Maximising space in small apartments

The square metres of your small apartment need not detract from the way you use your home, or impact your lifestyle.

Owner of Sydney’s Spence & Lyda, Fiona Lyda, taps into her design expertise to provide an easy five-step guide to making a small room feel open and expansive, using the right furniture and soft furnishings.

1. Furniture matters

The key to space maximisation in interior design is furniture selection. Ensure your living space feels large and looks spacious by selecting furniture items that preserve space and create the illusion of additional room.

Lyda suggests choosing a lounge on legs, “allowing air underneath furniture encourages a sense of space.”

Avoid buying furniture that segments a small area into blocks, as this will visually detract from the space available.

Instead, she says, purchase furniture items that boasts clean, flowing lines like a sofa, bed or coffee table

Seek out multi-functional furniture, designed specifically for smaller areas that save space and solve your storage problems. For example, a gas-lift bed provides a few metres of accessible but hidden storage space and acts as an essential bedroom centrepiece.

2. Colours, patterns and textures

“There’s an old adage that light [colours] maximise space and dark minimises it,” Lyda explains. “But that’s not been my experience.”

Space maximisation has more to do with selecting a colour palette that works in its totality.

So rather than sticking to one light shade and replicating it throughout a room, coordinate your colour scheme with a carefully selected variety of complementary colours.

If you do opt for a white look, offset the colour scheme with scattered darker tones to avoid an overly ‘clinical’ appearance.

“Right now, dark is very sexy. Black is very good and colours are fantastic.”

3. Textures

Textures can add so much to an interior “without even trying”, Lyda says. This is because different textures interact differently with light to create visual appeal.

– Light-textured blinds also create more open-looking space than curtains do.

– Choose beautiful textiles – woven, cut, knitted – to give a room a sense of richness and delight.

– Opt for wallpapered feature walls.

“You can get so much beauty from simple surfaces just by adding texture.”

4. Light

Light is the most important consideration in maximising the space of a small apartment.

Position mirrors in strategic locations of your home, like hallways, to create the illusion of infinite space.

Use as much natural light as possible. But, Lyda suggests, “if you only have one light source, you can maximise it by using [mirror] or reflective surfaces, mirrors or textiles”.

Where artificial light sources are essential, use white instead of yellow artificial light.

5. Let it go

If you are downsizing and your old furniture doesn’t ‘work’ with or fit into a new, small apartment, don’t be afraid to sell your wares online and purchase replacement pieces that maximise space.

Minimalist is the way to go when considering the amount of accessories, furniture and knick-knacks to display in a small room.

“Small is good: large pieces of furniture are pointless. Have air in, under and around furniture, and maximise light.”

Image credit: Moss Furniture