Life-changing Hacks For Small Spaces
(4 min read) If you’ve ever had to deal with a tiny apartment or a small bungalow type of a house, you are probably well aware that these kinds of home interiors have a huge set of challenges. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t achieve to make even the most cramped space into a functional and homey environment. I mean, yours truly has some 400 books casually spread throughout her shoebox-size hallway and it still looks mighty cool, so trust me — I know what I’m talking about.
Don’t be tricked by size
Most people make the mistake of going for a bunch of small decorations, thinking that anything bigger than a vase will consume the space somehow. So once they arrange their trinkets around their tiny home interiors they usually realize that they threw away their money and their room looks like a rotating rack closet of Cher from Clueless. Your best bet is 1 to 3 big statement pieces. They will even visually add to the overall spaciousness of the room, so buying a large-scale wall-art should be a no-brainer if you have a small living room.
Go for a lifted lighting
Instead of buying a chandelier or any other type of pendant light, you should go for lifted lighting. That way you will make your ceiling appear higher and the overall effect will be pretty amazing. If you want to go for recessed lighting in particular, then you should make sure to layer some additional floor lights or table lamps. This will make the light cascade upward, so the ceiling will have more light and it will, yet again, appear higher.
Invest in some lifted furniture
Bulky sofas and cushioned chairs plopped right on the floor will make any space look smaller. Instead, you should opt for pieces of furniture that sit higher up because they will make your space look roomier and elegant. This is also why nomadic style and mid-century modern are especially popular in urban areas where apartments and houses tend to be quite small.
Go for smaller, irregularly shaped rugs
If your living room is very small, do yourself a favor and avoid rectangular rugs completely. Too big or too small rectangular rugs tend to draw attention to the size of your room. On the other hand, if you opt for a round rug or some zebra-rug imitation, it will create a flowery and natural vibe without drawing unwanted attention.
Think vertical!
Since your space is small you can maximize storage by using vertical shelves. You should first get rid of your nightstands, club tables, and side tables. Go for any type of vertical bookshelf, metal open one or closed wooden one. You can also opt for floating shelves, but they are tricky because their weight limit tends to be lower.
These are some tips and tricks that could help you visually expand your home interiors. All of these have my official stamp of approval (it says OG of the interior design on it) because I use and apply them all the time. Lastly, keep in mind that interior design is a liquid category and it changes every day, and so does our relationship with our space. So, if you have some ideas that you’ve tested yourself, feel free to share them in the comments below.
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94 Comments
I friggin LOVE all of your tips! What I would love even more is if you came to our house and helped us figure out a few of our rooms out for us!! I hate our laundry “room”. And our film equipment closet could use some TLC too!!
Hey Gigi, I won’t be able to make it to your house, you know social distancing, but I would love to help you.
Oh nice, we have a small living area, so I’ll keep these in mind. I have been wanting a better rug to help brighten up the space.
It is the demonstration that even small spaces can bring happiness and beauty, it’s all about understanding how to use what you have to enhance it.
Amazing tips! I would definitely go with
a lifted lightning and furnitures.If I will struggle with lack of space I will use your tips
These are some excellent tips for small places. I love to use mirrors I think they make everything look bigger. I also use curtains long ones to make it seem like we have a tall ceiling.
What a useful post! I’m in the process of furnishing my new apartment and it’s not easy! I still can’t decide, but hope it will be easier for me now! 🙂
I downsized a couple is years ago and this advice is great for making a small space look good.
I love small space hacks! These are so great! I think these are all things I would for sure use! I love mirrors to make rooms look bigger
These are great ideas for working with the space you’ve got. You have great decorating taste too, I need help with that!
I would love to Adrienne, let me know what exactly I can help you with…
I’m pretty sure we have the smallest living room ever, so we are always looking for ways to make the space work.
Some of these tips would definitely help Heather, good luck.
I’ve had small apartments before, and you’re right, they aren’t always easy to work with. Even though I have a bigger house now, I can still apply a few of these tips here.
I have never read such a helpful blog thanks so much. I will use what I learned to reorganize my son”s room.
Thanks a lot Norma, I am so glad you found this helpful. Good luck reorganizing your son’s room.
