How do I make a small apt feel bigger?

Question

I'm now living in a small 2 bdrm apt but I have a lot of furniture (just came from a 3 bdrm house) and I have already gotten rid of the things I don't want.. but things seemed cramped. Does anyone out there have any tips or ideas on how to minimize clutter, and make things more spacious?

Thanks,

V/R hex0se

Answer 1

Declutter, and scale the furniture to the size of the space. Most people recommend using "light" colors to make the space feel larger, but honestly small is small. Do not use heavy draping around the windows, use sheers or blinds with toppers...

Good luck!

Answer 2

I had this problem myself. Decluttering is always the first step. Anything you haven't used in a year or 2 should go.

Also, a lesson I learned the hard way...furniture that works in one space doesn't always work in another. Even though I had gotten rid of pieces of furniture from my larger apartment, some of the pieces I kept just wouldn't work in the new, smaller space. I donated and sold the rest of it and got new furniture that was better suited to my needs in that apartment. I got book shelves that go all the way to the ceiling instead of the 72" high ones I had to better utilize the wall space (and eliminate the need for dusting up there). The same can be done with wall-mounted bookshelves.

I got a bed that has large drawers underneath it from Pottery Barn to store linens and out of season clothing. The bed was pretty expensive but you can do the same with a trundle bed. Just make sure the trundle is the kind that stays down on the floor (many of them pull up to the height of the bed. Instead of putting a mattress on the trundle, use it as a storage drawer.

I got racks that attach to the inside of closet doors to hold smaller items.

Being a musician I had hundreds of CDs and albums. I had all the albums converted to mp3s and got rid of the vinyl and uploaded all the mp3's and CDs into itunes. I was able to greatly downsize my music collection this way and backed them all up on a few DVD-Rs.

I also got rid of a great number of books. I knew I wasn't going to read them again so I donated them to the local library.

After everything is finally cleared up and organized you must remember, if you buy something new in the future, something old has to go. This will prevent new clutter from accumulating.

Answer 3

I live in a small, two bedroom place as well. I was able to purchase furniture when I moved in, so that was to my benefit because I could choose pieces for my space. I bought pieces with lots of drawers for storage, an armoire for my t.v., etc.

It is possible that the scale of your furniture is too large for the space you now occupy. In that case, you'll have to utilize some clever (hidden) storage ideas, since your furniture will take up most of your space. You'll need to use light colors, glass tops if possible for your tables, sheer, plain window coverings, simple accessories, etc.

My kitchen is teeny-tiny (I've seen bigger closets!), so I've had to be very creative there. All my counter-top accessories are dual purpose - a basket of rolled napkins, a wooden caddy for my silverware, a tray of coffee mugs, etc.

I have an article published on a website called www.frugalsimplicity.com
My article is Small Space Living - Making it Work. If you Google in that title, you should be able to go directly to the article. You may find it helpful. It contains all the advice I could give you in an answer!

Good luck.

Answer 4

I'd love to hear what others say about this because I live in a 2 bedroom apartment myself, my elderly parents in one room and my fiance and I in another...with a baby on the way! We're moving out soon, but everything is cluttered and I have to fit a crib and baby things in here. I've started to use under bed storage containers, gave lots of old clothes to charity, and installed some shelves to put some items on so far. Even with these changes, there's still so little room! Good luck!

Answer 5

Well, I discussed this with my wife, and she said that since you have dumped the things you didn't " want ", maybe it's time to whittle away at the things you don't need, and we know that's a hard thing to do. Soon we will be selling our home and moving into senior housing( age 50 up) so we can travel, since we are both retired in our 50's. But to move into a two bedroom apartment, we will NEED to get rid of all things not wanted & some we don't NEED in order to make it work. If there is any place in your building to put stuff in storage, or even in a storage facility , until you really decide what you want to permanently do with them. But, I think we will opt to do away with whatever we have to , to make our apartment look more open. We all keep way too much we really don't need, we just think we need it !

Answer 6

Get rid of everything you absolutely do not need. Furniture, bedding, towels, kitchen appliances, pictures, EVERYTHING you do not need. The less stuff the more room you will appear to have & will have to decorate nicely.