Small Space Styling Tips: Decorating Apartment Living Rooms and Bedroo

Although small flats can present difficult design issues, there are also numerous design opportunities within these limited amounts of space. When designing a small living room or bedroom, there are three key concepts to understand: 1) Thoughtfully curated furniture and accessories, 2) Strategic placement of the items, 3) Choosing items based on both function and design.

With carefully chosen pieces from Treasure Hunt, you can transform even the smallest apartment into a refined, inviting, and visually spacious home.

Choose Statement Pieces Over Multiple Accessories

When designing a small living room or bedroom, one striking statement piece has much more impact than many smaller accent pieces. For example:

A wall mirror can be used to create an illusion of spaciousness over a sofa.
An artistic decorative bowl can serve as the focal point for your coffee table.
A designer candle holder can add sophistication and elegance to your side table.

It is critical to allow at least 18 inches of space around each statement piece so they will have a sense of spaciousness and their visual weight will be more likely to be noticed.

Use Multi-Functional Décor

Lifestyle choices in urban apartments require flexibility. Ideally every item should serve more than one purpose.

Examples include:

Organising remotes, coasters and/or candles in decorative trays, and using trays as serving platters.
Elegant storage boxes are used for concealing items; while enhancing the look of your shelves.
Accent stools used as both seating and side tables in addition to being decorative.

Treasure Hunt's curated collections of Unique Home Decor are particularly appropriate for smaller homes due to combining design with functionality- great for contemporary, compact lifestyles.

Create Visual Space with Mirrors

Using mirrors wisely can help you achieve the small-space styling goals you want. Mirrors enhance light, enlarge the effect of walls, and they also create an open feeling in a room.

Here are some tips on where to place mirrors:

Place a mirror opposite the window to increase the amount of natural light that gets reflected into the room.
Place a mirror behind a couch to create an illusion of depth in the room.
Lean a large mirror against the wall in a bedroom to add height and elegance.

A decorative mirror will visually enlarge the area and serve as an artistic statement.

Smart Storage That Blends with Design

Storage in small spaces should be seamless.

Ways to do this include:

Place decorative boxes on shelves to conceal the organisation of items
Use Storage Baskets for storing throws and linens
Utilize trays to group small items for a cleaner appearance

When smaller items are grouped together inside a tray, they are visually less cluttered and arranged more nicely.

Style Vertically to Maximize Height

Vertical spaces are an area of design that is neglected within a small apartment. By pulling up and challenging people's perception of height, vertical styling gives an apartment an appearance of being taller than it actually is.

Tips for styling vertically:

Use floating shelves for curated decor displays.
Hang wall art above eye level.
Incorporate tall vases or sculptural elements into your design to create vertical height variety.

Using vertical styling increases your floor space, while still adding character and visual impact.

Small Apartment Living Room Styling Tips

Keep Furniture Light and Elevated

When shopping, it is important to buy furniture that has legs, so that it does not sit on the ground. When furniture is elevated, it allows light to pass through it, which creates an open feel in the room.

Follow the Coffee Table Rule of Three

Do not fill your coffee table with too many items. Use these three decorating pieces on your coffee table:

A decorative tray
A candle holder or vase of seasonal flowers, and
A sculptural form/typical design piece.

Define the Seating Area

Use a well-sized rug under/around your couch and chairs to provide definition to your seating area. Even in a small room, a rug defines zones and creates intentionality.

Keep Surfaces Partially Clear

Try to have at least 60% of your open surfaces clear. Having open space is vitally important when living in a small living space.

Decorating Compact Bedrooms Without Overcrowding

Bedroom spaces are generally small in apartments, but with some careful design techniques, they can be turned into peaceful escape areas.

Make the Bed the Focal Point

Because the bed takes up the most space in the bedroom, minimize what's on each of the bedside tables:

Light decorative object
Small lamp
Personal items

Choose Light, Neutral Bedding

Light colours like ivory, beige, or muted pastel colours can reflect light, making the space appear bigger. Use contrasting textures in your cushions to add visual interest and define each colour of the cushion, rather than using large bold patterns.

Use Wall Space Above the Headboard

Use the wall above the bed as a place to display an eye-catching piece of artwork or a mirror instead of using bulky accessories on your nightstand. Doing so will create a sense of verticality for the eye and open up the horizontal space on the bedside table.

Lighting: The Unsung Hero of Small Spaces

The presence of light in a space greatly impacts its perceived spaciousness.

Use multiple types of lighting in layers:

Ambient lighting creates general brightness.
Table lamps produce a warm glow.
Aroma candles for a soft, inviting accent.

A room should not depend only on an overhead, harshly lit source of light. Instead, use warm layers of light to make the room feel larger and to provide an overall welcoming environment.

Shop Scented Candles to light up your room with a soft accent

Choose a Cohesive Colour Palette

Colour choice can impact how one perceives a space

For smaller residences:

Choose base colors of a neutral or soft tone.
Use small amounts of metallic to create a luxury feel.
Be careful not to use too many dark tones unless balanced by large amounts of mirrors and powerful illumination.

If the living room and bedroom maintain a common color palette, the two rooms will appear to flow together visually, which also acts to make the entire apartment seem larger.

Conclusion

Creating an intelligently designed small apartment living room or small apartment bedroom with elegance involves focusing on chosen styles with purpose, statement pieces, multifunctional decor, vertical style, and layered textures that create an airy, spacious feeling within the space while also providing luxury and personal touches to the space.

Through thoughtfully curated home decor brands, like Treasure Hunt that provide inspiration on how to design compact spaces using classiness and functionality, we now have a greater chance of achieving a visually appealing small apartment haven by creating balance between keeping to the theme and being creative with it.