Every room was better than the last! And I didn’t know about the lifting of the furniture off the floor to make it appear roomier. That is totally cool!
Your tips sounds pretty interesting. I live in a small space where installing furniture is a struggle. This will come in handy once we re-decorate our house.
Great tips! I think most of us have small spaces we still want to find comfortable and use freely
We’re constantly looking for ways that we can utilize the space in our house. I don’t like seeing empty space where there could be shelves or a lovely picture or something that has use.
My daughter lives in a small apartment and it is just the right size for her, her husband and their 4 year old son. I do want to help her re-arrange some of their furniture to create more space. I will send her the link to your blog. You have so many useful tips she can choose from.
I am so happy Eileen this was helpful. I love small apartments but they’re often too “busy” for me. Some of these tips would help for sure.
I also have a small space and these tips are really encouraging! I love all the photos – the space is really beautiful. I will bookmark this post for future reference. 🙂
Thanks a lot Advencha for your feedback.
The guest rooms in my home are really small, so this is SO helpful. Thanks so much for sharing this my friend!
Thanks Krysten, glad this was helpful.
I love the looks of many of the rooms featured above for sure. I especially love the use of mirrors in small spaces as they do make it feel brighter and larger 🙂
Using mirrors in small spaces makes a huge difference to the space and as you said, makes it look larger and brighter.
Our space at home is small as well and your tips are so helpful in rearranging our furniture. I need to trash some as well to give way to more space saving appliance. Thanks again for the great tips.
Such valuable information……. the looks of these living rooms are much attractive…….. amazing ideas to share…. Thanks for sharing it with us….
Wow this is so helpful. I’m moving to the Bay Area and I know I’ll be downsizing so I’ve been looking for help trying to figure out how to make the best of the space!
There are a lot of ideas I didn’t think of and I love it! Thanks so much for sharing. I have a few pretty small spots in the house I’d like to open up so these are great hacks!
I never knew that lifted furniture made rooms look bigger but that makes sense. I love your style!
Amazing small space hack.i have a small bedroom,the little space that is left makes me hate my bedroom.i’ll try some of these hacks.
Wonderful post, the ideas are very much useful, I will get some idea from your suggestion…
Love the ideas that you’ve shared! I’ve been struggling with how I can still maximize the current space that I have left at home.
These are great tips, especially the lightning ones. I am about to redecorate my apartment so that I can sell it in the near future, and I need to make it look more spacious than it is.
We live in a very small space (NYC flats am I right) and have been struggling a bit to furnish it. These are such great tips!
I used to live in NYC as well, a tiny unit lol…Minimal is the way to go with these flats.
I love these tips! Especially the use of elevated sofas, irregularly shaped rugs and some statement pieces of art! I love cozy and know how easy that can turned into cramped!
We love using clever lighting and mirrors to make spaces appear larger. A good rug doesn’t go a miss either!!
These are such great tips. We have a small house, about 1,400 square feet. But it doesn’t feel that small. I’m working on more of a minimal lifestyle. Getting rid of a lot of stuff we don’t need. It definitely helps make it feel bigger. And I LOVE your tips about big decor pieces instead of a whole bunch of little ones. This makes a HUGE impact. Great article. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you so much Margaret for your note. I replaced all my small frames with a big mural and it completely transformed the entire room, I love it!
Love the tips, some good ideas to try with our small space. Love all the decors.
I love the lifted furniture idea! Ihave a relatively small space and we’ve been trying to make it more ‘adult homey’ – it’s been cluttered with things we love but with the stay-home orders we know we won’t be moving out anytime soon.
I hear you Kaitlyn, maybe it is the right time to move things around, you know, reorganizing stuff. That is what I did and my space looks great and spacious now.
These are great tips. We lived for years in a small home. Decorating and organizing were always a challenge.
It is good to be able to make the best of a small space! These are great tips when you don’t have a lot of space to work with. I am all about decluttering!
Yes, really good tips. It is important whether your house is big or small to be able to make the most of it. Mich x
I live in a small apartment and looking for a way to spice it up! I will use these tips when trying to plan how to redesign my space.
Im in the process of redecorating our master bedroom which is in fact tiny and this will come in handy!
