Even if you have a small Phoenix apartment, there are tons of resources online to help you perfect your living space. You don’t need a massive home to make it look awesome and cultivate your own unique style. You might have to get a little bit more creative, but there are several strategies you can use to make your apartment into a masterpiece. Here are some of our favorite tips for decorating a small space.
Keep It Open
If you don’t have a lot of space to work with in your apartment, it’s more important than ever to get the most out of every inch. To make your room look more spacious than they really are, it’s a good idea to keep the floor as open as possible. That means sticking to the bare essentials when it comes to furniture and getting creative with some of your pieces. Explore options like floating shelves to help keep the floor clean, or look into furniture that serves multiple purposes, like a coffee table that doubles as a storage solution.
Spacing Matters
If you’re following tip one and trying to create large open areas of floor space, you may be tempted to group all of your furniture as closely together as possible. That may be a mistake because cramming furniture together can give your Phoenix apartment a cluttered look. Try moving your furniture out a couple of feet from the walls, and avoid butting chairs and couches up against each other so your room doesn’t look too crowded. If you have large pieces you never use, it may be a good idea to get rid of them – you may even be able to sell them for a little bit of extra spending money.
Promote Synergy
If you only have one or two rooms to work with, it’s important to make sure you’re sticking to a tight theme. Try to find styles, colors, and art that all work with each other. You don’t have a ton of space to spread things out, so they’ll have to look good next to each other. The color palette is especially important here – you just won’t have enough room to get clashing colors far enough away from each other.
Be Bold
Just because you’re trying to cultivate a consistent style, it doesn’t mean you have to be boring with it. Try shaking things up with bold colors and dark tones that can add a special, lively look to your apartment. Don’t get us wrong, there’s nothing wrong with neutral tones either, but pops of color are an easy way to express yourself through interior design without taking up a ton of space. You can do this by putting loud (yet tasteful) art pieces on your walls to inject color without taking up any of your floor space.
Consider Storable Pieces
You may need a kitchen table for large dinner parties, or a desk for busy times at work when you have to bring things home with you in the evening. If you don’t need that kind of furniture all the time, though, you may be best served by options that can be folded and put away. If you’re thinking of the cheap-looking plastic folding tables you might see at backyard barbeques, don’t be scared off by that! There are some surprisingly attractive options for folding furniture, and you can even get desks or tables that can fold up or down along the wall.
Add Mirrors
Ornate mirrors can serve as a kind of art for your wall, and they serve plenty of other purposes, too. Even if you’re not compelled to check your hair several times throughout the day, a mirror can work wonders for small Phoenix Apartments. We’re blessed with lots of sunshine in this part of the country, and mirrors are excellent at reflecting natural light. Good lighting will make your place feel brighter, which can also make it seem bigger.
Don’t Skimp on Lighting Features
Speaking of good light for your apartment, don’t just throw up the first-floor lamp you can find at a discount furniture store. The right lamps or sconces can add a lot of cozy style to your place, and they’re also very practical– you need to see, after all. Even the right bulbs can make a big difference. Some people like to play around with colored light bulbs to give their place a unique look, but even normal, high-quality light bulbs can help you avoid that ugly artificial lighting look.
A Rug Really Ties the Room Together
If you’ve never seen The Big Lebowski, it’s a movie that spends almost two hours following a man as he tries to get retribution for his ruined rug. Why would someone go to such great lengths? Because the right rug can add an important layer to your apartment. There are a lot of different strategies for picking the right rug, and you can use it to do any of the following:
- Define a separate section within your room
- Add more color and style without taking up space
- Make the room feel big and grand with the largest rug you can fit
- Add more color and style without taking up space
Tidy Up
Don’t fill your small space up with knick-knacks. When you have things piled up on a table, or scattered all over your apartment, it will give your apartment a cluttered look that draws attention to how small it really is. If you’re a collector, or just have a lot of souvenirs from different trips you’ve taken, find a way to organize all of your little odds and ends in a way that keeps them neat. If possible, look into floating shelving units or something else that can serve as a clean storage solution without taking up a ton of space on the floor.
Let the Outside In
Natural touches can work wonders for a small apartment, especially if your apartment needs additional brightness or color. Little plants and flowers are inexpensive, and you can plant them in colorful pots to maximize the effect even more. If you can’t even keep a cactus alive, fake plants may be more appropriate for you.
Maybe It’s Time to Upgrade
The tips above will work, but they can only take you so far. You might reach a time in your life when you just need more space, especially if you recently gained a roommate or added to your family. If your apartment is a constant source of stress in your life, it’s time to fix your living situation. Look into more spacious Phoenix apartments.
Apartments for Rent in Phoenix
At Heers Management, we are proud to offer some of the best apartments for rent in Phoenix. Check out our communities to find one that matches your style and is in the perfect location for your work, school, or social life. Each unit offers a variety of floor plans, and you may be surprised by how much space you can afford, which will make your interior design plan easier to execute. Contact us today to schedule a walkthrough or learn more about our Phoenix apartments.