Small Space Decorating

You're going to want to copy them all!

Spoiler alert: Puny furniture is never the answer.

Get ready to be inspired!

Elevate your space in more ways than one.

And it's filled with tons of books, too.

All the small space goodness from last month inspired me to make some tweaks and additions to make my small Brooklyn kitchen more serviceable and user-friendly (especially since I am its primary user). The changes are affordable, renter-friendly and, hopefully, helpful to some of you simmering and sautéing away in your own small kitchens. 1. Over-the-Stove Cutting Board: small kitchens are a challenge not just for storing things but for actually cooking.

​Time to stop working from your couch.

When you ask parents what not to buy for a nursery, a changing table rises to the top of the list. “Official” changing tables don’t repurpose well into non-baby furniture so many parents choose alternatives to traditional changing tables, primarily dressers or desks that are at a comfortable height and deep enough to accommodate a changing pad.

Imagine a beautiful retreat that celebrates light, color and nature, all in one. Enter Glass Cabin, a creation handmade by stained glass artist Neile Cooper. New Jersey based artist Neile Cooper had the idea for a little cabin in the woods where she could show off her stained glass craft. The result is Glass Cabin, a small structure in her backyard constructed almost entirely of reclaimed window frames and lumber decorated with her stunning artwork.

There’s no shortage of stylish tiny homes out there, but many still have some assembly required. This project—aptly titled Mobile Home—comes delivered, already fully assembled. Created by designer Ruzanna Andressa Oganesya, Mobile Home is built on a moving platform that can fit on a freight liner truck bed, and is therefore easily transported to any place you’d want to put a modern, off the grid tiny house.

Angie Teater‘s Midtown East studio apartment in Manhattan is, quite simply, stunning. There’s plenty of furniture arrangement inspiration for your own studio apartment, but there’s something special Angie aced in her home: She used dark wall paint without making her small (350 square feet, to be exact) apartment feel like a cave.Below, the smart ways she pulled it off translated into “rules” to keep in mind if you are planning on going over to the dark side.

We know that it’s not always easy to visualize the possibilities of adding more into a small home, so here are some of our favorite posts—from roundups to Maxwell’s pro tips to a collection of small space house tours—to help you carve out a home office space when you’re short on space in general. Yes, You Can Fit A Home Office Into Your Tiny Home Warning/workspace/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/atmedia-cloudinary-image-block/atmedia-cloudinary-image-block.

The KURA loft bed has earned its cred and its staying power. It’s cheap, ideal for small homes and, as you’ll see in these twenty examples, offers endless opportunities for customization. Paint, wood, fabric: choose your medium and make your KURA your own with a simple color upgrade or a full-on hack. 1. Wood slats cover this KURA to totally transform the look and lend it a tree house feel. (IKEAHackers) 2.

Small spaces = less cleaning. It’s one of the best benefits of living in a tiny apartment. The only problem is that living small also means less storage space, so you want to streamline your cleaning supplies into a kit that can be easily stowed in a kitchen cabinet or closet.Here’s our basic checklist for everything you need to keep your tiny home clean… Broom, Dustpan, and Mop: These are the basic tools of floor cleaning. We use a small interlocking broom and dustpan.

When I was in college, my roommate and I got a loft bed system, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Not only did we have lots of floor space to hang out and study, I loved having the privacy and coziness of my own secret bed platform. For small spaces, a loft can be a great way to open up floor space, but even if you don’t feel you need the extra room, a loft can be a great hideaway for a kid.

I get asked about how to make small spaces feel bigger all the time and have done numerous interviews going over these points, BUT I’ve never written them down for myself or for you readers here, so here we go. These are my totally evergreen, classic tips, which come from years of practice. Please add your own!

When I hear the phrase “writing hut” or “backyard shed” my imagination practically squeals with delight. A small, intimate space furnished with the essentials. Low impact, high inspiration. This is probably why I love going to North Dakota and why I want to pull a Pollan and build my own little house.

Your new favorite bath towel: found!

There's some amazing boho inspo here.

The very best tips we learned from the Small/Cool Experience at Home.

Small items, big impact!

And it doesn't require any tools for install!

And they'll work in larger homes, too!

