Having a home is a basic necessity. Whether you have ownership or you’re simply leasing, you should feel extremely blessed and fortunate. Nowadays, opting for small homes or apartment units is a common choice. There could be four main factors affecting this decision- practicality, maintenance, availability and the existence of “city life”.

If we are talking about the same classification, the smaller the house is, the cheaper it is expected to be, thus practicality. When you have a small home, you have fewer items to fix and not a lot to maintain and clean. And of course, scarcity of land is becoming a budding problem for Singapore hence you may have to settle with what’s available, especially for apartments in town.

A small home is now actually a national phenomenon and a trend. It’s part of the minimalistic living that many are continuously leaning towards to. There are certain advantages to living in a small home. However, there are also numerous glaring problems owners of small homes face. This includes – limited operating space, lack of storage, and cramped lifestyle.

If this is a problem you are facing, fear no more! You can still have an amazingly beautiful and possibly enviable small space through proper interior designing. If you are looking to make the most of your space, increase functionality of your home, or simply make your home look bigger, here are some interior design hacks and ideas you can use and take note of.

1. Pull-out Furniture

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When you have a small space, you will practically need all the space you can use. This is why pull out furniture is key. In your bedroom, the bed will most probably occupy majority of the area. With a foldable bed, you can hide your bed and use that area for other purposes. If you need space for working out or you simply just want to see a clear space in the middle, pull up your bed and hide it. Just pull it down again before you sleep and the cycle goes on.

Image Credit: Renonation, Sevenvine

You can also set up a special four seater dining table instead of buying a fixed six seater table that will only cater 2-3 people majority of the year. If you have a visitor, pull out the table extension and just add chairs. Or better, hide the whole table and pull it out when you need it. Problem solved!

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2. Hide the Clutter

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If you don’t want to go for a pull out bed thinking you prefer the traditional bedroom look, you can still save space by elevating your bed with a platform. The platform will serve as your storage, hiding the clutter in your room. You can sleep better at night and wake up everyday knowing you have an amazing set-up.

3. Make Things Multipurpose

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Dining table and workstation in one, a sofa that allows back and front seating, or a small table for coffee in the morning but can double as a footrest at night; these are just some ideas of multipurpose furniture you can add to your home. In small space interior design, the general idea is to create as much multi-purpose furnishings as possible. With this, you’ll be able to get a lot of free space in your home that you can again use for other functions.

Other ideas include putting chest of drawers instead of a bedside table in your room, and a laundry basket topped with a useable surface where you can fold, iron, and do other things!

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4. Let Natural Light In

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In living in a small home or apartment, you have to acknowledge that light is your best friend. The presence of light work wonders in making your small space look roomier. Match it with glass dividers in the balcony or kitchen and it will give a visual look of expanding the space.

5. Open Concepts

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The law of matter says a lot in small space living – “Matter is anything that occupies space and has mass”. So if its matter, and well everything is, better make sure it’s at the right place. Dividers, for instance, will occupy a certain area of your home. Let’s say your apartment is 24 sqm and a divider is 0.15m thick and six meters long. The divider already occupies 0.9 sqm, which is already 4% of your living space.

Doing away with walls and partitions when possible is called open concept layout. Through an open concept layout, you will be able to achieve a spacious vibe and it will be easier for you to reorganize your furniture. You can also save up on airconditioning cost if you have it centralized.

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6. Glass Partitions

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There are times when partitioning is really necessary even in small space living. Even though it eats up space, it will still provide privacy and add design to your home. Particularly, if you opt for glass partitions, you’ll be able to separate spaces without visually dividing the room. Using glass partitions provide sleek modern feel to your home while also making it seem much larger when light is allowed to flow through it.

To achieve both design and privacy with glass partitions, you can have the glass frosted on the middle instead of a full one.

7. Hang Curtains Higher

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If you’ve had the time to visit showrooms and model houses while looking for houses, you may have noticed studio-sized apartments that looked big when fully furnished with furniture and appliances; the usual trick they do is take advantage of paint and curtains.

Interior designers go through years in college, months of review for licenses and accreditation, and years of experience to know all these tricks to making a space look bigger. One of their advices is to install dramatic floor to ceiling sheer curtains. This will make the space feel instantly larger. It will work even at a low ceiling.

8. Neutral and Simple Wall Colors to Brighten up the Space

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Another trick to making small spaces look big is by using neutral wall colors. The best is to paint the walls white. It will make your home bigger, brighter, and bolder. But if white is too minimalist or boring for you, you can also go for other colors, as long as its neutral and light. Beige, grey, and the like, are highly recommended too.

