Decorating Tips for Small Spaces

Decorating small spaces can be fun, but it demands ingenuity and creativity. Your first concern is to decide what you want to use the small space for as each use will have a different decorating approach to meet your objectives. For example if you have a small room you want to turn into a private little Mom's space you might want it to be warm, comfortable and very feminine. In here you might want to "expand" the space to look larger by using glass topped tables as they give the room the appearance of more space since you can see more floor. They are also usually very feminine.

For this article I have chosen to guide you thru decorating a small space where storage is needed. RV's, and studio apartments fall into this category. In decorating either of these space is at a premium so every inch has to count. To make this work furniture should serve at the very least two purposes. In other words, all furnishing have to "earn their keep". The only exception to this rule is if you just absolutely "love" a piece and there is no possible way to alter it to make it more functional. I have learned over the years that when I find something I absolutely love then I should get it because it will stay with me and I will forever wish I had.

First go to Old Time Pottery ( best prices) and choose a pretty 5 x 8 area carpet to build around. It can be modern abstract or a lovely patterned all over Oriental. This carpet set the tone of your decor. It will also center the focus and provide the color scheme. I have found that a large area rug in the center of the space bordered with the other wall to wall floor covering tends to visually enlarge the room. Some say the opposite is true, but to me it is like mounting a picture. Try this experiment: first frame a picture with no border, just picture in frame. Then reduce the size of the picture to frame it with a small surrounding border in the same sized frame. Which one looks more polished, more important and showcases the picture bringing your attention to it's content? This is the principle I follow in using a large area rug in a small space. Your furniture will sit exactly where it would sit without an area rug with portions on the original flooring, but the focus will be the center of the room and not the confining walls thus giving the room a larger appearance.

Your area carpet will also be the palette for all the other colors in the room. Choose your favorite color from the carpet and use that color if it is light or a pastel hue of that color on you walls. Choose two more colors that you like from the carpet to use in the rest of the rooms decor. Don't fuss yourself about whether or not "they go together". They are in the same carpet aren't they? And most of all, you like them. This is your space and you don't have to please anyone but yourself. Well, I am assuming that you will give a hat tip to your spouse as to what they would like, and to consider the needs and wants of the children. But the home is mostly the work of the woman of the house as she usually does the decorating and the maintaining.

Now that you have the colors make all fabrics, drapes, pillows, slip covers and other painted objects in one of these three colors. Using just these three colors, or hues of these colors, will keep your space coordinated with everything in the room pulled together and belonging together. In other words, anyone coming into the room will see it as a whole with their eyes being lead or "flowing" over the space. The room will appear larger and at the same time have a coziness making visitors want to come and sit.

Of course save any wall paint for later use. I have also found it handy to purchase a pint or quart of the other two colors to paint and thus coordinate picture frames and other functional but odd colored pieces in the room. The colors may be used in any proportion that you want with all somewhat equally used about the room or with one or two dominating. There are no rules for using these paints so use them in any way you like and that looks nice to you.

Now we will begin to furnish the space. I like to find a coffee table that I especially like the looks of because this piece of furniture will be a focal point. Then I continue to build around this piece of furniture. Coffee tables should also be a storage areas. Look for one with drawers. Alternatives are wicker chests, metal trunks, old wardrobe trunks and if you are handy with a saw then you can even make a box with a lid; all make unusual, attractive and functional coffee tables.

There is one problem with each of the alternative items however: they all open from the top. This necessitates taking everything off the top to access what ever is stored inside. This is fine if you don't mind moving things and then putting them back, or if the storage is used for things not often used. But, I'm lazy so I try to make it as easy on myself as possible. In this case try turning the chest/trunk/box on it's side if the shape allows and then you will have easier access to the interior.

Be sure to place the chest so that the top opens where the lid will have the most room. Never have the lid facing the sofa/love seat or confining area because to open the storage space you will have to pull the chest out. Another reason for placing the lid facing out is that most chests/ trunks will be more decorative on the top and you will want to put the "best face" forward. If the top is rather pretty then the piece just got a third function: a storage chest, a coffee table and a decoration.

You will also want the top of the chest to drop down for easy access and having the top then lie flat on the floor when open you will have to raise the chest off the floor at least the width of the chest lid. People so often don't give this issue a thought until they try to open the chest. You could add legs or even wheels to the "bottom" to solve this problem, but I like to use other interesting objects as "legs". Red clay bricks, flower pots, small blocks of wood or even flat river rocks. These objects will give interesting detail and raise the "coffee table" off the floor just enough to allow for easy opening.

End tables can be made out of small chest, trunks or oblong boxes. Stand these chests on end so that the top opens like a door. Its is a good idea to put small legs on the end tables too. An attractive base is a 12 x 12 garden stepping stone, and it is usually just the right height so that when opening the lid/door it glides right over the carpet.

