Houses and apartments these days are shrinking in size and even when you have a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment or house the lack of space forces you to make the rooms smaller. So, the only alternative left to the home owner is to make the best use of the available space using some imagination. Here I am sharing some ideas that are useful and practical that can easily be implemented in your home. It is not easy to create an illusion of space unless some thought is given into the issue . However, it can be easily done by making a few simple and practical changes and additions within your home and you can definitely hope to get much more out of your house however small it may be..

Some useful tips

1,Dark colors and dark interiors tend to give an illusion of congested interiors. So, to get a spacious feel it is advisable to have white or use pastel shades or semi white paint on your walls which gives an illusion of more space.

2, Sheer and lace curtains on the windows too help one give a feel of larger space since they tend to enhance the size and make the room look bigger than what it is. Curtains can make a lot of differnce to the way a room tends to look.

3, Don’t have clutter around the room,keeping the furniture to bare minimum , pushed to the peripheries also helps in making the room look bigger and give you a sense of space while moving around the house.

4, Color plays an important role in making a house look what it is either spacious or cramped. Following a similar color scheme in your furnishings, window frames, floor rug and other accessories definitely creates an illusion of space.

5, Cleanliness and an uncluttered look also makes a room much more attractive and inviting. An unclutterd room, even if it is bare looking is much more pleasing to the eye andtend to give a sense of space.

6,Window size too makes a lot of difference .When there is no proper window or there is only a small opening in the room one has to look for other alternatives to make the room look larger and more spacious. Ideally keep your windows open without draping them with heavy curtains.

7, Light colors have a charm of their own and using pastel or light shades while making upholstery, cushion covers and other household linen adds brightness and cheer to a room. Incidentally hanging just one or two bright outdoor nature print on your wall also helps in brightening the room and make it look roomier.

 8, In small spaces, there never seems be enough space for clothing, books, electronic media, work areas and you are always piling things up here and there. Rather than have lots of traditional bulky furniture , have light weight furniture that can be easily moved around .. Also, consider having built-ins and modular furniture systems that can be configured to fit your space in such a way that all space gets utilised properly.

9, If you are unable to have a guest room due to lack of space, there is no need to worry since most houses these days don’t come with any extra bedroom or for that matter extra space. The best option would be to get a Sofa Bed in the living room or place it in your bed room, for informal house guests. You can even get creative and design a Sofa Bed with additional storage space where you can store additional bed linen and towels. Once that is done get some cushions made with bright colored materials and you can make it the central piece of your sitting room and add on other furniture that go around it.

10, study place is essential when you have school going children at home and space constraint makes it impossible these days to have luxuries like an independent study table and drawers/shelves , and many children and even older people end up using their dining table as their study tables. A good carpenter can easily create a few shelves and a set of drawers under any work top on a blank wall space that is available, also add on some wall mounted shelves above it. You can utilse all the space there is underneath and above to store your files, folders and reference books . Your computer laptop can be used on the on the middle shelf, also have a space for a stool or a chair that can be pushed in while not in use. The best part about this is that you can literally shut out your work space when not in use.

11 , For those working from home or catching up on your work at home then no amount of space is sufficient . You need to have a study or a work space since one tends to spend a considerable amount of time there. One can easily do that in some area of the house to create a study.Choose a length of wall space ideally in a less frequented area, where there is a window and plenty of natural light, it could even be a passage way that is wide and has enough space for this. Once you locate the spot all that needs to be done is to install a long wooden counter to act as the desk after which you can add on shelves, drawers , a reading lamp etc..

12, Look for multiple uses in everything you buy. A dining table that folds in , a divan with storage underneath it, a sofa bed that has storage by the side, a tea table that has several nooks for keeping knick knacks under it.

13, If you have a very small space try and get small pieces of furniture that neatly fit the scale of the apartment. Your space will feel bigger and you will not feel restricted in your movements. Try not to buy too many furniture and things that can get easily knocked down.

14, A clean and well looked after and well kept house or apartment feels and looks bigger, so Keep it clean and clutter free! Once you have a designated place for everything and when everything goes back in its place your work becomes that much easier

15, An organized house functions better. If you really think about how you use your house, like for example, Where do you like to read your mail? Flip through magazines? Pay bills? Then place storage and trash bins in the places where you will be handling paper and other cluttering items, which will make work easier for you.

16,One good advise that an interior decorator gives is - Don't try to furnish it all at once. Start with the most important piece , like a place to sleep, which means you need a couch, and a chair to sit, a small table with it and live with it a while before you start adding on.If you have any space under the stairs think of using it productively since there is a lot of space in there.

17, Make a list before buying any essentials for the house since your space is limited and you can only store and put away so much at a time.Never buy anything with some vague idea of guests dropping in and you may require to have more etc etc...

With imagination and some good ideas one can make every inch or square foot of the given space within your house become useful and work for you, so make the most of it...

( the picture is from my personal collection )