How you can avoid big interior design problems in small spaces.
Want to decorate a small space, and wondering how to proceed?
Trying to devise a design plan that will make your small room look bigger, but can’t figure out what to do?
Wondering how to make the best possible of the space in a small room to make it look nice?
Then this is the blog post you’re looking for!
Small room design tips that interior designers follow
Having a small space doesn’t mean you can’t turn it stylish.
All you need are smart room decor choices.
This is a query we have faced often as interior designers in Bangladesh – how to decorate a small room so that it looks tasteful but not cramped?
And over the years, we have gained some unique insights into small room decor, which we are going to share with you through this blog post.
Go for low furniture
Decorating a room with lower furniture pieces will always make it feel large.
To enhance the feeling, add some high shelves to the walls and bring tall plants into the room to contrast against the low furniture.
That will set off the lower heights of your sofas, tables, chairs and so on, and make the space seem spacious.
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Keep the floor clear
Here’s the deal: You should be able to walk around your room freely.
It doesn’t matter how small the room is; not being able to walk around in it is a design failure.
And when someone can freely walk about a space, it automatically makes the space appear well-designed and maintained.
Try to get folding furniture
Think about pieces of furniture that won’t be needed constantly. Like a dining table.
Think how it would help if such furniture could be folded up and put away when not in use.
You can free up floor space.
A bonus is that things start piling up on any table that’s always available. You are avoiding untidy piles and stacks of everything from letters to books by putting furniture away when not in use.
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Keep larger items along the walls
No, you don’t have to include only smaller furniture pieces in your room.
What you need to do is be sensible about where you’re keeping it.
Create a feeling of space and depth by keeping larger pieces (like a bookcase) against the wall instead of in the middle of the room.
Pro tip: However, don’t take this as a licence to bring in as many items as you want into the room. Too many items pressed against the wall will make it obvious to anyone that you’re desperate to save space.
Eliminate clutter
You may be thinking that we have already mentioned keeping the floor clear.
Then why am I bringing up clutter as a separate topic?
Here’s the reason: Clutter doesn’t refer to only the objects kept on the floor.
Things on your tables, shelves, and countertops can become clutter if not arranged properly.
Even not maintaining sufficient space between pieces of furniture can be considered clutter.
Avoid all that.
Look for multi-purpose furniture
Furniture pieces with multiple uses will save you space and money.
Worried how you’ll find such furniture? Don’t.
Today there’s a trend towards building small-scale, affordable flats, which means multi-purpose furniture has a large market.
For example, a sofa-cum-bed can be a sofa at daytime and a bed at night.
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Have adequate and appropriate lighting
When designing a small room, we designers face an important question – how large do we make the windows?
Make the windows too large, and the room will look cramped in comparison.
On the other hand, small-sized windows lead to a lack of natural light entering the room.
This makes the room feel dark.
You have to counter this by adding sufficient light sources in your small space.
From ceiling fixtures to wall recessed lights, and table lamps – there are numerous lighting options to choose from to create a bright and cosy atmosphere in your room.
Use mirrors to reflect natural light
Remember we just now said how smaller windows reduce the amount of natural light entering a small space?
Arranging for adequate lighting is one way of addressing that…like we just saw.
Another way is by making ample use of mirrors.
Mirrors reflect natural light around your room, giving it a warm and inviting look.
They also make the space appear larger.
You can opt for a large mirror lining a wall or hang differently sized and shaped mirrors to create a “gallery wall”.
You can make the large mirror a focal point of your room. Learn more about focal points in our blog post on introduction to focal points.
Stick to a theme
Have you considered the fact that there’s limited space for visitors to look at in your small room?
That’s why, whatever you do to your room, you need to make sure they fit.
Whether you go for bold colours or subdued, stick to a limited choice of colours.
Go through all the items in the room one by one, and judge whether they really belong in the room or not.
Get rid of things you don’t need
There always are some things that we just keep with ourselves because we just let them lie as they are.
Or we’re confused about whether we really need all that stuff or not.
If you have a small space, you cannot afford this.
One of the best small space redecorating tips is:
Get rid of impractical things, and objects that you do not have any use for.
Sentimental attractions
There may be some things to which you have a genuine sentimental attachment. Keep those.
However, in our experience, people don’t have a real attachment with most things they keep – it’s more an unfounded fear of throwing away something that may prove useful years later.
As you can see, this is illogical.
Tips for selecting items to keep
- Get a bed with built-in drawers.
- See if you can acquire sofas with space to store blankets.
- Some beds can double up as sofas in the daytime.
That’s it from us on the top tips to decorate your small room.
Which one did you like the most?
Which are you planning to include in your own room decor plans?
Do you have any queries?
Let us know in a comment below!