Now for the most important part of any living area: the seating. You have already decided on and placed the "center" of the seating area with the coffee table. When thinking of seating you have to get one traditionally hard fast rule out of your head: a room must have a sofa. This just ain't true! One of the worst mistakes made in a small room is sticking a large sofa in the area that dominates the room and yet adds little.

You will notice that when a sofa is used as seating the middle cushion receives very little wear because people will sit on either end. A middle seat on a sofa is really uncomfortable. Try it sometime with people on either side of you and you will find yourself trying to make your arms, and especially your elbows, disappear because there is nowhere to put them. If you want a sofa then try a love seat. A couple will sit on a love seat gladly. Two women will sit on a love seat comfortably. Two men usually will not sit on a love seat unless they are watching a sports show on TV and then the seating is just somewhere to place their bottoms and no affront to their masculine image.

If you don't feel you must have a sofa you have just opened the room up to more seating and more maneuverability. For instance you can arrange two or even three armchairs in a row in front of the coffee table and place end tables on the outside of the row of chairs as you would on either side of a sofa. This will give you the "feel" of the traditional sofa arrangement without the eyesore bulk one creates in a small space. You may want to have one or two armchairs facing the three creating a conversation area. (Note: I specified armchairs. This is important for those elbows remember.) Or you can arrange the chairs in twos in a square pattern around the coffee table, or in twos or threes on either side of the coffee table. And yes. it is permissible to have all chairs in an area or room.

These arm chairs do not have to be a matching set. This is totally up to you and just how quirky you are. If your going for a more formal look then at least three of the armchairs should match and these you would place together to form a unit.

You may want a table somewhere in the area. A drop leaf table is best, but at any rate the table should be no larger than a card table. This piece of furniture can be used for a computer desk or sewing table when not being used for dining. You won't not need chairs at the table because when one or more chairs are needed you simply pull the armchairs around the coffee table over to the table.

Another necessity in a small space needing storage as well as function are tall shelving units. In a small space if you have room for one standard 30 X 73 inch shelving unit then you should have room for two or more. In fact three shelving units filling one wall actually makes the room look larger. Or if you want to use a window wall then place shelving units on either side of the window and the table between them and under the window.

I even like to make the shelves a focal point not only with what I put on the shelves but with paint. Choose a color that harmonizes with the other wall paint and just paint the backs of the shelving unit with that color leaving the wood tone show on the rest. This will make the wall unit stand out and pull the eye first to the unit and then up rather than down to the limited walking space. You can also help to pull the eye up by placing some (but not all) of the more brightly colored objects on the upper shelves.

The shelving unit need not stand alone. In fact in a small space it would be a waste not to set chairs or the table in front of it. If the table is placed in front of or as part of the unit the shelves behind and under the table is ideal for the computer and computer accessories, and also a sewing machine or any other crafty type things you use at the table. If the table is used for dining then by all means place the dishes and dining items above the table as they are always pretty and decorative. Even the utensils and napkins in a basket is attractive as well as handy.

Absolutely everything can be stored on open shelves. If the items are small or need to be kept together or hidden then pretty baskets are usually available at Goodwill for a dollar or two. For instance an entire correspondence and bill paying center with paper, envelopes, pens and stamps can be stored in one basket. Just toss the bills in the basket as they arrive and on pay day take the basket over to the table which becomes your desk.

Walls. What to do with walls? The answer: almost anything you want, and almost anything goes. Really the only fast No-No is a bright color paint or large and bold paper on the walls. The color paint should be a neutral or a soft pastel. A wallpaper should be a small print in a soft color or color scheme. Then put anything that you really like to look at on the walls. An entire wall of pictures in all kinds of frames is lovely. A whole wall of collectibles that can be hung is nice. You can even get away with a large piece like a quilt or large framed picture as long as the colors are muted.

My wall is decorated with pretty gifts I have gotten over the years: wreaths, sachets, pictures and even the hand mirror and brush set I used as a little girl. I have scattered three small shelf units for things that need to set rather than hang.

Lighting is so important. How much and where to put it. A nice floor lamp is moveable and functional. You would want it placed probably near and slightly behind the chairs most of the time. Then easily move it to where it is needed most. If you want a row of track lighting on the ceiling in front of the shelving units and then spotted where you want more light that is also a good choice. The amount of light you would want depends on the function of the room. The suggestions above is for a more romantic setting or a cozy conversation, while still giving adequate light by moving the floor lamp for computer and sewing or working.

There you have it: A functional and yet comfortable and pretty small space. I hope you enjoy putting it together and using it.