Living in a small space — for example a small home, apartment, or dorm room, doesn’t mean that you have to stick to one pot and one change of clothes. Living big in a small space may mean that less is more, but it also means using a bit of creativity to live your best life in the space you have.
Things to keep in mind when living in a small space
There are, of course, a lot of reasons to enjoy living in a small space — especially if you make a good use of the space.
Downsizing from a larger place — even apartment — to a smaller apartment can be difficult as you decide what to keep and what to let go. However, this, in itself, can be very freeing and even motivating as you move from one chapter in your life to the next.
Although you may not have as much material possessions in your home as others, you will most likely find that you end up only with possessions that you really treasure and not just “stuff” to fill space.
If you are moving from a larger space to a smaller space, you will need to declutter most likely in order to be able to fit comfortably in your new space. Look at this as a new beginning.
Take the opportunity of living in a smaller scale to let your true personality shine through in your decor. What you lack in floor space can be made up for in wall space. This also brings us to maximizing your space.
Maximizing your space
Maximizing your space doesn’t mean going out and buying a lot of organization aids, but does mean that you have to take stock of and know what you own in order to keep your space neat and tidy.
An unfortunate thing of a small place is that it can start to look untidy quite easily, but it is also a lot easier to keep in check!
It is easier to move into a place and then see what kind of extra containers or organizers you’ll need (if any), rather than end up with a home cluttered with organizers that you then have to declutter all over again.
Let’s look at how you can live it up even in a small space by taking it room by room.
Your living area
If you live in a studio apartment or would like to divide your living area into, for example, a home office and a living area, you can use a screen or a room divider.
This divider can then act as a kind of wall between the living area and office or even living area and sleeping area.
This divider with shelves, for example, would be perfect for a divider between a living area and office, while this room divider without shelves can work well for a divider between a living area and sleeping area.
6 ft. Tall-Extra Wide Wall Divider with Display Shelves by Rose Home Fashion
Decorating your walls
Artwork can also liven up even a small living area and make it feel cozy and like home. Create a meditative space, hang photos of family, friends, and your travels, use word art — or even make macramé yourself to put your stamp on your home.
In the same vein as making your own macramé wall hangings, you can also paint your own canvasses — all you need are some canvasses, paintbrushes, and paint!
By creating your own art, you can also make bespoke pieces that perfectly suit your home’s size and the shape of the walls.
Your kitchen
Having a small kitchen — especially if you love to cook and bake — can be quite irritating at times. However, it’s important to make sure that you only keep the basics in your kitchen and not every kitchen appliance or gadget that you can lay your hands on.
Try to rather get appliances that can perform more than just one activity. The Instant Pot or similar appliances is a very good example of this.
You can also, instead of trying to keep a cupboard full of cake and bread tins, opt to rent odd-shaped over large cake tins from a local baking shop. You can also borrow from friends if you need more baking trays than you can fit in your kitchen, for example.
Be honest with yourself about what you actually use in your kitchen and only keep that.
Of course, if you have sentimental pieces like your grandmother’s china that you want to keep but have only used once in ten years, try to keep the set somewhere else in your home and not in the kitchen itself — for example with your special occasion table linen.
A breakfast nook
You can even fit a breakfast nook into a small apartment by using a table and chairs that fold away when they’re not in use — like this set by Winsome. The same goes for extra chairs you will need when guest come to visit. Look for chairs that are easy to fold away or to stack.
Your bathroom
You will most likely have a very small bathroom when you have a small apartment — and even smaller if you have a studio apartment.
Make sure that, if you have a small bathroom, you keep the walls and floor a light color or white. This will immediately make the room seem a lot bigger.
You can also make the bathroom special in other ways, for example by adding scented candles, a plant that thrives in high humidity, and bath salts or shower melts containing essential oils that will make your home not only smell wonderful, but will also reinvigorate your senses.
Of course, fluffy towels should not be kept out of the picture! Enjoy soft cotton or bamboo towels even more by placing lavender sachets between your towels. The lavender scent will also help you to relax while making the bathroom more serene.
Your bedroom
Your bedroom can be one of the most difficult places in the home to keep clutter-free while also keeping everything that you do need without having closets overflowing with clothes and shoes.
Your closet
Let’s face it, you don’t have to be a complete minimalist to be able to live in a small space, however, you also won’t have a walk-in closet that looks like Oprah’s.
So, when you do store your clothes, you will probably need to only keep one season’s clothes out in your closet at any time.
What you do with the rest of your clothes will depend on a lot of things, including the weather where you live (do you need thick coats and jackets, for example), whether you have a capsule wardrobe or not, and — let’s be honest — how much you love shoes and bags.
Storing out-of-season clothing
A good storage space for other seasons’ clothing is underneath the bed. Now, before you think of trash bags and dust bunnies, let us assure you that there are now much more elegant — not to mention practical — space saving choices available.
For example, you can opt for vacuum bags if you find that those winter coats just won’t fit anywhere, or you can simply get some storage bags that will keep away mold, dust, and insects like moths.
For the closet itself you can look at hanging shoe storage or even one of these handy closet organizers.
A hanging shoe storage by Simple Houseware
Bed linen
Winter or summer bed linen (depending on the season) can also be stored quite easily in vacuum bags, leaving space for the bed linen that you’re using during that season. You can even store extra pillows and comforters for guests in this way.
Conclusion
As you can see, it’s not so much the amount of space that you have, but the way you use it and make it yours that will make even the smallest apartment feel like home.
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