Living in the city has its advantages, chief among them would be the relative proximity to commercial centres which affords urbanites with a wide range of entertainment options. City living presents some downsides too, besides the traffic, one of the other disadvantages could be the distinct lack of space most of us will inevitably encounter when attempting to cram a lifetime of accumulated furnishings and decorations into an apartment. We gathered a panel of interior design experts and extracted the following pearls of wisdom on how to treat small living spaces.
Planning
Use spaces for multiple purposes, consider forgoing a dining space and insert a breakfast nook into the kitchen instead.
Open up the floor plan by removing a non load bearing wall – after ensuring that civil engineers and regulatory bodies are in agreement with the plan.
Furniture
Before buying new furniture for a small space, choose pieces with smaller footprints, look for wheeled or foldable variations – and especially, multi-purpose furniture such as sofa beds or other forms of seating with extra storage.
Storage
Incorporating wall-mounted cabinets or furnishings with extra drawers for storage will make small spaces more attractive by reducing clutter.
Lighting
Take advantage of natural light and hang lights from ceilings or on walls to conserve floor space.
Colours
Paint the walls of rooms that do not get plenty of natural light in white to accentuate brightness.
Avoid demarcating rooms with bold transitions between colour schemes and instead use a neutral colour pallette to make spaces blend together.
Carpets
Create zones and tie spaces together using rugs as grounding pieces in neutral tones with subdued patterns.
Curtains
Hang drapery close to the ceiling to create focal points that obscure the lack of space.
Use blinds or sheer curtains over windows to allow for plenty of sunlight.
