Six Tips for Furnishing Small Spaces
My home is 100 years old this year! And although I love the vintage detail and old-world charm, I’m not thrilled with the some of the compact rooms we live and entertain in. Over time, I’ve found a few furniture items that help us get the most from our small spaces. The key is to find furniture that can do double duty, or be stored away easily. These ideas for furnishing small spaces can be used by anyone with a condo or apartment, as well as those of us living in older homes with small rooms.
Using lighter colors and smaller scale furniture will make a space seem larger. Not filling every available inch of real estate will help keep your room comfortable. Here are a few more specific ideas to consider:
1. Sleeper sofa
We have three sofa beds in our home. A queen sleeper sofa in the TV room which doubles as a guest room, a full sized sofa bed in the office and an ottoman sleeper that can be moved around wherever we need another bed. Or….an ottoman!
For smaller spaces, consider the scale of your furniture. Don’t overwhelm a compact den with huge, overstuffed chairs. Many furniture retailers carry modestly-sized items, and it’s worth the research time to find them. Always keep your room measurements and color samples with you. You never know when you’ll happen upon the perfect accent piece for your home and you want to be sure it will fit. Look at all of our small space sleeper sofas from Sleepers In Seattle.
2. Folding or Stacking Chairs
You can find folding chairs in a variety of styles, prices and materials to match your decor and your pocketbook. Having a few extra seats stashed away in an unused corner is a lifesaver when you are entertaining. And it’s great to have them disappear when not needed.
Stacking chairs now come in a huge variety of styles and colors. Check out this link for a wonderful assortment of stacking chairs.
3. Display or storage coffee table
I love collections, but they don’t always work well in small spaces. My oldest collection—tiny boxes from all over the world—resides in a display coffee table in our living room. I get to show off my well-loved assortment without taking up extra real estate.
It’s possible to find other coffee and end tables that serve multiple purposes: storage tables, lift-top coffee tables, and serving carts that do double duty as end tables. Here’s a great idea for a combination of storage and seating—the storage ottoman! With a tray balanced judiciously on top, an ottoman can double as a coffee table.
4. Dining table with butterfly leaf
Many dining tables come with extra leaves. But where to store them? The beauty of the butterfly leaf table is that the extra length is self-storing, which is perfect for smaller spaces. Huge benefit for those of us with less than huge dining rooms. Measure carefully before purchasing your dining table.
If you are always in need of more dining table seating, consider a pedestal table, rather than one with 4 legs, which can interfere with chair legs. And an oval table is more flexible, seating-wise, than a rectangular one.
5. Ceiling and wall lighting
Save floor and surface area by choosing lamps that can be mounted on the ceiling and walls. You’ll spend a bit more on the wiring but free up space on the floor and on your side tables.
This is a great idea for the bedroom, also. Save space and declutter by choosing wall-mounted lighting rather than table lamps for your nightstands.
6. Mirrors
A large mirror, placed strategically, will make a small room seem much larger. Find one that complements your decor—or fill a wall with a collection of mirrors for an original art statement.
A mirror can also be used to bring the outdoors in, doubling a lovely garden or territorial view. Move the mirror around before hanging, to find its best position.
Let me know your best tips for decorating small spaces in the comments below.
I’m always on the lookout for new ideas!
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Meryl Alcabes, Sleepers In Seattle
Hi Meryl, Good ideas. Any other ideas how to deal with lots of clutter on our shelves? I’ve got too many photographs and other clutter displayed. Thanks, Shellie
Hi Shellie, Thanks for responding. I also have to fight the clutter monster at all times. I have a friend who is an organizer. When she demonstrates organizing, she takes every single thing from a shelf. She lays it all out on a table. There are three piles: keep, move elsewhere, and toss (or donate.) Only the “keep” items get put back. The “move elsewhere” pile gets distributed to appropriate places and the “toss” group goes away. It works great. The only issue is, if you are at all sluggish about housework and organizing, like I am, it’s hard to get the project started. I’m very interested in the clutter issue, and hope to address it in more detail soon. Thanks for writing! Best, Meryl
Meryl, Congratulations on a well written and insightful first blog! When purchasing our dining room furniture I wish I had know about oval butterfly dining tables!! On the subject of using space wisely….do you have any suggestions on how to display family pictures and artistic pictures in small homes? How to display one’s art without cluttering up the visual input?
Thanks, Luci! I know–I didn’t know about butterfly-leaf tables until I got into the furniture business, either. There was a whole lot I didn’t know about furniture back then! It turns out that most Americans don’t even use their dining rooms for dining–they repurpose them as media rooms or exercise rooms. As for your question about using art and photographs on walls, I’m working on a blog post about that….so stay tuned. Thanks for commenting on my blog! Best, Meryl
Hey Meryl, I need to get a chair- I’m having trouble sitting without one. What kind should I get?
Look for a blog post all about chairs in an upcoming post. Until then, Meryl
Great tips Meryl! I love the mirror idea and the wall sconces!
Thanks, Hilary! Let me know if you have any other topics you’d like to see discussed. We just used the mirror concept in my mother’s room and it really helped the room look better, in addition to reflecting the trees which are part of her view. Thanks for your input! Meryl
Meryl: Great blog. Also like the idea of sconces on walls for additional lighting, Less cluttered look and just more beautiful! Also love an oval table on a pedestal. Why aren’t all dining rm tables always on a pedestal?
Looking forward to your future blogs, Elisa
I love the mirrors here! Especially with a table underneath and in a big hallway. Also, this dining room is so pretty and the oval table definitely makes it more open and spacious!
Hi Gilah, I also like that dining room. I have an oval dining table and more than once we’ve had to fit an extra person on the curved section, and it wouldn’t have been possible with a rectangular table. I’m now in the market for my perfect table–butterfly leaf, pedestal base, oval and perfect size for my dining room. It’s a tall order. Why don’t manufacturers make exactly what I want? Thanks for commenting! Meryl
Hi Meryl. Thank you for that great post! Are there any space-saver techniques you recommend staying away from?
Hey, Alexandra–I’m sure if you visit my house you’ll find many space-saving ideas that don’t work so well. My top (non) tip: put the clutter in a basket. I have an amazing collection of baskets all over my home, filled with mail, random electrical components, magazines, medications, sports equipment, cleaning supplies, and more. It seems like such an obvious way to organize clutter, however it means I never manage to sort through the excess. Because it’s all lodged in that nice basket. So it’s “fine.” Don’t try this at home. Thanks for asking! Meryl
Great article Meryl! My favourite tip is the wall sconces. Save space, and the indirect lighting is so much more attractive in a room, compared to overhead lights! Congrats on your first post looking forward to seeing all of your future ones!
Hey, Leslie–thanks for checking in! You are right about the lights–in addition to saving space, the indirect lighting is so much more flattering (and I can certainly use all the flattering I can get my hands on.) I’m now working on getting some proper outside lighting for my house, so when I have some solid research and experience with that, I’ll share it here. I’m still in the research phase on that project. Thanks for writing! Meryl