Guest Post - 9 Tips for Making a Smaller Space More Liveable

There are many reasons people decide to live in a smaller space, like an apartment or a mobile home, over a traditional home. Some might be looking to save money, others might desire to live in a prime location where a stick-built home is out of their budget, certain folks may no longer need as much space as they used to, and the list goes on. 

While there are many perks of moving to a smaller space, designing tighter living quarters can present unique challenges that require creative thinking and thoughtful planning in order to make the most of your space.

Here are nine tips for making a smaller space more liveable, and how to help it feel like home.

1. Use the walls when you have limited floor space.

Add visual interest with art and decor in your home by taking advantage of the blank canvas of your walls. Even if you don’t have much square footage in your home, strategically hanging photographs or shelving can help draw the eye upward and give the illusion of more space without the clutter. When hanging curtains over your window, a popular interior design trick is to hang simple or vertically striped curtains a few inches higher than the frame.

2. Add more greenery to spruce up your space.

Studies have shown that adding greenery to indoor spaces can brighten people’s moods, inspire feelings of comfort, and potentially even help purify the air. When designing your small space, consider adding hanging succulents from the ceiling or placing small plants on wall shelving to add a calming pop of color and freshness to the air.

Here are a few plants that are quite durable in the indoors:

• Asparagus Fern

• Succulents

• Fiddle Leaf Fig

• Yucca

• Air Plant

• Rubber Plant

3. Get strategic with storage solutions.

Smaller spaces like mobile homes are the perfect candidate for clever storage solutions. Find ways to build storage into your living space, with solutions like wall shelving or closed cabinetry, and explore multipurpose furniture (think: a coffee table that opens up to a snack tray, or an ottoman that has a removable top for storing books or blankets) to keep clutter to a minimum.

4. Open the space up with light colors.

Using lighter colors on your walls and floors can help the sunlight better reflect through the rooms, giving the illusion of a more spacious environment. If you aren’t able to change your flooring, a cream-colored carpet can instantly open up a room. While stark white walls can sometimes feel clinical, choosing light paint colors with warm tones can bring both brightness and dimension to your small space.

5. Brighten the walls with strategically placed mirrors and light fixtures.

Just as light colors can help light bounce better off the walls, hanging mirrors on the walls in dark corners of your home can trick the eye into thinking they’re filled with light. Multiple light fixtures placed around the room also help to provide depth to your home by casting light and shadows throughout each room.

6. Tuck away additional seating and dining furniture when guests aren’t around.

If you’re not always serving dinner for six or hosting a game night for four, you don’t always need to have your accent furniture or tableware out on full display in your home. Folding chairs, table leaves, and place settings can be tucked away quite easily and can keep your space feeling more open for everyday living.

7. Create defined spaces to separate living activities.

When your home has a small footprint, especially if it’s an open space like a studio apartment, it can be easy for each room to spill into the next, making the whole place feel cramped. One way to give each space in your home a true purpose is by using furniture to define it: A bookshelf can serve as a divider and privacy screen to separate a bedroom space from a living space just as easily as the strategic placement of a couch can divide the dining area from the living room.

8. Be mindful of proportions.

A small bedroom would probably have a hard time handling a California king bed on a four-post frame, just as a 200-square-foot living room wouldn’t comfortably fit a 12-piece sectional. When designing your small place, consider the proportions of each room, and select furniture that fills the space without overpowering it. You and any guests you invite over will feel much more comfortable this way.

9. Limit overall clutter, and go easy on the knick-knacks.

Unfortunately, small spaces don’t hide clutter in the way that larger spaces might be able to. Keep the clutter in your home to a minimum, and try not to fill every empty corner with numerous tiny knick-knacks. This will allow you to create a much more powerful visual impact in your space, and help you avoid wasting your time dusting shelves full of small decorative objects.

Small Space, Happy Home

From bright colors to calming greenery, to multipurpose furniture, and more, there are many ways to make a smaller space more liveable. With a little bit of planning and some strategic choices, it’s easy to make your place still feel like home.

Author Bio: Suzanne Felber of Lifestylist, focuses on many things but above all else, we focus on creating perfectly curated and beautiful spaces - from manufactured homes to food, beauty, and beyond.