On the new HGTV show “Celebrity IOU,” Jonathan and Drew Scott agreed to help the actor transform his friend's old guesthouse in Santa Monica, L.A.

Living small has big benefits!

The small-space dwellers in these six studio apartments are happily living a maximalist decor style despite their home's small square footage.

Modernist company KitHAUS recently debuted a new line of prefab homes.

Part of my motivation behind doing the Style Cure this year was to reclaim our main living space. It has been a whirlwind of a year for us and we pack a lot of living into not a lot of square footage. Unfinished projects, leftovers from our wedding and all of the (amazing) gifts from our guests left us with an apartment that felt like it was always almost there, but not quite.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of a shared kids’ bedroom, my mind immediately goes to two twin beds side by side, or maybe bunk beds. (Or if you’re as unlucky as my sister and I were, a shared full bed. We often daydreamed about building a wall right down the middle of the bed!) If you let yourself start to think outside of the box, there are so many creative solutions to a shared kids’ situation. Here are a few of my favorites from our archives: Short on space?

Whether you’re sharing a studio or seriously small one-bedroom with a partner or making a tiny two bedroom work with a roommate, sharing a small space presents a whole set of stresses beyond just sharing a space. Here’s how to live a little more harmoniously with someone else in an extra small home. 1. Make a furniture plan What we mean to say is, don’t just meld two households full of stuff into one tiny space and just hope that it’ll work.

So, you’ve decided your kids are going to share a room which means you have two beds (or a bed + crib) to fit into the room. The size and shape of the room may guide or dictate where you place the beds, but it’s worth taking a look at some different bed layouts to see if they spark inspiration for you. Probably the most traditional layout, this formation has a nice visual symmetry and conveys a sense of each child’s claim to the space being equal.

You know how, when you have a new interest, it’s suddenly all you can see? Just as a newly-expecting couple might see babies everywhere they look, so it is with me and bikes. I’ve recently decided to buy one, and find myself checking out others’ wheels 24/7 these days.

Three or more kids in one room is no easy feat, but these parents rose to the task with panache. If you, too, have space constraints, or just desire a little extra bonding time for your children, get inspired by these real life rooms for three. Have you tried having more than two children share a room? How did it work, and would you recommend it? TOP ROW: 1. The Figgle Family’s Cozy First Home 2. Something for Everyone in Parker, Monty, and Elliott’s Room 3.

When it comes to design, sometimes you just have to go bold, and small spaces are perfect for giving your imagination free rein. Constraint breeds creativity, and corners, ceilings, closets, nooks, and crannies can all be converted easily into luxurious, dream-like spaces with a bit of verve and paper. Top Row: 1. Patterned hallway in Anna Spiro paper from Adore Home Blog. 2. Wallpapered ceiling in reading area from Caldwell Flake via House of Turquoise. 3.

Just because you can’t actually make a room bigger, doesn’t mean you can’t trick the eye into making it appear and feel bigger. One of the most effective ways to do this is to draw the eye upward toward the ceiling making the walls seem higher and giving the room an air of expansiveness. Here are eight real-room examples—not all of them are small—but you can apply the ideas to your own small room. Embellish the ceiling.

Our recent roundup of twin beds elicited many comments from readers convinced that twins don’t make much sense because kids might outgrow them. But what about shared rooms and space constraints? My twins share a room and are perilously close to climbing out of their cribs, so we are looking at big kid beds. For our home and needs, it makes sense to buy twin beds that can be converted to bunk beds in a few years. In the course of shopping around we have learned a few things.

We love small spaces. We love them for their lower energy and heating bills and because they force us to edit, organize, and reduce our accumulation of stuff. But most of all, we love them because there seems to be no end to what you can do with them given some creative planning! Here are 25 of the top small space living posts we wrote this year.

It’s no secret that we at Apartment Therapy love color, even (er, make that especially) in small spaces. While the rest of the internet might still be spewing the “paint it white to make it seem larger” line, we know that a bold shade can bring energy and a sense of expansion to a modest room. Have a small bedroom and want some paint ideas beyond white and gray? We’ve got you—and your walls—covered.

