(From apartmenttherapy.com)
When you have a small place, it can be tricky to create open space in your floor plan. More often than not, we’re just doing good to get everything crammed in that we feel we need to survive. It doesn’t matter if your home is 400 or 4,000 square feet, we’ve got 10 tips to make things feel more open!
Though there’s lot of little tips to pick up along the path of small space living, here’s a few of the essential ideas to help maximize your floor plan:
1. Do Without: We know it seems like a “duh” type comment, but doing without goes a long way to having less stuff in your space. We figured it was a given, but we wanted to throw it out there in case anyone thought we were magical and could put 10 pounds of stuff in a 2 pound home!
2. Go Up, Up, Up!: Often times vertical space is overlooked. It’s easy to feel that all that open air up high makes the heavier lower half of your space feel lighter, but in all reality, it’s really just making things feel out of balance. Try adding a bookshelf that goes all the way to the ceiling or make a hidden storage area and cover it with a nice fabric panel, drawing the eye up and away from the small layout of your space.
3. Dual Purpose Pieces: Although we probably won’t be seeking out a bathtub that doubles as a bed anytime soon, finding pieces that can pull double duty in your space are a huge bonus. Maybe your kitchen island not only holds your cooking tools, but your DVD collection and your sweaters as well? How about a fold out desk from a wall console that appears to only hold books? The more tasks your furniture does, the less of it you actually need.
