Tiny Living Room + Kitchen by Frances Bailey
The interior design ideas for small houses that we see on blogs often bring more confusion than a solution for your limited space. Small places need furniture that meets our needs and still leaves us with a space to move around in. If you want to consider interior design ideas for a small space, you have to simplify your thinking first. To begin, think of bright colours and minimal and clever furniture that combines usability with aesthetics, and you'll soon be on your way towards a beautiful and airy home.
Although small spaces are the bane of any homeowner or renter’s life, they can actually be a blessing in disguise, as they force you to clear the clutter and to get creative with your interior design (even more than you would otherwise). Small bathrooms, tiny kitchens, and hidden bedrooms can with a few clever steps become bigger. Small houses with huge inspiration are today’s topic.
Hallways
Hallways are heavy-traffic spaces and a black hole for car keys, mobile phones bills, and shoes. Did you know that messy hallways are responsible for most of your lateness? If you live in a small house, chances are that you keep everything everywhere, and this should stop. Hallways especially should be kept tidy and organized.
Get Suitable Storage
You should stop neglecting the space beneath the stairs. If it could accommodate Harry Potter, then you can easily squeeze in more than a vacuum cleaner. Ask your carpenter for a quote for built-in cupboards; they will help you keep everything sorted and tidy.
Storage Space Is Your Friend by Frank Shirley Architects
Wall-mounted furniture looks smaller and enables you to place storage beneath. If your hallway is where you keep your bills, keys, invitations, and letters, look for a small unit with drawers. Your possessions will be hidden and perfectly organized.
Design
Small spaces need a system more than anything else, and the same applies when it comes to design. The hallway is the first thing people see when they enter your house, so it's very important to show off your best. If your hallway doesn’t have a natural source of light, focus on lighting first. A central pendant lamp is great for square hallways, while several spot lights would go better with narrow and long hallways.
Keep Your Things Organized
If you prefer to keep your walls white or cream-coloured, make a collage of your favourite photos or drawings on a wall. It will freshen up the white and add a personal touch. Those who are up for a bit of a colour can break up the monotony of a hallway by wallpapering or painting one of the walls. It's important not to paint both walls, as this would create a tunnel effect and minimize the space. Horizontal stripes will make a shorter hallway longer, while vertical stripes will shorten the tunnel-like space. Black and white stripes with a dash of a bright colour such as emerald green, tangerine orange, or navy blue are very popular this year.
This We Call a Cool Playroom for Kids! by Boor Bridges Architecture
Kitchen
There’s no denying that size matters, but in a small kitchen, performance is most important. With some serious planning, ingenious fittings, and a design that’s as chic as you like, your new kitchen can be super effective and, as you won’t need many units, you can splurge on quality finishes.
Be Smart
United cupboard fronts work best in a limited space. You can go for cupboards both below and above the worktop or you can replace the above cupboards with shelves to showcase your designer appliances and china. If there's an empty bit of a wall between doors or in the corner, consider buying a tall cupboard unit. It saves space and gives ample storage.
If you own an appliance that you haven’t used for a year, toss it. You can apply the one-year rule to everything you own. You'll be surprised by how much lighter your house feels afterwards.
Tiny Kitchen by Jeanne Finnerty
Design
The one trend that beats every other in 2013 is real-life practicality. Glossy perfection and immaculate, catalogue-like kitchens are no longer sought after. Scandinavian design influence is very apparent — especially when it comes to materials. When deciding between kitchen cabinet finishes, go for those with depth, texture, and variety. Hints of polished concrete and exposed brick wall make a prefect background for the new kitchen. Mixing various materials, a combination of timber veneers and polyurethane satin finishes, gives your kitchen warmth and ambiance.
You should keep your kitchen colour scheme natural as well, with hints of white, beige, brown, dark blue, and black. Keep the walls white or cream and opt for a hardwood worktop, natural-finish table and chairs, and dark cabinet doors.
Bedroom
The bedroom, as we can tell from its name, is primarily the room for your bed, so as long as we can fit a bed in, we’re safe. There aren't many other things that should be there, and doubling a bedroom as a home office, closet, or living room may not be the best idea. One of the basic rules of feng-shui is to keep as few things in the room we sleep in as possible, so pull out the drawer from under your bed and throw away everything according to our one-year rule. By de-cluttering, we let the energy flow and we will sleep better.
