 Small Spaces Interior Design Ideas

It's easy enough to come up with decorating ideas if you're living in a three- or four-bedroom house. You have plenty of rooms to try out any idea you like. But what if you're living in an efficiency apartment? We're talking one room, a bedroom and a bathroom that's smaller than most closets. In a space that small, how do you decide which of the trendy decorating ideas you want to use and which you'll save for that day when you buy your first castle?

I read decorating magazines all the time and I've always wanted to do one room in a sunny yellow with royal blue and white. And another room in sage green and salmon. And a room with a nautical theme and one with a bit of Victorian lace to it. If you read decorating magazines, too, then you know what I mean. You're constantly thinking of the next new color scheme.

Unfortunately for me, I've never lived in a house with more than two bedrooms, and lately I've been moving into efficiency apartments every time I move. I move a lot for my job so I'm getting to be an old hand at this. So let me tell you some of my big decorating ideas for small spaces.

The first thing I do when I move into a small apartment is look around and see what I need. Not what I need in order to decorate the place, but what I need to make the place livable. Generally it's storage space that you're lacking in a smaller place. Maybe you need an extra cupboard in the kitchen area or the closet is way too small for all of your clothes, or there's no storage cabinet in the bathroom so you'll need a place for linens and such.

You may find that you need some type of storage cabinet or shelving in each area and if that's the case it makes your decorating job a lot easier. The biggest problem with decorating an efficiency apartment is tying it all together. Generally you can stand in one spot and see the whole place and, while you want to define different areas, you also want them to all blend together.

When you've decided which storage pieces you need, get pieces that express the same theme. For example, you might get a Shabby Chic armoire for the bedroom area of your apartment, a Shabby Chic television stand with an enclosed storage cabinet underneath for your living area, and some Shabby Chic shelves to store towels in your bathroom.

By choosing matching pieces your eye will be drawn from area to area, instead of just seeing your little apartment as one big jumble of furniture. Then if you want to add a ship's wheel in the bathroom area and a lacy Victorian throw on your bed, and a modern, stainless steel canister set on the counter you can, because each area will be defined, but it will still all blend.