny house and container house movement, and it is giving small apartment living an entirely new look. Small living room couches, chairs, settees, and tables are a way to maximize the options in a small home without sacrificing your seating or personal style.
Small Apartment Ideas For The Kitchen
The small apartment kitchen has always been a difficult room to organize and utilize. Today, there are options like islands on caster wheels, and folding tables that are affixed to the kitchen wall. Any item of furniture that can be removed or stored when it is not in use helps you to maximize the space in your small home.
Small Apartment Ideas For The Bathroom
Much like guest bathrooms all over the world, the small apartment bathroom never really seems to have enough storage for all of the items that you need to store in them. Try using over the toilet shelving and corner units for the inside of the shower to store some items. In addition, removable shelves inside of the cabinets in your bathroom allow for taller cosmetic items to fit inside of the cabinet by simply removing or moving a shelf.
Lighting Ideas For Small Apartments
Small spaces have a tendency to appear much darker and smaller than they actually are, and that is because natural lighting isn’t often considered when designing small apartment spaces. By installing blinds instead of drapes, and using large windows instead of standard-sized windows, you can allow more natural light in, which will lend a much larger appearance to your home.
Small Apartment Ideas For The Bedroom
The murphy bed was the early solution to tiny or non-existent bedrooms. They still work wonders in small apartments and homes, and there are many new designs to the murphy bed line, including some that have couches on the bottom, then double as a twin or full bed on the top, still able to fold right into the wall for storage.
You can go for the futons also. Read our best futons for small spaces to get the idea.
Final Words
In small home and apartment designs, you can always go with the “less is more” thought, although if done in good taste, even a hectic and busy design in a small space can be a great-looking space. When possible, use items that double as other items, and always choose furniture that can be used for storage to save major space in your small apartment. Forego lots of furniture for larger individual furniture pieces, and choose light paint with no patterns to make small rooms look larger than they actually are. Also, share large items with family or friends to cut down on the large storage space needed in your home.
When done tastefully, a small apartment or home can look just as amazing as a large home and can have a surprising amount of storage space.
