Four Things You Do That Ruin Your Small Space, #2 Is Very True
Living in a house for rent does pose many challenges. One of the biggest challenges you can ever encounter is the lack of adequate living space. The cramped space, inadequate storage and the inflexible layout are already difficult things to handle on its own. Sadly, many renters unknowingly make things a lot worse by doing these four things:
Number 1 – Using furniture with the wrong scale
If you have small space, it doesn’t mean that you should buy itsy bitsy pieces of furniture. However, you should be wary in buying furniture of the wrong scale. What does this mean? This means that you have to take a closer look at the details of the furniture. Does your couch have too big arms? Maybe you would want to consider a couch that provides more seating room than arm room. Instead of opting for bulky pieces, why not try opting for furniture of the same size but with a more slender silhouette. When buying furniture, you should take a look at its overall scale and not just its width, length or height.
Number 2 – Not taking advantage of the entire wall space
When it comes to small houses for rent, each and every inch of space matters and this is most especially true with the wall space. Instead of just adding more and more cabinets which take up majority of your horizontal space, it is recommended that you take advantage of the space that your wall has to offer by adding different types of storage options including hooks, bookshelves and the likes.
Number 3 – Not using the right size of area rug
Many people think that an area rug is just a decoration. For your information, an area rug plays an important role in establishing the floor space. When you use a rug that is too small, people who will come to your home will perceive the floor space as too small. Despite this, it is not recommended that you opt for a rug that covers the entire floor. The key to using an area rug make the space look bigger is by choosing an area rug that is large enough to accommodate the front legs of your furniture. In the event that you cannot find the area rug in the right size, you can have one customized for your home.
Number 4 – Not having adequate lighting
If you wish to open up your home, one of the most inexpensive ways to do so is to take advantage of light. There are many options that you can choose from in adding light to your space. These may include table lamps, floor lamps, plug-in scones and many more. These lighting options are portable and you can arrange them in any way you wish until you achieve the perfect look for your home.
It is about time that you let these bad habits go. When you do, you can certainly be able to live comfortably and make the most out of your little living space.
Image License: CC0 Public Domain / PIXABAY /
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I love that you talk about furniture and scale. I think that is one of the toughest things to get right in decorating. I’m a huge fan of area rugs. They can do a great job of visually distinguishing spaces in an open floor plan.
I have a small house and I am still trying to get it worked out on how to get everything where it should be. I like you tips here and will use a few myself.
These are all such great tips. Interior design can be so difficult. This will be a major help to so many people.
I’ve made all of these mistakes! It took me a long time to appreciate our smaller space, all because I was trying to fill it with furniture that was oversized and overstuffed, which looked awful. When I started buying smaller items, I realized just what a great space we have!
Great tips. We are currently renting a house with plenty of room but we still keep our furniture minimal because I do not enjoy crowded spaces. We use to have some beautiful area rugs, but we recently gave them away because I found that with having 2 cats the rugs were high maintenance and I felt the need to vacuum them every single day.
Lol, I’ve definitely broken all of these rules at one point or another. Thank goodness I’m learning!
I agree with number one, and have made the mistake in the past. Once I downsized the furniture, it really opened up the room.
I suck at decorating. I always select pieces I like without thinking about the space or consequences that come with it
These are really great tips for small space. I’m living tiny and am always looking for tips to try to improve the look of my small space. I’m going to use your tips.
I like my walls minimal. I have a few pictures, but not really much of anything.
These are great points. I know I could be using some of my wall space for storing things.
These are some great decorating tips. My house isn’t small, but I have some small bedrooms that need some better lighting. Thank you for the idea.
These are such great tips. I can’t stand it when rooms are overcrowded with furniture. It just makes the room seem so much smaller.
Number one is a great point that I never thought about. We have an awkward living room and all it can accommodate is the loveseat I already had – but I bet a couch with no arms (or rather small ones) would work too!
And I totally agree about light.
I am one to use all walls in a room. It is also a very good tip to use good lighting in a room.
These are so true! Another one would be putting too much furniture in one room. I had to learn this the hard way.
we’ve been living in our house for 5 years and still re organizing things. We have a pretty big space but still not enough room for kids to play
I agree with the lighting. It gives a small room look larger than it actually is. For furniture, I would love to be a minimalist, however, there are some pieces I cannot resist! Thanks for the tips.
Great tips!! Especially, and surprisingly in my opinion, the lighting! It really makes a huge difference
I’m very guilty of #2. I don’t like too much stuff on walls, so that is my problem. With our new house we have a lot of bare walls because we are now in townhouses and any walls connecting to the neighbors are concrete so it’s hard to even get anything up!
Great tips you have here. Wush my space wiuld look nice as this.
Lack of lighting is so uninviting. I absolutely feel gloomy if the light’s are too low, especially if it’s already in a small space.
When my husband joined the military we had to get used to living in a variety of house shapes and sizes. It hasnt been easy but this tips are going to help!
I am guilty with number 2. I really should start adding shelves and eliminate the bulky cabinets.
My main issues are furniture and not having enough storage space. We have a small 2 bedroom house, but own enough stuff to fill 3 bedrooms. To add to it, we only have one closet in the entire house. Ugh!
We struggle with number one right now – we rent a small home, but our furniture has bulky features. It doesn’t fit right, but it’s what we could afford.
You know I struggle with #1. We used to live in a small townhouse and bought furniture to suit it, but now we live in a big house with lofty spaces and our furniture looks tiny. I’m a little worried about where we live next. 🙂
Ugh! Picture 3 is the stuff nightmares are made of lol!
I absolutely need to have lot of lighting in my work and living space. These are really good tips that can help make good use of small space efficiently.
I definitely agree with the things you put on the list. Bulky furniture really makes a lot of difference in small spaces, I find that so annoying.
I couldn’t agree more with your tips. We surely made use of the wall spaces here and had chosen furniture that is perfect for the space.
Absolutely love your tips! Wish you wrote this post when I was moving… 😛 Now I need to work on redesigning.
These are all spot-on! I’ve never had a problem filling up wall space but scaling furniture has always been tricky. I used to move around a lot and every place was different size rooms and layouts.
I love that headboard. it really adds something to the space
These are great tips for decorating. It drives me crazy when there is not enough light in a room. I will have to use these tips for my basement project.
Love this! It’s all about maximizing your space. Great tips, I will share this with my friends.
These are great and very useful tips. I absolutely agree with #2 and #4. Good lightning make a whole lot difference.
Your ideas on scale are so true. I lived in many tiny, and I mean tiny, NYC apartments and they always seem to look bigger the more (but carefully planned) things you have in it!
Your space tips are so helpful! I do follow a few of them myself because I try (as much as possible) to have a minimalist lifestyle. I like it when a room is not too furnished so that it feels airy and bright.
I am definitely guilty of #2 in my living room. We have so much wall space that could be used better.
We have good space but i definitely need decor help at times.
I learned a lot from this, Designing inside my living room is my weakness good thing I got my wife on my back.
We have massive furniture for our small spaces and need to fix that. Also, I agree – lighting can make or break the look of a room!
Omg I can’t stand it when people buy the wrong sized rugs for rooms! You can have the most gorgeous furniture and it can be ruined with the wrong sized rug
We definitely have a lot of wall space that we aren’t utilizing. I think we can do so much with this space if we get creative.
These are all great tips. I’ve seen the large scale furniture in small spaces. Oh my goodness. It just makes the whole space feel cramped.
Having too much stuff in a small space can make it look crowded and even smaller.
Great tips and tricks, I try to use many of these as we look at new houses daily
great ideas! i’m already trying to figure out how to put these to use in my room