Minimum Space, Maximum Style: Adding Depth To Small Rooms

Decorating the house of your dreams can be a tad challenging when you don’t have enough space to work with. Without the luxury of extra square footage, tasks such as layout planning, furniture organization, accent shopping and colour pairings, all graduate to new levels of complexity. In the process, you may be left with little to no room for your personal aesthetic preferences, and end up without that all-important sense of ‘home’ in your décor.

But not all pint-sized homes equate to mundane rooms that can barely address their functional requirements. Style and sophistication do exist in small packages, and with a few subtle moves, you can significantly improve the visual quality of your living space. Today’s post is a quick primer on surviving your space crunch and making your compact home a little more interesting.

  • Colour contrasts and pairings

The visual character of a room depends on a number of factors; by far the most prominent of these is colour. Changing the colour scheme of a living space can immediately transform its design language, giving you a whole new canvas for your home décor explorations. Plus, colours are among the only design elements that have no spatial demands, and as such play a pivotal role in compact spaces.

To add depth to a space through colour, start by introducing contrast. Creating variety in your colour scheme will immediately give the eyes more to feast on, thereby dissolving the monotony of a monochrome room. An important consideration here is the fact that dark colours tend to be ‘heavier’ than their lighter counterparts, which means that they should be used with some restraint in a small room. Having said that, gorgeous compositions can be created by balancing light and dark hues, or by allowing light and dark shades of a single colour family to create a gradient through wall treatments, furniture and accents.

  • Textural treatments

Textures are subtle but powerful tools for adding depth and interest to a space. They become especially relevant in the context of small homes because they can create visual variations without weighing the composition down. When working with oddly-shaped rooms or tricky corners that don’t get much light, you can deploy prints, weaves and other tactile treatments to create depth while simultaneously retaining a sense of openness. Texturally rich rooms flaunting a host of natural finishes and neutral shades are becoming a frequent sight for this very reason.

  • The magic of geometry

To successfully decorate a small space, consider taking a step back to the basics of geometry. The shape of your furniture, and the lines and profiles that your accents etch into your room, are all instrumental in deciding what the overall ambience will feel like. When working with compact spaces, contemporary interior designers often opt for minimalist designs, unembellished forms and pared-back details. These elements create a sense of lightness and openness, without compromising on any functional requirements that you need to fulfil. To amplify the effect, pair your clean, minimal furniture with ‘floating’ fixtures and natural finishes.

  • Impactful accents

If you have followed all the tips listed in this post so far, you will notice that your small or irregularly-shaped room suddenly has room for a statement piece or two. Bring it to life by introducing an elegant piece of wall art, a fine accent table, a sophisticated chandelier, or even a potted houseplant. Expressing your personal sense of style through accents rather than core furniture will ensure that the décor of your compact room does not get too weighty. Accents and decorative elements are also a great channel for adding texture to your space. A statement mirror or reflective artwork, for instance, can impart a lustrous overlay to your décor, creating interesting plays of light that add depth while keeping things subtle and minimal.

Fashion your compact home to your liking by making use of these tips and tricks. For regular updates and insights on home decoration and interior design, stay tuned to our blog posts.