Small-Spaces

Minimalist decor gets confused with owning nothing. Most of us aren’t going to give away two-thirds of our things, and we shouldn’t have to. What makes a room look minimal is mostly where things are and how much of it you can see at once. Here’s how to get the calm look in a small apartment without becoming a different person. Clear the flat surfaces first The fastest change is the floor, the coffee table, the kitchen counter and the top of the dresser. If those are mostly clear, the room looks minimal even when the cupboards are full. ...

We already covered small bathroom storage. This one is about the other half: how a small bathroom looks. Rental bathrooms tend to come with white tile, a builder mirror and not much else, and because they’re small, every item in there counts for a lot. These are the changes that make the most difference, roughly in order. The shower curtain is the biggest thing in the room In a bathroom with a tub, the curtain is often the largest surface you can change. Choose it first and plan around it. ...

Lots of apartment front doors open with one wall right next to them and another wall at a right angle a few feet away. You end up with a corner and nothing else. Most entryway advice assumes a long flat wall, so it doesn’t help. The good news is that corners are efficient. You get two walls’ worth of hanging space and you don’t block a walkway. Measure first Stand in the doorway and open the door fully. Note where it stops. Anything you put in the corner has to clear the door’s swing, and if it’s behind the door, you’ll lose access to it every time someone comes in. ...

Plenty of apartments have no dining room, just a kitchen and a living room, and you end up eating on the sofa. It works, but a real place to sit down and eat, even a tiny one, changes how the apartment feels. Somewhere to have breakfast, work in the afternoon, and have a friend over for dinner. Here’s how to carve one out of very little space. Find the spot Look for a corner or an end of the living room near the kitchen. Other good spots: ...

Rental bathrooms are usually small and almost never have enough storage: a sink with a cabinet under it if you’re lucky, a mirror that may or may not open, and one towel bar. Everything else ends up on the edge of the tub or the back of the toilet. The fix is to use the parts of the room that are empty: the wall above the toilet, the corner of the shower, the back of the door and the dead space around the pipes. ...

In a small bedroom the bed takes up most of the floor, and everything else fights for what’s left. The way to make it work is to stop thinking about floor space and start thinking about walls, the space under the bed and the closet. Where the bed goes Against a wall. In a really small room, pushing one side of the bed against the wall frees up a usable strip of floor on the other side. You lose easy access to one side, which matters for two people, but for one person it’s almost always the right call. ...

Lots of apartments don’t have an entryway at all, just a front door that opens into the living room. But even two feet of wall next to the door can do the job of an entry if every piece earns its place. Everything an entry needs to handle: coats, bags, keys, shoes, the mail, and one last look in the mirror on the way out. Hooks before anything else The first thing to sort out is where coats and bags go, because otherwise they end up on a chair. A wall coat rack with a shelf (on Amazon) gives you hooks below and a little ledge above for keys, sunglasses or a plant, in about two feet of wall. ...

Guests notice the bathroom more than you’d think. It’s the one room where they’re alone for a few minutes with nothing to do but look around. It’s also the cheapest room in the house to decorate: one set of towels, a tray and a candle gets you most of the way. The main thing to plan around is steam. Real greenery wilts, paper curls and candles don’t throw much scent in a humid room, so a few of these ideas are about choosing things that cope. ...

The entryway is the first thing anyone sees when they come in, and usually the last place that gets decorated. It doesn’t need much room. These ideas work in an entry as narrow as three feet, and nearly all of them come down without a trace. If you have a console table Even a 30-inch console is enough. A lit garland across the back. Lay a 6-foot pre-lit garland (on Amazon) along the back edge of the table and let the ends pool a little. On a 30-inch console that leaves about 18 inches hanging at each side, which looks generous without sliding off. A narrower table needs only 4 feet. Tuck a few pinecones or dried orange slices into it. Pick one with a timer (six hours on is typical) so you never have to remember to switch it off. ...