As seen in the given photo above, white walls matched with white tiles make the room feel brighter and elegant at the same time.

Image Credit: Renotalk

9. Use Every Surface, even Vertical Spaces

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Using all surfaces can give you more storage and make every dollar you spend on your home worth it. You can build cabinets up to the ceiling, or install shelving up to just a little below the top. Books, photos, and other displays can be placed there.

This tip is also useful in the kitchen. Introduce hanging storage elements where your pots, pans, and condiments can be placed. Even the space in between the top of your doorframe and ceiling can be used as an extra storage. Regardless of how high it is, use it if you can. As any interior designer will say, always put the things you often use on the lower areas and those you rarely use on the higher parts.

10. Wall Mounted Lights

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Every inch counts when it comes to small house interior design. Even what’s on your table matter. To free up your table and give way to items that should really be on top, you can buy and install wall mounted lights. With this, you can have a smaller table that will still fit your laptop, notebook, and other work essentials. You will be getting a clutter free table and an aesthetically pleasing work station.

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11. Make an Illusion

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For your small home to look big, you have to make use of illusion. Additional to the curtains high up the ceiling, artworks or picture frames can also be installed higher up on the walls. This will create the illusion of a larger space.

Also, if you have a divider, keep the opening without a door. This will make it appear as if the entire space flows together. These are taught in interior design classes so take note.

12. Mirrors

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The age-old trick of using mirrors will always be an interior design tip for small homes to appear bigger. If you’re not familiar, the concept is that mirrors reflect light and trick the eye into thinking that the space is bigger than it actually is. This will always work.

Additionally, if you place the mirror adjacent to a window, what’s outside will be reflected and will make it appear as if you have another window in your room. The more windows you have, the bigger your home will appear. Installation and correct location of mirrors are very important if you want to make your small home seem bigger.

However, if you believe in Feng Shui, the position of the mirror should be well researched.

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13. Lighting

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Lighting plays a key role in small spaces. If the lighting is bad, it can make your small space look even smaller. The key is to make every corner well lit. Why? Because dark corners will cut off that part of the room hence making the visible area appear shrunk in the naked eye.

For dark spaces to be eliminated, concealed lighting fixtures should be installed on top of furnishings. Under cabinet lighting fixtures are also recommended. This doesn’t only add accent, but also makes sure that everything is well lit.

Since the space is small in the first place, standing lamps and table lamps are not recommended. Make use of wall lamps or ceiling and wall sconces to provide additional lighting for your home. Never downplay the importance of lighting in interior design.

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14. Skip False Ceiling

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False ceiling look good but has a tendency to overwhelm a space. Also, adding false ceiling will lessen the clearance height from bottom to top. Instead, focus on enhancing your lighting and adding simple decors.

If you wanted a chandelier at home when you were young, it is just not practical for the small home you have now. You can opt for pendant lights instead. This will look good and will be functional at the same time. It’s okay to have small clearance between the bottom of your pendant light and your table. It is upright for design and practical too as you can change the bulbs easier.

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15. Extend Living Room to Balcony

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If your home or apartment has a balcony, provide provision for extension of your living room or bedroom to your balcony. When weather is fine, it can dramatically change the way your house looks while adding a few extra inches to your room. You can hold small gatherings or simply relax here at night.

Use sliding glass doors to separate the room from the balcony. You can also go for foldable glass balcony doors which are gaining popularity recently. By having glass doors, you are able to invite light to your interior; good for making your house look bigger while improving your lighting. You can then install combination blinds inside so you have the flexibility to cover the glass door or not.

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Other Recommendations

There are many design hacks and ideas for small houses. This is just a proof that this has been a lingering problem and is continuously being solved. Here are some other noteworthy ideas:

• Moveable Home bar

Home bars are a good way to welcome your guests. With movable home bar, the function is served while also clearing up a space when it’s not needed

• Customized Furniture

When you have a small home, buying right out of the furniture store is not that easy. You always have to make sure that what you will buy will fit. This is why customized furniture should be considered.

• Wheeled Storage

Carts are easy to move and can be rolled out or tucked when not needed.

• Disappearing Desk

You can use disappearing desks in your bedroom to free up space for more storage.

• Swivel Television

TV sets are a must have in homes. To save space, you can put your TV set in the middle and have it swivel so you can just have one television good for all rooms.

Image Credit: Qanvast

Conclusion

There you go! With our HDBs and condos getting smaller and smaller, there’s no doubt the above hacks will come in useful when you are planning out the space and home decor arrangements for your current or next home! Time to get some spaces saved!