Now that we've removed everything unnecessary, let's focus on the layout and design.
Bedroom by Studio Santalla
King Size, Queen Size, Double, or Single?
The bed should definitely serve as the centrepiece of your bedroom. Try to keep the bed in the centre of the room, and avoid pushing it into the corners, as this may break the harmony. Beds with legs create the impression of a lighter and airier interior, but you should steer clear of under-bed storage.
Night stands are usually bulky and unnecessarily big. It’s a good idea to swap them for a stack of newspapers or an ottoman. Don’t worry about the light. You can mount the lamp to the wall and save space on the night stand or on the floor.
Design
A bedroom should be versatile, and you should be able to change the whole look in just a couple of minutes. Keeping the walls white or cream creates a perfect base for further decoration. The bedroom is the place to hang big paintings or posters. Hang your favourite piece of art above the bed or on the wall across the room and match the sheets, pillows, or bed cover. A pendant lamp in the centre of the room will brighten it up and add some sparkle.
Floral Patterns Combined With a Fur - Why Not? by Shmidt Studio
Floral patterns inspired by the 1950s have been popular for a few years, but it’s a trend that refuses to disappear, and with the upcoming summer, it's only gaining fans. There are many ways to bring greens into your bedroom. You can choose to buy a potted flower or fresh flowers, or you can introduce floral motifs to you bedroom on pillows, bed linens, or cushions. The bedroom colour scheme evolves around white, beige, emerald, purple, and orange.
Bathroom
When you think about your bathroom, do phrases like “itsy-bitsy,” “minuscule,” and “claustrophobic” pop into your head? Not sure how to fit everything you need into the space? The bathroom is a sanctuary for many of us. It's the place where we begin and end our days, and having a bathroom where we can fit everything and that still looks good is priceless.
Few Tricks Can Make Miracles! by Olive Juice Designs
Lighting and shelving
Most bathrooms have very little to no natural light and a central lamp that's mounted in the worst possible place. A central lamp is not a good solution for bathrooms because it creates shadows no matter where you stand. Installing small spot lights will create an impression of natural light and minimize shadows.
Creating niches is a great way to utilize space you might not even know you have. Inside your walls are studs, and they are usually 16 inches apart, while the depth of the stud plus the drywall on the front of it gives you around four inches in depth. Interior walls usually don’t have insulation or pipes running through them and therefore give you useable space for built-in shelving.
Bathroom by Habachy Designs
Design
Large floor tiles, as well as light paint on the walls, give the feeling of space, whereas dark hues inspire crowdedness. With these simple ideas in mind, you can make any bathroom larger.
This year, grey, beige, and sepia tiles rule the market. Combine them with other natural materials such as wood, stone, and porcelain to achieve a transitional style — a seamless blend of traditional and contemporary. Brass faucets and knobs bring ambiance and warmth into a bathroom, and they combine best with sepia and beige.
Living Room
The living room is the central attention to our home. It's the most essential part of the house in which the family’s important activities happen. It's a waiting area for guests, a venue for simple family gatherings, and a place where we relax after a long day. The living room doesn’t need to be big to impress. A sofa and a cabinet are usually the most dominant pieces, so it takes a while to play with them and see how you can best position them within the space you have. Don’t be afraid to place the sofa in the centre. Tucking everything to the sides doesn’t create more space — that's a misconception.
Tiny Living Room by Helene Dabrowski Interiors
Storage and Furniture
If you have a small living room and a small house, you won’t have the luxury of storing all your stuff in other rooms. So it’s vital that you think out and buy good living room storage. Unused spaces above and around doors and windows can be used for shelves or drawers.
A small living room may not have the space for a pair of sofas or even a sofa and an armchair. Modular sofas will fit the room perfectly and provide as much seating as possible without taking up much space.
What About Hiding Your Office in the Living Room?
Design
Living room trends aren't much different from kitchen or bedroom trends. The natural theme of the living room reflects the 2013 decor trends. Brighten up your living room with graphic botanical patterns. Updating your curtains and cushions lets you update your whole look without any drastic decorating. Blooms are beautiful, but don’t let them consume the space completely, and go for something quite simple and fresh-looking rather than loud and fussy.
There are endless possibilities for how to make small house feel larger and any space more generous. Check out our gallery to get inspiration and tips for a home makeover.
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