Space Saving Tips

Colour

The first rule when decorating a small apartment is to use light colours for your living room to make it seem airier. White, cream and green hues are good choices, but there are countless other options too. Try keeping the same wall colour for areas that communicate with one another (e.g. the living room and kitchen). Wall colour strongly affects the appearance of a room and creates a certain mood. If you want to give your bedroom a sense of intimacy, you shouldn't shy away from intense colour either - deep red or midnight blue can give a room a special feel.

Flooring

Light-coloured flooring is more suitable for small apartments. Light-brown laminate is always a good choice. Although you should try to give the space some unity, you may want to separate certain areas, such as the kitchen and the living-room. You can use another type of flooring in the kitchen, but try to keep the same colour. Vinyl or linoleum is usually better for small spaces than tiles.

Furniture

The greatest challenge when furnishing a small apartment is avoiding clutter. Measure your rooms carefully and make a plan before shopping for furniture. To keep a room airy you should first of all avoid bulky pieces of furniture and opt for small ones. You can choose a 2-seat sofa instead of a 3-seat one and a folding dining table. Sofas with legs about 8 inches off the ground will make the floor seem less crowded. It's also useful if you have a plasma TV you can hang on the wall instead of a regular TV. A glass table looks much better in small places than a wooden table of the same size. Using lots of mirrors is another tip for making the room look larger.

If you want to avoid clutter you have to use every space you've got left for storage. Keep all your non-season items in suitcases. Use cabinets and bookshelves that reach to the ceiling to increase storage space. Tall cabinets can be wrapped around windows. Using a chest as a coffee table is great as you can keep lots of items underneath. You can put a canvas on your kitchen wall to pin postcards and birthday cards on - this way you will leave your counter top un-crowded. You can also by a small bin to place under the sink.

Although you should define separate areas in some way, opening rooms to one another will make them look larger. If your kitchen is completely cut-off from your living room, consider building a path-through between the two rooms. Bringing light into your rooms will also make them look airier - you can use spots to put some light on room-darkening shadows. A good home decorating book can get you through all the tips and tricks on how to mix beauty with function in a small apartment.