Home Inspirations

Regardless of the size of your home, there’s a ton you can do to maximize your home. With some smart decisions about your choice of furniture, arrangement, and design, you can achieve a look that belies that actual square footage of your apartment. Check out these three ways to maximize a minimal space!

Establish Zones

One of the key factors that you can do to make your space feel larger is to delineate different zones. For anyone that’s lived in a studio apartment of loft space before, they’re familiar with the importance of distinguishing between different living spaces for cooking, dining, living, and sleeping. While a single open space might seem airier and large in theory, creating different “zones” in your home will give you the sense of a large space.

Wondering how to set up your zones? Invest in a few small area rugs to begin, and arrange your furniture in clusters to indicate the purpose of each area. Using bookshelves and other tall pieces of furniture as dividers is another good way to set up visual boundaries between spaces without adding walls or other obtrusive divisions.

Go Multipurpose

Small spaces inherently require fewer pieces of furniture, and that means certain items need to play double duty and fill more than one role. We’re all familiar with the pull-out sofa, but there are plenty of other pieces you can use for more than one purpose in the home.

Take an extendable table for instance. There’s no reason to hold onto a dining table that takes up half of your living space if you’re only having dinner on it once a week. Opt for an expandable option with sides that fold down when you don’t need the surface space. When you need it, the extra space is available. When you don’t, it disappears. It’s a simple solution that gives you some extra breathing room in an otherwise crowded area.

Items like ottomans and benches are perfect for multipurpose design, providing opportunities for seating and storage that fits under tables when they’re not in use, it’s like having an extra set of living room furniture that slide into place whenever it’s most convenient for you. Sites like Lumens have great options like Gus Modern designs that fit the bill. The Mimico Storage Ottoman from the Toronto-based design firm is perfect for supplemental storage that doubles as sleek, attractive seating.

Optical Illusions

Your décor has a lot to do with how you and others perceive the size of your living space. If you have a bright apartment with lots of windows and tall ceilings, it’s always going to feel spacious. While there’s often little you can do in terms of adding windows and changing ceiling height, you can make sure that your apartment is brightly lit and well designed to feel larger than it is.

You might be tempted to max out your wall space with frames, but gallery walls tend to make a room feel smaller, more compact, and potentially overcrowded, the last things you want in a small living space. To make a room feel larger, go with Spartan wall décor to emphasize empty space and a sense of openness. For surfaces like cabinet doors, backsplashes, and alcoves, adding a mirrored surface will help to reflect the light and make the room feel visually larger. It’s a great way to decorate your home to feel more spacious, illusion or not.

Similarly, transparent designs work well in small spaces, minimizing the visual impact and keeping the room feeling light and open, without sacrificing any style or functionality. It’s a win-win for all involved parties.

Follow these easy space-saving strategies to get the look and feel of a spacious home regardless of your square footage!