Ten Tips For Decorating a Small Studio Apartment

Studio apartments can be difficult to decorate because everything is basically all in one big (or not so big) room. Sometimes this small space has to accommodate several different activities: sleeping, entertaining, cooking and an office area.

Here are ten tips for decorating a small studio apartment:

1. Provide enough storage. Try to find furnishings for your apartment that will do "double duty." You can even find chairs and ottomans that have storage areas inside of them. Just lift up the top and there you will find space for blankets, pillows or other items.

2. Use containers to hide clutter. Buy wicker baskets or old steamer trunks to store out-of-season clothing, linens and towels. They will look great and contain all of those small items that make a room look cluttered.

3. Use mirrors to reflect the light. A large mirror or several small mirrors placed strategically can make a small space feel lighter and larger. If you like a more modern style of decorating, furniture and tables with metal or glass can visually expand the space.

4. Don't block the light. Covering every window with blinds and draperies can make a small room feel dark and crowded. Leave windows bare or only cover with sheer draperies to let the light shine through. Light always makes a space seem larger.

5. Place furniture in "rooms." Try to create specific areas for specific activities. Put a bed and dresser in one area for the bedroom and a sofa and coffee table in another area. Having your apartment furnishings put any-old-way can make it cluttered and uninviting. You might have to leave out the bed and use a sleeper sofa if your apartment is super-small.

6. Create a focus. If you are lucky enough to have a fireplace, accentuate it. Even if you don't have a natural focal point, create one. Painting just one wall a different color will draw the attention into the room an make it seem bigger. Put a large credenza or entertainment center on that wall and decorate it with beautiful accessories.

7. Use dividers for larger apartments. You can find beautiful dividers in both thrift shops and high end furniture stores. Use them to enclose various areas of your space. I saw an episode on HGTV where they used four beautiful wooden dividers to make a separate bedroom. It not only provided a private sleeping area, but also created another "wall" on which to place furniture.

8. Keep clutter at bay. When you have a small area, clutter is not an option. Too many knick-knacks and too much furniture crowds everything together too much. Keep your necessary items, such as extra bed linens put away in a dresser or wicker baskets. Kitchen counters should be kept clean with everything in the cupboards...if possible.

9. Another trick for a small space is to buy furniture with legs and that are higher off of the floor. Your eye will look "under" these pieces of furniture and add visual space. Furniture that is blocky and low to the ground makes a room appear more crowded.

10. Paint with lighter colors. You don't have to use white, but using paint colors that are lighter in color expands a space more than dark colors.

Decorating a studio apartment can be a challenging task, but using the above tips can help you get started in the right direction.

Souce : articlesbase.com

How to Trim Your Holiday Tree

Most people decorate their trees the same way every year — same lights, same ornaments, same tinsel, that might not be as fun. This year, why not shake things up a bit and try something different? Choose your tree ornaments based on a theme or color, or use more eco-friendly decorations. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Step 1
Use new LEDs (light-emitting diode) holiday lights available at any local store. These power-saving lights burn brightly and boast a very long bulb life. This is a green product you can not go wrong with, save some energy.

Step 2
Metallics — always a favorite during this season — are on trend this year for a modern and chic look. You can stick to gold or silver or mix in metallic greens and reds for a pop of color. There are several options, a variety of shapes such as the globe, calabash, onion, a twisted ball and a ribbed ball shape giving your trimmings a festive sparkle.

Step 3
Surprise family members with a theme tree. Honor sports fans with memorabilia from their favorite team. Use seed packets to create ornaments for your favorite gardeners, or the chefs in the family with a tree filled with kitchen-related ornaments, such as cookie cutters.

Step 4
Create a natural-looking, eco-friendly tree using materials gathered from the garden. Use gold, silver or white spray paint on twigs and vines, then weave them through the branches. Combine dried flowers, decorative seedpod and ornamental grasses to craft eye-catching ornaments. Use florists’ wire to secure berry-laden twigs and pine cones to branches.

Step 5
Consider a theme based on edible ornaments: candy canes, gingerbread people, colorful citrus fruits and clove-spiked oranges. Create “stained glass” decorations by melting hard candies into cookie-cutter shapes.

Step 6
Gather or print out your favorite family photos and create your own mini frames for them using recycled holiday cards and gift wrap. Accent the frames with glitter, sequins and beads to make them sparkle, everyone will love those!

Interior Design For Small Spaces

Interior Decorating Design

In the real estate market, essentially, space is expensive. In order to have their own place, some people nowadays are getting smaller apartments or houses. There is a grand assortment of tricks that exists in designing the interior for small spaces. Anyway, the concept of small is really relative, depending on certain variables such as the layout of the furniture and the amount of square foot per person.

If you have a small room or house, remember that there are also benefits of these petite spaces: they are more cost effective and less wasteful. A smaller space can also be quite desirable if you require less cleaning, light, and heat.



Basic Design

Versatility and flexibility are the two major components of small space design. If you think about your small room as the interior of a plane, boat, or car, you will notice that there is only a little area needed to control it. Similar to your room, the key is to be able to play and work in your space effectively - a highly usable room will feel less small.

Rather than to fight it, you have to focus intently on the benefits that a small space provides. Maximize favorable concepts such as functionality, charm, intimacy, security, and coziness. You can find the natural character of the room to draw the visitors in; just look for hiding extra spaces (ex. under sloping ceilings) to be creative in finding ways to utilize these areas.
When decorating, you should always focus on simple things. Visual unity in your decorations will enable your room to maintain its sense of class. Also, one method you can use to have a balanced room is to make its details consistent.

Airy and Light

Maximizing airflow and light is always the key to feel the spaciousness in your room. Simple changes can make a huge difference in enhancing the light. Analyze the materials of your decorations and furniture: whether leather, polished wood, glass, and metal all reflect the light in the room. Draw the visitor's eyes to the windows and bring the outdoors in. Exploit a lot of mirrors - they have the ability to enhance a feeling of light and space. For example, you can place a very large mirror opposite a window - this will reflect the outdoors on the other side of the wall, creating a mock window.
Avoid a single overhead lighting because it has the tendency to draw in the walls. Increase your light sources instead, and place them near the walls reflecting glow. Conceal these light sources creatively with recessed lighting, directed spotlights or include lampshades. Storage and Furniture

Keep the furniture compact when designing for a small space. The size of your belongings needs to be balanced with the size of the space. When you select furniture, you have to consider the maximization of space for the utility. Like for example, buying a bench to be used in the dining table consume less floor space and provide more seating capacity than individual chairs.
Creative storage should also be considered. More clutter will make the room look smaller. Find ways on how you can stash your baskets or clutter under the storage benches or coffee tables.
This article was written by Benedict Yossarian. Benedict recommends Judge Ceilings and Roof Bond for your home improvement needs including Roof Insulation and Suspended Ceilings

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