Chic Décor Statements for Small Apartments
This article was contribued by Chloe Taylor.
Having your own place is the source of both joy and stress – joy because you have a place to live, and stress because it doesn’t always look exactly the way you want it to. You always want to change something, rearrange the furniture and paint the walls another colour, but it isn’t always easy. When you live in a small apartment, you don’t have a lot of room for improvising, yet you can do a few things which will turn your miniature flat into a cosy and chic oasis of peace.
Focus on your walls
The walls of small apartments are usually painted white or some other light colour for a good reason – dark colours make the space seem even smaller, especially when you add heavy furniture and there isn’t enough natural light. If you can’t paint your walls, you can always try using removable wallpaper instead. They are convenient and versatile, you can use them on all walls or just for a single wall in one of your rooms to make a statement. You can easily find colourful wallpaper or bright neutral wallpaper with adorable and elegant prints and you can use them to brighten up rooms that don’t get enough natural light.
Giving personality to bathrooms
Small apartments usually mean small bathrooms too, and even though people believe that it takes a lot of space to make a bathroom chic and luxurious, they’re wrong. You can easily make a chic statement with simple, carefully placed pieces in your bathroom. For example, you can replace a shower with a concealed bathtub and open the space up significantly. White subway tiles are the safest choice because they’re easy to clean, and if you paint the walls white too, you’ll make your tiny bathroom appear more spacious. Add white furniture and use built-in shelves to keep all your bathroom accessories in order.
Bedrooms big in style
Nobody wants to feel like they’re sleeping in a cupboard, but when you don’t have the means to bring in a huge four-poster bed in your bedroom, what can you do instead? You can start by skipping the bulky bed frame altogether and make a pallet bed instead. Tuck the bed up in a corner or against the wall if the room is narrow, because it will give you more floor space to work with. Hang mirrors on the walls so they can reflect natural light and make the room brighter. Not only will this help with lighting, but it will make the room appear bigger than it actually is. Keep the rest of the furniture minimal – a bedside table, a floor rug, and under-the-bed storage.
Clean-line furniture
If you love ornamental furniture, you can keep it, but try not to have too much of it because the room will look cramped instead of elegant. Instead, you should try using clean-lined furniture pieces for most of your apartment and add a couple of colourful ornamental ones to make a statement. Simple lines and angles will create a sense of flow in your apartment, and the clean-looking pieces of furniture will make any room look harmonious. What is more, such furniture is compact and will allow you to free more space. Coffee tables with hidden drawers, hollow armchairs you can use to store your books and blankets in, and chairs and tables that can be stacked together when you’re not using them are just some of the ideas you can use to maximize the use of the space you have.
De-prioritize kitchen décor
When it comes to kitchens, it’s not like you can throw out all the cupboards and keep pots, pans, plates and glasses on the counter, is it? On the other hand, you can maximize the available storage space in your kitchen by using smart drawer dividers and by adding open shelves. You can store all your dry goods, spices and baking ingredients in simple white porcelain jars and keep them on the shelves, because these will look classic and elegant and everything you need will be within reach. If you don’t have a kitchen island, you can easily make one using an old table. Just pick the size you want, sand it, paint it and place it in the middle of your kitchen.
As you can see, most of these chic décor statements have something to do with the walls of your apartment. This is because you need to use every square inch of your floors for other things, and walls are usually left blank. On the other hand, if you get creative, you can easily turn your boring small apartment into a chic burrow where all your friends will love spending time.
Chloe is a graduated journalist from Adelaide and a regular contributor to Smooth Decorator. She loves everything related to decor, aesthetic and lifestyle topics. She is also passionate about photography. Her biggest dream is to travel the whole world and take some stunning photographs of beautiful places. Beside all this, she enjoys drinking coffee and reading a beautiful book from time to time.
