Decorating a smaller home but giving it a unique and personal style requires a little thought.
COLOUR AND PATTERN
Small doesn’t have to mean simple, but avoiding “busy” patterns and complex colour schemes will help. Dark, powerful colours will make a room seem smaller as will heavily-patterned wallpaper. Light colours will maximise space, but should still reflect the individual’s personality and taste.
Not so long ago a “Feature wall” was all the rage. The temptation to break up plain walls by covering one in a patterned paper or painted effects might be strong, but think about what it does to the whole room. Think also about whether the wall is to be decorated further, for example with a mirror or pictures. Pictures and decorative objects work better against a plain background.
STORAGE
One way to make any room seem smaller is to fill it with clutter. Storing things effectively is one way to get rid of that cluttered feel, but there are problems to solve. A small room won’t take a lot of furniture, so the number of storage cupboards that can be squeezed in will be limited. Tall and slim shelf units and cupboards will take up less horizontal space by going up rather than out. It also helps to have storage units that are the same colour. Buying second-hand items and painting them a uniform colour can help save on costs.
Being creative with storage in a small space is essential, as is moving away from the more traditional ideas. Shelving around the upper part of a wall, above door height, can provide a lot of storage in an otherwise unused space. Shelves under the stairs, in alcoves and wherever they can fit, is one way of maximising storage space. There is a wealth of ideas out there for storing various items creatively in small spaces!
PICTURES AND DECORATIVE PIECES
Once a room is painted and furnished it is time to express personal taste by dressing it with decorative items. The most personal of decorative items can be photographed. They are unique to the individual and bring life to a room. Small spaces don’t like a large number of different shaped and coloured picture frame and using multi picture frames is a great way to display several photographs at once. Photographs can be grouped together in a single frame, separated by the mounting card and reducing the “busy” feel of multiple frames and also saving wall space.
Other treasured objects that express personality and taste can be displayed applying the same principles of reducing colour, avoiding multiple colours and avoiding clutter.
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