10 stylish and practical ideas for the interior of a small apartment

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Glass furniture, shelves to the ceiling and the right decor will help visually expand the space.

One-room apartment, a studio of a couple of tens of square meters or a two-room Khrushchev - small apartments can be different. But there are ways to visually - and functionally - expand a room, and they apply to all of the options listed.

1. Multiple light sources instead of one chandelier

There should be a lot of light - a table lamp and a floor lamp are indispensable even in a small room. However, the huge chandelier in the center “eats up” most of the space. The way out is several lighting points: they will not only visually expand the room, but also help to properly zone it. Different light is required for the workplace, bedroom and nursery, while in small apartments all these functions can be performed by one room - and it is important to delimit the space. Several lamps will transform this room from bedroom to study and back again with a single stroke of the switch.

2. Reduction to the square

One of the features of our perception is that if the square and rectangular rooms have the same area, the square will seem larger to us. This means that furniture in a small room must be arranged so that the free zone tends to the shape of a square.

The room can be "squared" by placing a wardrobe or sofa against a short wall. Or you can split a long room in two using a partition - strive to make the resulting parts close to a square. Partitions in general can be very useful in a small apartment; a separate paragraph will be devoted to them.

3. Mirrors as an extension of the room

Reflecting a room, they are able to make it twice as large, but this must be used carefully. No one wants to bump into the mirror as soon as they open the door. A good idea is mirrored wardrobe doors in the hallway: with them the room will seem more spacious, and you can always evaluate yourself from head to toe before going out.

In the room, the mirror can be located opposite the window - this will immediately double the amount of light in the apartment.

4. Multifunctional furniture

A wardrobe and a sofa bed are far from the only examples of multifunctional furniture invented by designers. A chair-bed, chairs-side tables, a table with storage space - today you can find many options that will help you conveniently organize a small room as if it were three rooms.

5. Use of walls and ceilings

A wall-mounted TV is practically a must-have for a small apartment (if, of course, you basically need a TV). But you can use the space of the walls in another way.

If you place flowers there in hanging pots, they do not need a large window sill or dresser surface. Bookshelves can take up an entire wall from floor to ceiling - this option seems cumbersome, but from the point of view of space saving, it is more profitable than distributing the shelves in different places. And the bike can be hung on the wall in the hallway, there are special mounts for this.

6. Transparent tables and chairs

Everything is simple here: there is furniture, but it is practically invisible, so it does not overload the space. Even a large table made of transparent resin feels weightless. You can also choose real glass, but then you have to do only with a table top made of it - glass legs are not made for safety reasons.

Of course, with such furniture, you need to take special care of cleanliness: not only stains on the transparent surface, but also all the rubbish under the chairs and table will be striking. But such a solution looks very light and airy.

7. Light neutrals with added accents

A large number of bright colors visually expands the space only in a kaleidoscope. If you want to make the apartment look more spacious, use one or two bright accent colors and a light base: gray, beige or white.

8. Partitions instead of walls

Perhaps you have come across apartments in which real walls were erected to split one room into two. Many odnushki survived this "operation" to turn into kopeck piece. But today, the reverse process is more popular: people often tear down walls - for example, between a room and a kitchen - to turn an ordinary apartment into a studio or simply arrange a large living-dining room.

However, getting rid of the walls and rebuilding them is not necessary. It is important to remember that competent zoning is possible with the help of partitions, which can be a screen, a rack or even a mirror, which has already been discussed earlier. If this is not just a partition, but a functional item - for example, a shelf or a mirror - then you will kill two birds with one stone, which is especially important for a small space.

9. Furniture with legs

Not only tables, but also sofas, beds and even wardrobes can be on legs. Such furniture looks lighter and seems to float in the air. As a result, it seems to us that there is more space in the room. And it is also easy to hide floor scales or something similar under such furniture, freeing up the space they occupy.

Do not be afraid that interior items on legs will require a lot of space: they occupy it "upward" and not "in breadth". We already rarely use the entire space from floor to ceiling (even if we follow the recommendations from point number 5). But it will turn out to visually stretch the room, because the air will appear not only above the furniture, but also under it.

10. The big picture

At first glance, this life hack contradicts the advice to use multifunctional items and avoid a variety of colors. And this is partly true: a reproduction of "Morning in a Pine Forest" or "Boyarynya Morozova" will not solve our problem. We are talking about a piece of contemporary art - let there be only a spot on the canvas on a white background. Or two. And of course, in an elegant slim frame, not in a gold baguette with monograms. Such a piece of art visually raises the ceiling without overloading the space.

Bonus: no junk

Scattered things "eat up" the room. Put your shoes in a special vertical bedside table, carefully fold your clothes, do not leave dirty mugs on the coffee tables - and there will be more air around you.

All of these tips work as a set or one at a time. You should not try to take everything into account - even in the smallest apartment there is always a place for your personal preferences. Just pick the basic principles that are closest to you and start from them.