Do you want your home to be a happy home? If so, follow these 5 small tips and you'll be happier in no time.
1. Declutter your home — Clearing your clutter can reduce stress and completely change your mood. It will also make your home feel more tranquil and clam. What if you are not good at doing it? Well, have lots of enclosed storage where you can hide your stuff. As the saying goes, "Out of sight, out of mind." Or at least until you are ready to really tackle it.
2. Get a system to stay organized — Once you have decluttered, now it's time to stay organized. It's easy to keep it up by spending a few hours and a few bucks to set up a system so, even if you have limited space, everything has a place to go. This will keep you home looking beautiful and not bountiful.
3. Choose furniture that do double duty — When you have limited space, double duty furniture is a must. How about a coffee table can be raised up to become a dining table? Or a storage bench for extra out-of-sight storage? Or how about a tall dresser used as a nightstand?
4. Choose your color carefully — Color is an extremely powerful tool in the world of interior design. Use it carefully and it can do wonders for your small spaces. Beware of the properties and psychology of certain colours and what they can do for your space before you pick up that paint brush. If you have a small bedroom, then darks might not be the way to go as they'll make it feel even smaller. You should also consider how much daylight you get during the day, how you'd like to feel in that space and your room size to make sure you make the smartest choice.
5. Think vertical and utilize your wall space — There's plenty of valuable real estate all over your home, not just on the floor. Shelves, cabinets and even simple, inexpensive pegboard racks can get your belongings organized while keeping them from taking up your limited floor or counter space.
6. Use visually light furniture — Visually light furniture will allow you to have much more in a space without its seeming cramped! A dresser with legs lifting it up the floor will visually make the space more spacious. Or how about those Ghost chairs (designed by Philip Stark)? Basically, any airy style that leaves plenty of empty space around your pieces would do. This is one of the reasons why mid-century modern furniture are still so popular.
7. Play with scale — A horrible mistake we often see in small homes is people bringing their big furniture from their house (often rental houses with more space) to their small spaces. I liken this to a small person wearing an XL jacket. In both cases, they are ill fitted. Small spaces demand their own smaller furniture. Everything should be chosen according to the right scale. Having said that, it's okay to break the rule and mix up the scale with a few larger statement pieces, or utilize your wall space with one large scale art to make a statement.