Tight quarters can feel even more constricting when you don't know how to decorate or effectively use your space. If you live in a small apartment or house, you feel my pain. There's junk everywhere, you can't find anything in your bathroom, and you've got more plastic storage totes than you can count.
Over time, it can feel like the walls are closing in. You don't enjoy being at home, and you always feel guilty because your house isn't cleaner, prettier, or more functional. It bites. Living in a smaller house can be really stressful.
Mastering Small House Interior Design
A lot of articles about small house interior design are basically DIY project lists. If one more person tells me to set up floating shelves, I'm going to scream. I don't need floating shelves full of junk. I need solutions.
That's why when I moved into my current house, I prioritized making space for things I truly wanted, and getting rid of the rest. It's a process and we're still working on it, but our house looks way better. Here are the small house interior design tips that Chase and I use religiously to maintain our sanity in a 900 square foot space.
Decide What You Actually Need Space For
Of course, you're going to sleep, eat, and shower in your house. But what else do you do? I work from home, and Chase really enjoys watching films. I also operate my Etsy store and run my blog, which requires space for products and supplies. Chase cooks and grills.
That's why we don't assign space for much else. We used to have a guest room, but found we'd rather use the space for his den. You can't design a small home for once-a-year activities or occasional guests, or else you'll go mad.
Make a list of everything you do at home, and go in order of frequency. For example, I work eight hours a day, so that's a priority for space. We cook a lot at home, so having kitchen space is critical as well. We don't really have people over for dinner and we don't like eating at tables, so our dining room table is on the porch. It works for us.
What works for you?
Slowly Switch Out And Upgrade
There's nothing worse than living in a small, confined space with a bunch of crap you don't want (or like.) When we decided to buy a rower, I went for one of the nicest models I could find. I care about fitness, sure, but the idea of having a clunky, cumbersome rower in our house kept me up at night.
The rower we bought can also be propped up against the wall, making it really easy to get out of the way.
Of course, you can't upgrade everything all at once, so take your time. Make a list, then prioritize and sort by price. Personally, I eventually want to get a SMEG fridge and move our big fridge out to the porch for drinks and such. Why? Because it's smaller and nicer looking.
Break The Norms
Chase and I don't use our living room. For awhile, we had our sofa in our dining room because we liked how the kitchen area kind of looked like a little apartment. Eventually, we moved the sofa back into the living room area because it's such a large space, and we didn't want to waste space.
But of course, the living room went unused again.
So we moved the sofa back into the dining room, which previously, was operating as my office. The office was moved into the living room. Even though it's not a traditional layout, it works much better for us. Plus, with our dining room being so small, only having the sofa in there doesn't make it feel as cluttered.
(Morrie likes it, too.)
Combine Color And Neutrals
When it comes to a smaller home, color and neutrals are challenging to balance. Too much color, and the entire house gives you a headache. Too many neutrals, and it's boring. We combine neutrals (like this white tile backsplash my Dad installed in our kitchen) with pops of color (like a vibrant painting I did.)
I'd say in any given room, you want 70% neutrals and 30% bright colors. If you have dark walls, most of your furniture or linens should be a light or at least solid color. Our bedroom is navy, so our bedspread is light gray.
I'd also limit the amount of room with dark-colored walls. For example, I have a black chalkboard wall, but it's only one wall of the dining room. Our bedroom is the only room painted in a dark shade. Every other room is white or grey.
Class Up Your Storage
Plastic totes are ugly. Clear totes show all of your junk. The solution? Jazzy baskets and decorative boxes. As long as the chaos is organized and nice to look at, who cares about it, right?
I use these black and white baskets (Honey-Can-Do baskets on Amazon, $15 for three), to store Nespresso cups, keys, mail I haven't sorted through yet, camera accessories, and so forth.
You can also snag those decorative shoeboxes from JoAnn's or grab some vintage boxes. Anything that compliments your space and your personal style.
Get Rid Of Waste
Anything that takes up a significant amount of space that you don't use, like an oversized kitchen sink or a king sized bed, needs to go.
Recently, we replaced our bathroom sink. There wasn't anything wrong with it really (except for a leaky pipe, but that's another story.) It just took up too much space. That extra space tended to collect clutter, which led to bathroom junk drawers.
Nope. We got a pedestal sink, and our bathroom looks so much bigger now.
The same goes for our coffee table. I love the table, but it was collecting dust, old mail, magazines, etc. Our living room always looked messy because we'd place things on the table, for the "short-term", and they'd live there. Now, the table is in my little room and holds some of my Etsy products.
Celebrate Your Eccentricities
Finding things that spark joy is one of the most well known Marie Kondo tips, but I think that objects that spark humor are just as important. Personally, I like having a few quirky things around the house (not too much, because it will start looking like a garage sale.)
The trick is to put them in corners and high places, so they're a little out of the way. You forget that they're there, you're having a bad day, and suddenly, Old Salty is smiling down at you from on top of your kitchen cabinets.
I also LOVE to paint, so I have a nice little floral painted garden in our archway, and a column in our kitchen my friends painted little cartoons on. It's not everyone's style, but I think it looks quirky and fun. However, if you want to avoid things looking "busy", I'd limit the fun objects and paint jobs to less than 10% of the room.
Minimize Your Bedroom
We have a rather large master bedroom, but we use it for Chase's study. I just don't see the use in using one of the largest rooms in our house just to sleep in. Instead, our bedroom is smaller, with only our dresser, a nightstand, and a queen-sized bed.
Alternatively, if you're the type to go to bed early, read, or get dressed in your bedroom, make use of the bigger space. Go nuts. Make it your sanctuary. Because when you're working with a small space, every room counts.
I'm no Marie Kondo or Paige Davis, but I do know what makes me happy. If you're in a small space and you want to make changes, I'd go room-by-room and make a "ideal changes" list. You can document the things you want to replace, trash, and ideally, what you would use the space for. Then, task yourself with making one change each week, depending on your schedule.
Be brutal. Throw things out. Start over.
Make some space in your house for yourself.
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