The space above a refrigerator is often overlooked and underused. It’s not particularly accessible for oft-used items, but it’s a shame to have the space go to waste, especially in a small kitchen. I looked at a selection of real homes to see how people were using this space. Some of these examples involve clever built-ins, but many will work for renters, too. Simple shelves were installed on the wall above the fridge to hold a few cookbooks and some barware.

Do you live in a small space? Do people sometimes confuse your bedroom for a closet? Can you reach your kitchen sink from your couch? If you’re looking for ways to make your space more livable without spending a ton, you’ve come to the right place. Here are three classic ways to make living little work for you: 1. Lighting Small is one thing, but small and dark is quite another. Almost nothing has the power to transform the a room like good lighting.

Maybe you’re making room for a new baby’s nursery or that cave of collectibles you’ve always wanted. Or maybe you just like living small. No matter what your motivation is for maximizing your space, the best way to do it is by combining two functions into one room. Here are five classic double-duty room combos we see all the time, proving that when it comes to a thoughtful layout, you can kill two birds with one stone. 1.

Name: Lex, Lynn and LucyLocation: Financial District — Manhattan, New YorkSize: About 800 square feet including terraceYears lived in: 4.5 years — ownWhen Lex and Lynn moved into their one bedroom apartment in lower Manhattan, the view of the New York skyline took center stage. Their style was minimalistic — graphic black and white were favored over color for a look of grown up chic. But enter their daughter Lucy, and everything shifted.

Because it's all about getting creative.

Breaking the rules isn't just fun when it comes to design, it can actually pay off in the final product.

The oft-overlooked space could be a stunning place to rest your head.

The 10th Annual Small Cool contest has entered the free-for-all voting stage – every single one of our 189 entries are live and accepting thumbs up votes. Here’s a look at 10 fun-to-see homes from the past week to get you started but be sure to check out all the wonderful homes on our “All Entries” page to help send ALL of your favorites on to the next round!

Here we are, rounding the corner just before the home stretch. We’ve shared over 130 small cool homes with you so far and still have a few more days of new entries to come. Here are 10 entries that caught the eye of voters this past week; check them (and ALL of the competitors who are looking for votes) out and enjoy the supersized dose of small space inspiration and ideas.

Twelve years after our very first Small Cool contest and readers are still impressing us with sumptuous style, creative solutions and sage wisdom for living life to the fullest in a small home. Every year we are wowed with the display of small coolness and we are excited to host all this small space inspiration. Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest by sharing your home with our community, by commenting and voting for your favorites. And now, to congratulate our winners!

We’ve seen 25 homes so far in our 11th Annual (!) Small Cool contest and it’s already a memorable year. These homes all have square footage under 1000 square feet but miles of style to spare. Today, we’ve got a look back at some standouts from Week One, along with a link to ALL the entries so far. Dive in, peek inside these stylish small, cool homes and give all your favorites a vote to help them move on to the next round. (And if you haven’t entered yet, do that too!).

White paint isn't always the answer!

Max out your cook space with these savvy storage items.

Studio apartments are efficient, cost-effective options for living in the city of your dreams, whether it’s New York or L.A., but they don’t exactly offer much privacy. However, you can still create a soothing sanctuary that feels separate from the rest of your open-floor plan home without bringing in a contractor or spending a lot of money.

It looks way more spacious than its 80 square feet.

Name: Faith Blakeney Location: The Treehouse – Los Angeles, California Size: 750 square feet Years lived in: 2 years I spent a warm Sunday hanging out with Faith at her bohemian treehouse. She is one stylish lady (and, yes, she is the sister of Justina Blakeney). When Faith moved from New York a few years back, she looked at place after place on Craigslist only to get frustrated because she had her heart set on lving in Venice.

Name: LauraLocation: Brooklyn Heights, BrooklynSize: 600 square feet studioYears lived in: 7 In addition to maturing tastes, Laura had a practical impetus for taking steps to upgrade. She was about to start working from home and she wanted to feel good about spending a lot of time within the same four walls. The addition of a refined and beautiful small home office in the corner of her studio was the beginning of great things.

Seven smart ways to turn one space into two.

