Common interior design challenges can usually be sourced to two main issues: small spaces and rooms that have more than one purpose. Both of these home decor issues can be artfully resolved with a little extra thought and clever use of a few tricks of the trade. You’d be surprised at what you can accomplish with color, appropriate furnishings, lighting, wall art, mirrors, partitions and more.
Small-Space Decorating
Let’s first tackle the issue of small-space decorating. It can certainly be an interior design challenge, but there are ways to make the most of the square footage you have.
Reduce Clutter
Rule #1 is to eliminate clutter, both in your furnishings and ON your furnishings. Use smaller-sized furniture and keep knick-knacks on surfaces to a minimum to create an open and airy feeling.
Use Color
Second, freshen it up with a vivid accent color. Using a splash of color, whether through a key piece of furniture or a wall, will visually expand the space. If you want to use a dark color, try balancing it with frequent doses of lighter and brighter accents. Wall art adds a visually stimulating element.
Choose Versatility
If your dining space is small, but you crave a large tabletop to seat extra guests, opt for a table with leaves. The table can stay small day-to-day and not overtake your dining space. But when extra table space is needed, simply pop in a leaf or two. Or use a drop-leaf or butterfly leaf table and forget trying to find a place to stash the extra leaves. Look for furniture that offers solutions to other issues, too, like an ottoman that doubles as storage, or a platform bed with drawer storage units.
Change the Layout
Examine the room layout to see if rotating furniture, or downsizing furniture, might provide additional clearance.
Add a Mirror
One of the best (and easiest) tricks in the interior decorating world is adding a mirror to visually expand a space.
Decorating Multi-purpose Rooms
Some spaces have more than one purpose and those uses can be somewhat incongruent. For instance, a large room in a finished basement can serve as part TV lounge, part play room, part home gym. A sitting room can directly adjoin the dining room. Open rooms like these can be cleverly zoned to create the illusion of separate spaces with distinct purposes.
Creating Boundaries
Divide and conquer your big room by plotting it into zones. Use furniture and area rugs to define each zone. Place shorter pieces, such as sofas, as if they were against an imaginary wall, but keep tall casegoods against real walls. This type of arrangement keeps the line of sight extended across the entire space, maintaining an open quality while keeping the sense of definition.
Use Partitions
A well-placed partition screen can close off an adjoining room with style.
Change Lighting Across Zones
Using lamps, overhead fixtures, and track lighting in separate areas of the space also helps define their purpose and create distinction.
Challenging spaces can be made beautiful, expressive and comfortable with just the right interior design vision, furnishings, wall colors and home decor. For the best results, let your style shine through as you tackle these common decorating challenges.
