Decorate Small Homes

5 Parts:

A Guide to Decorating Small Homes and Achieving the WOW Factor

Facts About Small Homes

Tips, Tricks and Warnings

Questions and Answers

Comments

Make the most of your small home. You decided on small home for good reasons. You must have seen the economic value of living in one as it costs less in terms of construction, taxes, heating, maintenance and repair. With smart solutions to deal with your space problem, you can have less clutter and a less complicated life. Also consider the reduced ecological impacts of having a small home that requires less from the environment to maintain.

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Having a small home does not mean foregoing style. Despite having a home with only small square footage, you can still create a chic space that fits your personal taste and style. Savvy decorating ideas can be the solution to the small space in your home.

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A small home can absolutely exude charm and personality through home accents, like having multi-tasking furniture or paint that make your rooms appear wider and larger.

Get inspired! Make your home functional and liveable. Here are some innovative ideas to help you decorate your small home even more.

Contents

1 A Guide to Decorating Small Homes and Achieving the WOW Factor
2 Facts About Small Homes
3 Tips, Tricks and Warnings
4 Questions and Answers
- 4.1 How to decorate a small house with no money?
5 Comments

Maybe your small house is full of furniture, but it gives the impression that it is unfinished. Something is still missing. You cannot get it to look like an interior designer had a hand in the decorating. There is too much stuff on the tables, walls and shelves. Heed these suggestions:

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Everything Old is New Again

There is no need to buy all new stuff.

1
Use what you already have, and if you have to add a few pieces, just do it cautiously, as you don't want your home to look more crowded.

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2
Update some second-hand furnishings
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A double coat of high-gloss red paint can render your framed mirror high class. Go to thrift stores and discover some findings.

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3
Try swapping a piece of furniture from another room
.
1. Re-purpose furniture. Don't give up on furniture with missing legs or with torn upholstery. You can still find a creative way to use them for another purpose.
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Accessorizing Correctly

A pleasing way is to group an odd number of pieces of varying heights, enhancing the appeal of the room. Examples:

1
A small coffee table can be accessorized with a set of three candlesticks, with different heights.
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2
Add a small green plant in a decorative container.
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3
Fan your favourite magazines on the coffee table
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arranged in a fanned out pattern.
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Ideas For Successfully Decorating a Small House

Visually expanding the size of the room is the primary consideration.

1
Consider painting the entire downstairs one color (Kitchen, Living, Dining Rooms)
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This makes it look bigger.
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2
Choose a lighter color for the walls
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One of the best is a lighter cantaloupe color, especially if you don't have a lot of windows. It always makes the room look sunny.

Cantaloupe makes a room look bathed in sunshine on a gloomy day, makes art look fabulous and it goes with almost every colour.
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3
Decorate one room at a time.
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4
Remove anything that does not belong in that room.

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5
Consider if the furniture you want to put in there suits that space.
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6
Try removing a piece from the existing space to see what it looks out.

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7
Have some wall décor or art
.
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8
The trend is using large-scale pieces, however this is much trickier with a smaller house.

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9
Don't stick to traditionally framed art installed flatly on the wall
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To add interest, try chunkier pieces with dimension.
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10
Apply the odd numbered theory...it works
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Three pictures or five or seven, three candles, three, five or seven pieces on a shelf, etc.
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11
Streamline furnishings, mirrors and glass to emphasize available space.
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12
Do not forget to include negative spaces, which are the empty areas surrounding the furniture.
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13
Go for furniture with legs instead of those with skirts
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1. Use those incorporating glass where possible and add reflective elements, like mirrors, crystal and silver to an interior. With these elements, lighting is amplified, creating an expansive feeling.
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The Placement of Accessories

Have somewhere for the eye to rest, which is important when considering the placement of accessories. The eye scans the room, and it needs a small blank wall to rest on, or it will seem chaotic and you will feel overwhelmed.

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1
Pot shelves are not meant for clutter
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Some homes today use many pot shelves and soffit (underside) spaces, particularly on top of kitchen cabinets. These are spaces you are looking up at.
1. Use only one to two art items spaced properly, rather than stuffing the entire space.
2. Place items in unusual positions. Place a pot on its side or a plate on a stand with some silk greenery in the foreground.
3. Less is more when it comes to pot accessories. Not all pot shelves need something in them. Leave some empty.
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2
Reflective accents, size and scale
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Good design always blends some form of reflective surfaces. Home accessories convert the overall ambiance of the room.
1. When using large chunky pieces of accessories, keep in mind to integrate organic pieces like plants, flowers and trees.
2. Don't overdo on reflective pieces like those made of metallic silver, gold, copper, glass or pewter. This makes the room pop.
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More Strategies For Small-Home Decorating

Designing a small space means you can be discriminating. Vibrant décor updates don't have to be costly. Just be imaginative.

