Furniture Ploys for Small Apartments
In a prosperous economy, people like to live large. Everything seems to take on
larger proportions - just look at how big utility vehicles and televisions
have gotten lately. Homes and furnishings have grown as well. But the new scale doesn't work well with your small apartment space. What can you do?
The National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of
REALTORS have both noted the increasing demand for larger homes, which have
added as much as two rooms and 700 feet over the last 20 years for the average
new home. As homes are sprawling, furniture is being proportionately scaled to
complement these new large spaces. Some retailers are even making a specialty
of carrying furnishings sized to scale for the magnificent homes that are being
built today.
That is all well and good, but you've just moved to a tiny apartment. And the
last time you went furniture shopping, you couldn't find a sofa that would even
fit through the front door. What's out there for you?
Until the trend turns around to smaller furnishings, the best idea is to play
to the strengths of your apartment and its size.
1. Choose a decorating scheme that complements your home, one that you can
afford and that you can develop as you go along. New ideas in decor seem to be
nostalgic in nature, heralding back to other eras, from the Victorian period to
the Gilded Age/Progressive Era and the Shaker period. The popularity of the
movie, Titanic, has brought attention to the opulence and beauty of the
era.
The Boomers turning fifty have spearheaded an interest in furnishings
from the fifties, which have spare clean lines and a Jetson-age
utilitarianism. These styles are a plus for you because furniture from these
periods are typically smaller in scale and often easily available at good
prices from flea markets, antique malls, re-sale shops, garage sales and estate
sales.
2. Eliminate furniture except for the essentials - you need a place to sit, to
eat, and to sleep. In a small apartment, anything else will be gravy,
especially fitting room to entertain friends or to accommodate a roommate. Take care of the basics first.
3. Draw your home to scale, marking the locations of power outlets, phone
lines, windows, doors, fireplaces, and bar areas. Before making a major
purchase such as a bed or a sofa, ask to measure the piece and cut out a little
paper duplicate to place in your drawing. If it overwhelms the drawing, the
real thing will overwhelm the room. Be sure to leave room for other pieces that
you may want to add later, such as nightstands, end tables, plant stands, etc.
4. Scale down where you can. If you don't have room for a table for four, buy a
cafe table instead. You can seat four friends at a 42- inch round table,
instead of a 48-inch tabletop - you'll just have to leave off the salad and
butter plates. Instead of buying the couch, purchase the love seat. Buy
furniture that serves two purposes. Can the dining table also serve as a
workstation? Can the bed be folded into the wall or into a sofa? Can you play
chess on the end table?
5. What is left must bear scrutiny. When you have pared a room down to its
essential elements, whatever is left must be able to withstand the spotlight. A
small antique table with an interesting shape and polished patina can take on
new importance. A color backdrop on a wall or a piece of fabric used as a throw
can draw the eye where you want it to go. If in doubt, throw it out. From a
minimalist background, the wrong choice will blare at you like a fog horn.
6. Look at spaces in a new way. Look at every nook and cranny. Is there room
for a desk under that dormer window or in that corner by the stairs? Can that
sloping ceiling accommodate at bookcase underneath? Go for untraditional
arrangements if they will work better in your space. You don't have to have an
end table at each end of the couch, and an ottoman can easily serve as a coffee
table with a tray placed on top.
7. If small isn't for you, then less may be more. You can add drama to a room
by having large-scale furniture, but fewer pieces. One large sofa can offer as
much comfort as a bed and a sprawling coffee table (or steamer trunk) in front
can offer more table-top storage for books, magazines, drinks, and appetizers
than several smaller scaled down end tables and occasional tables would.
8. Keep clutter to a minimum. The more room you have to move around the more
spacious your apartment will feel. If you don't have enough storage, use
walls and the backs of doors to hang hats, scarves, and throws. Decorative
hooks are an apartment dweller's best friend and can be used to hang pots
and pans. Shelves can really maximize space and add to the ambiance of
your apartment.
Blanche Evans is the editor of Agent News and associate editor of Realty Times. She is the author of "Homesurfing.Net: The Insider's Guide To Buying and Selling Your Home Using the Internet," Dearborn. Ms. Evans is the principal of Newbury Communications, an editorial marketing and business writing firm, and she has been published in numerous newspapers, magazines and visitor guides across the nation. E-mail Blanche at: BlancheEvans@realtytimes.com
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Written by Blanche Evans