Whether you have a tiny two-bedroom loft on the outskirts of town or a teeny studio apartment in the heart of your city (or something in between, even!), chances are you’ve got a piece of furniture in front of your sofa known as the coffee table. Great for putting your feet up, eating dinner on, or displaying books and trinkets, the coffee table can also have a downside: It’s a bulky object taking up precious space. But that’s why you want to choose one that will work for you.

Name: Ross Weiner Location: Greenwich Village, New York, New York Size: 700 Square Feet Years lived in: 1 year; Owned With a love of the arts and a strong sense of style, Ross went about turning a bare studio apartment into a one bedroom home with charm to spare.

It may seem counterintuitive, but it works!

Turns out, your small space can be pretty AND practical.

When you have a small kitchen (I do), creative problem solving stops becoming a resume catchphrase and starts becoming a way of life. Configuring cookware and food and utensils—while trying to keep it all from looking like a mad scientist’s lab—isn’t easy. Here are 10 great posts in one place to offer some tips, tricks and inspiration for all of us fighting the good I-dream-of-kitchen-storage fight. Don’t neglect the space above your cabinets.

A lot of the kitchens we feature on this site are dramatic and beautiful and… well, huge. So today we’ve rounded up a selection of kitchens that are on the smaller side (some on the really small side) to inspire those of you who want a beautiful room for cooking, but don’t have infinite space. Above: this Parisian kitchen could not be any cuter, and is a great reminder that having a small space doesn’t have to mean skimping on style.

Cheap, easy, AND adorable? The holiday trifecta!

Each one of these homes is 400 square feet or under, but they're all well organized and good looking. Find smart storage solutions, double-duty furniture, and other clever ways to make the most of a small home.

Zach Klein is the co-founder of video platform Vimeo, but if you’re reading this here website, he might be more famous for his other project: Cabin Porn. What started in 2009 as a Tumblr quickly morphed into a pre-Instagram vision board for those who dreamt of getting away from it all and experiencing nature firsthand, preferably from a charming little cabin.

The diminutive residence offers 500 square feet of space, but thanks to its signature cathedral ceilings, space-maximizing design elements and bright interior, the home feels much more spacious than its meager measurements suggest.

When Brooke Cook came across a school bus converted into a tiny home on Instagram, she was smitten. Almost immediately, she and her husband started searching for a potential bus they could turn into a tiny house of their own.

Name: Juan Vasquez  Location: Highland Neighborhood; Denver, Colorado Size: 400 square feet Years lived in: Owned for 9 years; Remodeled garage 1 year agoNine years ago, Denver resident, Juan Vasquez purchased a 1920s bungalow  in the bustling Highland neighborhood of Denver and set out to make it his own. Shortly after, he took on the project of renovating his old two car garage into a restful haven out back.

“Kids! It’s time to fold the toys!” Every parent should be conscious of what you’re bringing into your home for your kids to play with, but if you live in a small home the size of a toy can be a deal breaker. Mostly, I limit the sheer number of toys we have but another strategy I employ is to look for toys that store easily. Does it fold up to a smaller size? Can I tuck it in the closet or on top of our wardrobe? Suddenly a tricycle in a small apartment seems feasible.

Maxwell started Apartment Therapy here in New York. Lots of folks in this city were in need of design solutions tailored for their specific small-home challenges. Here, let’s take a look at some successful small homes from this capital of tiny apartment living:Most of these are from previous Apartment Therapy house tours, which are brimming with small home solutions that lots of us can take inspiration from. The homes’ locations vary from Brooklyn Heights to Chelsea.

Name: Suzi and Tchotchke, a 3-year-old schnoodleLocation: Yukon Studio Lofts, in Columbus’ Short North neighborhoodSize: 557 square feetYears lived in: 3 Suzi West has gone big by going small in her Short North studio condominium, which, in the living room alone, features show-stopping “branchelier,” a 3-foot-wide chandelier of white willow; an oversized zebra-print ottoman and an 8-foot-tall cupboard.

Name: Heather Moore & Paul Edmunds Location: Gardens, Cape Town Size: 860 square feet Years lived in: 9 When the opportunity came to visit the studio and home of textile designer Heather from SkinnyLaminx, we jumped at the opportunity! She shares her home with husband and fellow artist Paul Edmunds. It’s a living mood-board — with pieces of inspiration splashed about in a beautifully creative and aesthetic way.