1
Pair contrasting colors
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You can begin in the front yard with a common look of a patchy grass and the driveway. Define it by placing bright boxwood that will complement the house paint.
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2
Combine mix and low
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Low refers to inexpensive furniture and fuse with high-end touches. Example: IKEA curtains, but you use a plumbing pipe to hang it; you have a bargain settee, but custom pillows to add to your comfort; and beside you is a hand-painted chinoiserie coffee table, resting on an old Pakistani floor carpet.
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3
Create an area that serves many purposes
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1. If your home has no designated dining area, the breakfast corner can also function as study table or an art table.
2. A guest is usually housed in the living room or home office. A library at home with a large daybed for ample seating can be your accommodation for your guest. She can curl up, read or enjoy a board game. Just remove the cushions and it becomes a comfy bed.
3. You can create storage spaces that are attractive.
4. Place a tray on top of a narrow storage cabinet between the living area and the kitchen. It holds ingredients for cocktails.
5. Use an old wooden ladder for a bookshelf.
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All around the world, more and more people prefer to live in small homes. Most downsizes have modest living quarters.

1
After Hurricane Katrina in the USA in 2005, Katrina cottages were developed
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Measuring 308 square feet (28.6 square meters), these cottages replaced the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Trailers that temporarily housed the victims of the hurricane.

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2
Tiny Homes
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With the 2007-2010 financial crises, more attention has turned to the small house movement.
1. They are more affordable to maintain, and eco-friendly as well.
2. This allows people to own their own home, who otherwise might not have been able to.
3. Many retired couples are choosing tiny houses, and using their hard-earned money to travel the world.
4. Many environmentally aware people hoping to make their carbon footprint smaller, are also choosing tiny houses.
5. The typical small home size does not exceed 500 square feet or 46 square meters.
6. Some homeowners take this trend to a new level, choosing to live in tiny homes that can be as small as 90 square feet. This size is already equipped with a bedroom, kitchen, and toilet/bath.
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3
In other countries, interest in very small homes has been revived as well
.
1. Japan, where space is a premium, a 925-square foot (85.9 square meters) House to Catch the Sky was built in Tokyo, and became a home for four.
2. In Barcelona, Spain, there is a 300 square-foot house in a suitcase.
3. In Manchester, England, there are intelligent living spaces apartments of 353 square feet.
4. In London England there's an entire complex of apartments designed from shipping containers.
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Rather than painting the walls bright white to have it appear larger, do the counter-intuitive approach. Go deep, dark and mysterious. Try a teal blue silk wall covering, or cover the entire wall with leather floor tiles for a striking look without minimizing any floor space.
In a guest bathroom that is truly a tiny space, instead of painting it, put mirrors on every square inch, except the ceiling.
Take your focus off of the house's architecture and concentrate on an astonishing project. It can be on a plant, a painting, or a portrait.
If you have a narrow kitchen, avoid upper cabinets as much as possible to stop storing stuff up there. Choose a theme of utensils you have to use and live with that to use daily. Keep the other items until you change your theme.
Gather your collection of mirrors - antiques, new, vintage, French or Italian. Arrange them starting from the largest one which goes in the center. Then group the others around it.
Use the same fabric on your walls and curtains, upholstery, even the lampshades and picture frames, be it toile or animal prints. One wild print on that one area of the house will enlarge that small space, make it cohesive and add to the wow factor.
If you want a four-poster bed in a tiny bedroom, go ahead, as long as you have a space for a bedside table. It adds an impression that the room is big.
Use chairs instead of sofas to provide maximum flexibility. They require less space and can be transferred around easily.
Don't opt for furniture with armrests. It limits how they can be positioned. The armless ones are also easier to get through doors and into apartment elevators.
Don't forget the island or hallway that leads to the kitchen and other rooms. Choose dishwashers and other appliances with wheels so they can be relocated against a wall after using.
If you have a home office, don't allow clutter to ruin the environment after your work hours. Provide a storage unit where you can hide work paraphernalia on weekends.

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How to decorate a small house with no money?

Decorating a small house to make it look more beautiful can be easily done even if you have minimal or no budget at hand. There are several alternatives Do-It-Yourself projects that use recycled materials easily found at your house. Below are some DIY projects that will beautifully decorate your small house with no money:

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Recycling Wine Bottles. Wine bottles are good to make vases, wall decorations, wind chimes, and other interesting things.
Recycled wood. If you have pieces of old wooden tile or planks, you can make them into a beautiful desktop plant decor or picture frames.
Recycling old forks and spoons. Silverware can also be recycled into various beautiful arts and wind chimes.
Recycling plastic bottles or containers. Plastic bottles or containers can also turned into beautiful wall decorations.
Old window frames - even without the glass, can make interesting art for the wall, or hung as room dividers.