Did your dreams of wide open spaces disappear when you set your sights on a small apartment ? Space is not essential to create a cozy and welcoming nest. Furnishing a small apartment requires more organization and ingenuity, but the challenge is quite manageable.
How to arrange a small apartment?
Setting up a small apartment requires optimizing every single square meter so as not to waste space. Far from being inevitable, living in a small space is more and more common, especially in big cities, but nothing stops you from transforming your T1 or T2 into a real designer cocoon.
Furnishing a small Parisian apartment: furniture
From the dining room to the kitchen to the bedroom, in a home, each room has a distinct use . In a small apartment, you have to combine several spaces in the same room. Thus, the living room often houses a kitchen area or a sleeping area and the bedroom must also serve as an office or dressing room. You will quickly find a certain charm in your small apartment thanks to the numerous solutions now available to you. Faced with this problem, furniture manufacturers have adapted their offering and now offer complete ranges of furniture designed to optimize small spaces .
In a small apartment, it is rare to have a real dining area . When the kitchen is separate, it is often too small to accommodate a table. If you have a mini-kitchenette open to the living room, you can then create a separation by installing a bar and high stools. However, not practical for entertaining friends or relatives...
You will therefore appreciate the ingenuity of a lift-up coffee table which will allow you to transform your living room into a dining room for an evening. Ultra-practical, this two-in-one piece of furniture is ideal for welcoming guests around a real table. Opt for folding chairs that you can easily slide under a bed or store behind a door.
In small apartments , it is not uncommon for the sleeping area to be provided in a recess in the living room, closed by a sliding door for example. A mini-room, what could be more cozy and charming? Take advantage of this to create a real bubble of well-being , cocooning as you wish. Multiply the welcoming cushions and throws and transform your little sleeping area into a soothing and relaxing place.
Arrange a small two-room apartment: volumes and partitions
In a multifunctional room, how can you demarcate different living spaces without partitioning them? In your living room, to isolate the kitchen area, you can opt for a half glass roof or a removable glass roof -inspired partition. This system has the advantage of letting light pass through while delimiting two distinct spaces. To improvise a dining space , you can, for example, separate the room in two with a sideboard against which you will install your sofa.
On one side: relaxation area in the living room , on the other side, the dining area . The low piece of furniture will allow you to divide the room without suffocating it and shrinking it. In your bedroom, let yourself be tempted by a foldaway bed or a mezzanine and save room for a desk area. You will thus create two spaces with completely different functions in a single room.
When furnishing a small apartment, it is common to have the unfortunate tendency to multiply small pieces of furniture. We think "small" so we inevitably accumulate compact furniture that takes up little space. Except that when you add them together, they end up cluttering the space and creating a lot of disorder. For a refined room, it is more judicious to focus on large volumes , rather in width than in height. Furniture that is too tall and imposing will tend to cramp the room: opt for low furniture .
Also think about color harmony. While it is fashionable in design to multiply styles, colors and materials, this practice is not recommended in small spaces. It is instead recommended to create harmony and focus on light furniture to purify the room.
Arrange a small 2-room apartment: declutter the space
In a small apartment , storage must always be impeccable. Disorder in a small room is unforgiving: the eye will immediately be drawn to the mess and a feeling of discomfort can quickly arise.
Keeping your space in order when you simply lack space to store everything: would that be contradictory? No way ! Precisely, to declutter the floor and avoid accumulating belongings in the 4 corners of the apartment, you will have to find storage tips to fit all your odds and ends. Wall- mounted cupboards are an ideal solution to avoid cluttering the room with imposing furniture, but in a small space, every nook and cranny can be transformed into storage !
Then choose wall shelves , to use the available walls. Shelves that are placed just below the ceiling will be very suitable for small rooms: not necessarily practical for everyday use but they have a double advantage: on the one hand, they draw the eye upwards, on the other hand, they will offer endless space to store all your books, CDs or DVDs.
Your apartment is full of places to store your clothes, your papers or all your personal belongings: don't waste a single opportunity offered to you. Do you have a mezzanine with a staircase? A real gold mine for storing your belongings under the stairs. Under your bed, have you used the available space ? You can easily store clothes in large bags or suitable boxes. Also consider using the doors to hang hooks, opting for a headboard that offers shelves or even choosing a coffee table with storage space. Each piece of furniture can be very versatile with a little imagination.
Double bed wardrobe with shelves
The bathroom and the kitchen represent two very important living spaces that require a lot of storage. In small apartments, if the living room is of a reasonable size, it will often be to the detriment of these other two rooms. Between all the household appliances, products, food... arranging these areas can become a real headache. In this case, we make the most of the ceiling height to create storage .
Above the washing machine, for example, we install shelves or rods to dry the laundry. In the kitchen, we optimize all the space : wall rails for hanging pots and utensils, wall cupboards, storage boxes above the fridge... millimeter-precise organization so as not to waste any space.
Now that every square meter of your apartment has been meticulously organized, you can still save space without pushing the walls and playing illusionist. In your small apartment , you will have to recreate a feeling of space in every way possible and imaginable. Small, sometimes insignificant details make all the difference. Hang your TV on the wall rather than having an imposing stand on a piece of furniture, focus on a large painting rather than a multitude of frames, install a large mirror to reflect the space: so many tips that will give the visual impression to have a more spacious room .
Curb your frenzied desire for decorative objects everywhere: a small space must be uncluttered and the furniture must not be cluttered with a multitude of trinkets. To please yourself in terms of decoration, favor green plants, colorful or printed cushions and one or two large candles to place on the coffee table.
Enlarge space with light
To visually enlarge the space , a golden rule: bring in light. A dark room will appear more cramped and stuffy. For a brighter living room, light colors are recommended both for the color of the walls and for your furniture. You can then multiply the light sources to create depth in your living room or bedroom. If your ceiling is too low, avoid pendant lights and ceiling lights which would tend to compact the room further.
Opt for floor lamps of different shapes, placed here and there on a shelf or sideboard. Complete this decoration with a refined Scandinavian-style floor lamp and that’s it! Do not block the windows with imposing curtains but prefer fine cotton or linen sheers. To play with natural light , another tip is to use transparent materials for chairs or consoles or materials that will create reflections like metal or glass. The glass roof will also allow light to pass through while partitioning a room.
Designer sofa in a bright space