Guest Post - 15 Ways to Maximize Small Spaces Based on the Lagom lifestyle

www.turbotenant.com

With the new year right around the corner, it’s a great time to consider de-cluttering, organizing and re-evaluating the belongings in your home. This exercise will free up space, ease your mind and help you focus on what you really use and enjoy in your home. 

However, de-cluttering to some may seem easier said then done, especially if you have a smaller home or apartment. Fortunately, using the Lagom lifestyle concept as a guide can help you make decisions on what stays and what goes. The Swedish word ‘Lagom’ means just the right amount - not too much, and not too little and is all about creating a better, happier and more balanced life. 

While there is no one way to live this lifestyle, the goal instead is to find a balance. If you are interested in beginning this transition, TurboTenant rounded up some general tips and 15 easy ways for organizing small spaces using the Lagom method. Most of these can be done on a daily basis and are a different way of looking at your space to find balance. 

1. Everything Should Have a Designated Space 

If you can’t find a permanent home for all of your belongings, that’s probably a good sign that you should get rid of it 

2. Purge Often and Refuse Gifts

Every month, you should go through your home and evaluate each room and the objects it contains. If you haven’t touched it since the last time you did your sweep, it’s time for it to go.

3. Pick Up Every Day

In order to avoid becoming overwhelmed, it’s important to pick up after yourself every single day.

4. Store Your Appliances on a Bar Cart 

If you are living in a small home you most likely lack many outlets. Take turns bringing out and using your appliances but keep their permanent home on a bar cart to save on storage. 

5. Add a Towel Rack to the Side of the Fridge 

Repurpose free space on your fridge by installing a towel rack and small shelves.

6. Reuse Six-Pack Container for Sauces

With a small fridge, you don’t have room for cramming your fridge door with sauces and condiments. Reuse beverage six-pack containers to store the sauces more securely and take up less space. 

7. Try Striped Wall Decor to Trick the Eye

Adding vertical striped wallpaper can make a room appear taller, while horizontal stripes can make it seem wider.

8. Use a Blanket Hanger 

Reuse a lady as a way to display your throw blankets and add a stylish decor piece to your home. 

9. Invest in Multi-Use Furniture

Although some pieces may be pricier, invest in storage or other multi-use furniture pieces to salvage space in your home. 

10. Use Hanging Totes as Laundry Baskets 

Hang laundry totes on your closet door to keep items off the floor.

11. Install a Shoe Hanger on the Back of a Door 

Hide your shoes behind a door to save on space and organize simultaneously.

12. Add a Bookshelf to Your Headboard 

Installing a bookshelf above your headboard is an easy way to add a homey touch to your bedroom, as well as ensure your book collection is kept off the floor.

13. Add a Pegboard to the Back of a Door 

Install a pegboard on the back of the bathroom door, and add hooks and small shelves for storage. 

14. Install a Sliding Medicine Cabinet 

Put up a medicine cabinet in place of, or in addition to, the typical wall mirror and add a sliding mirror component to access supplies and see your reflection. 

15. Hang Products on Your Shower Rod 

The curtain rod can hold more than just the shower curtain, so make full use of its potential by adding metal clips between the rings where you can hang your bath products and save space on the shower floor.

By using the appliances, space, and furniture in your home a different way you too can find balance and maximize the smaller space in your home for the better.

Author Bio: Stacy is a San Diego based writer who covers organization, DIY and home decor. When not writing she loves cooking and traveling. 

Guest Post - Tiny & Tidy: How to Make the Most of Your Small Space

We partnered with a home improvement company for this post. The opinions in the post are honest. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on our personal views. We are excited because we know you will love it.

Small space living is all the rage, and why not? By confining yourself to a small square footage, you’re forced to limit your consumption, which means you save money, live an eco-friendlier life, and have a lot less cleaning to do. But, whether you live in a compact urban apartment, a tightly packed camper van, or a charming tiny house off the grid, adjusting to life in tight quarters can be a challenge if you’re used to wide open spaces. The solution is three-fold: Optimize, Organize, and Omit. Here are the specifics.