It is very important not to fill everything up and leave some open spaces 🙂
Find this blog very helpful. I will use these tips when I start re-decorating our love nest.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful article. I live in a condo type residence where our place is very small. With your article you gave us idea how to maximize our space.
I would love better lighting in my house. I think lighting can really make a place inviting.
I love decorating rooms and do DYI for my walls and design for my rooms now I have an idea about this LIFE-CHANGING HACKS it would help a lot for me. Thanks a lot !
I am so happy this helped Maysz.
I love the ornamental effect of the lighting, the combination with that dinning table is very awesome.
I love designs for small spaces. Truly admire the engineering for life’s everyday happenings.
Love the hacks you have shown. Will try a few out in some time. Thanks
There are so many great tips here. I wouldn’t have thought about the irregularly shaped rugs. I know that mirrors help give the illusion of space which is helpful in small spaces as well.
With more and more people going for compact living, all these tips are going to be super helpful. Choosing the right kind of furniture always helps, plus the right kind of lighting.
I am always on the look-out for hacks for small spaces to apply it in our place and you gave great ideas!
Aww I wish I had this when we moved into this house couple of years ago. The space is limited and now we feel like we’re bumping into everything. Time for a revamp!
I have one very small bedroom. I still change something there and I’m still dissatisfied because it’s just too small. Now I want to use the recess in the room and make a wardrobe with sliding mirrored doors from Ikea. Do you think this is a good idea?
Hey, I think leveraging the recess is a great idea, Ikea has gorgeous small wardrobes that are perfect for small bedrooms.
I am loving all of these tricks for small spaces and I especially love the addition of mirrors in smaller spaces plus lots of wonderful green plants. I always love plants as my mom had a greenhouse and we had plants everywhere. They not only look good but they also clean the air too!
Can’t agree more Melissa, I love plants and also grew up around plants in the house.
I have a really small living room and I have already been thinking about ways to redecorate. Thank you so much for these hacks.
Some brilliant tips for smaller spaces. You’ve given me much to think about. I especially love the lifted furniture idea. This makes absolute sense yet it never occurred to me before.
Some awesome decorating tips. My old apartment was 700 square feet. This would definitely help 🙂
Wow! all the ideas you mentioned are amazing! I really liked the furniture. As you are showing, it’s always possible to make the most of a small space. I think it’s just a matter of finding the best colors, lighting, and decoration.
I do love plants and I need to adjust the living area to invite more natural light in to make it more welcoming and bright
These are all such great tips! I am doing some remodeling now, so will keep these in mind!!
I’m from New York, so small space living was my norm. There are so many useful ideas here, especially thinking vertically!
What great ideas for small spaces! I have such a hard time making use of small areas so thank you!
im glad to reach your blog. These are a great little tips and trick for any small space. Those photos are so inspiring for me to adapt for my next home renovation project too.
cool thing!
I loved the third interior, all the pictures are good though…
I loved the idea of using lifted lighting! These are some really great tips ☺
I am always looking for tips on living in smaller areas. I am used to living in medium sized homes ( 3 to 4 bedrooms) and now my husband and I are living in a 2 bedroom 1 bath ( with 4 people full time, and 6 during the summer) and it is a lot. So the more space i have the better!
These are such useful hacks. I’ll apply what I can apply to my house! Thanks so much for sharing!
Great post. Using big artwork in a small room was new to me. Thank you for the tip.
I love all of these ideas! This is such an informative and creative list. 🙂
The phrase “less is more” really applies here with the beautiful examples you gave in this post. I also enjoyed how sometimes you have monochromatic color themes and at other times the colors span a range.
I love the decor very much and the arrangement of the furniture, but I prefer the vast spaces
These are all wonderful design ideas and I agree when you don’t have width work with the height of your space.
Love these tips for Chicago apartments! There’s a lot you can do with a small space.
Some great tips here! We have some really small rooms in our house and agree that thinking vertical is the way to go.
These are really smart suggestions! I love the way that a large mirror can make a small space look larger.
These hacks are better than Ikea. When I downsize, I will use these hacks.
I’m in love with this beautiful source of interior inspiration.
These tips are amazing , such great ideas , the room looks stylish and not at all cluttered.
Love all your tips. These are great specially city living.
Some great tips there. I need to get my self a huge picture for a feature wall to open my tiny place up now.