Optimize: Making Small Spaces Feel Big

• Choose Double-Duty Furniture – A coffee table or bed with built-in storage, a stool that also serves as a plant stand, a desk slash dining room table slash console table. All of these are examples of double-duty furniture that helps you make the most out of your small space. Because, let’s face it: When you’re working with a tiny footprint, there’s simply no room for luxuries like guest seating or a table to eat dinner. Addressing that head-on can improve your quality of life without overwhelming your small space.

• Make Use of “Dead” Space – Scan your environment. Are there spaces throughout the room that could be turned into storage space or otherwise usable areas? One of the best examples of transforming dead space into functional space is the loft bed. By hoisting your sleep sanctuary up high into the air—space that would otherwise sit unused and ignored—you’re opening up a whole bunch of floor area for other applications. The same goes for the space beneath your bed, the back of doors, and the underside of shelving, which could be fitted with hooks.

• Stick to Modern and Minimalist Décor – Bad news for diehard fans of Victorian and rococo furniture: Small space living is probably not for you. The reality is that ornamental or highly decorative furniture needs more room to breathe and tends to make small spaces feel crammed. On the other hand, simple, uncomplicated furniture pieces from the Scandinavian or modern movements feel like they take up less space, even if they actually don’t. When it comes to furniture, keep it simple.

Organize: Keeping Everything in Its Right Place

• Keep the Floor Clear – Having a cluttered floor doesn’t just create clutter, it also creates a hazardous environment where slipping and tripping are inevitable. Get things off the floor by bundling your cables and creating purpose-built storage for everything you own. Having well-thought-out storage throughout your space will help prevent you from being tempted to toss things on the ground when you’re done. You’ll be quite surprised to see how a clear floor space transforms the look and feel of the room. Most likely, it’ll translate into a clearer head for you and a more enjoyable living space to boot.

• Enhance Your Wall Storage – One great way to keep your main living area neat, clean, and well-organized is by moving things to the walls. Wall shelving, over-the-door hooks, and hanging organizers can help you optimize your space while making it feel extra organized. In the kitchen or office area, consider creating a fabric wall organizer with hook-and-loop tape that lets you hang all sorts of items up and out of the way without the commitment of hooks or permanent shelving. Try to take an essentialist approach: Anything you don’t need must go, or it will create stressful clutter in your space.

Omit: Simplifying Life, Simplifying Your Space

• Purge Like There’s No Tomorrow – Whether your approach is gentle, loving, and KonMari through and through or more rifle through everything you own and violently purge things you no longer use, there’s no wrong way to get rid of excess stuff. An easy way to shake up your purging protocol is to get into the mindset of constant elimination. Don’t just get rid of stuff once or twice a year during spring cleaning. Instead, think of the getting-rid-of process as an ongoing one that needs perpetual maintenance for success.

• Work on Depersonalizing What You Own – If you’re a person who tends to have emotional connections to physical objects or who gets sentimental from time to time when getting rid of things, try to learn how to depersonalize objects and let go of the guilt you may have around letting it go. For example, you probably have several items in your home that you’re hanging onto purely because someone gave them to you, not necessarily because you like them. Get through this guilt by donating the items so you know that someone else will get plenty of love and enjoyment from them.

• Go for a “Capsule” Wardrobe – Adjusting to small space life takes some reconditioning. Sure, you have to be constantly purging, but you also have to reframe the way you think about consumption. When you’re space-limited, of course, less is more. One of the best examples of minimalism as it pertains to stuff is the capsule wardrobe. These small, cleverly considered wardrobes contain only a few versatile essentials that you can mix and match to create a multitude of different looks, all while lessening clutter and consumption.

Enjoying the Small Space Way of Life

Knowing these handy tips will help you create a space that you enjoy, no matter how compact, challenging, or limited it may be. Those who live in tidy spaces are known to make healthier choices, have better relationships, and even demonstrate lower levels of stress and depression. In the end, all spaces are enjoyable when they make you feel happy, proud, or relaxed, so keep those goals in mind as you’re coming up with your small space strategy.

Author Bio: Halle Summers is a Marketing Coordinator for FASTENation Inc., a premier global manufacturer, technical converter, distributor, and designer of adhesive based fasteners and tapes. She has extensive knowledge of adhesives and fastener solutions, vendors, industry trends, and how they are used across various verticals. When she isn’t writing articles, she enjoys spending time in downtown Charleston, South Carolina and all the amazing food her hometown has to offer.