Small Space

Downtown living can combine the best of several worlds: community coupled with the fun of being able to walk out your front door to dining, entertainment or Town Lake and an electricity one can only get from city living. It can also come with challenges - most notably packing what may have been a life in the burbs into a much smaller square-footage. That can be a good thing – divesting of thneeds (things nobody needs for those of you who managed to grow up without the Dr. Suess book, The Lorax) and being conscious about keeping what’s most important.

So now that you’ve decided - what do you do with all the stuff that you really do need, and how do you make a loft or 750 square feet without a garage to use as a dumping ground feel and function like twice the size?

As a Feng Shui consultant and Professional Organizer, I work all the time with folks who are shifting gears or down sizing, and most have a lot of under-utilized space waiting in the wings. I’ve been intrigued by how to trick small spaces into functioning like larger ones since I read The Provident Planner twenty-plus years ago. I loved the idea of using a Murphy Bed to turn a room into a study by day, a media room in the evenings and a cozy bedroom at night. For the uninitiated, a Murphy Bed is a gizmo that functions as a bed (twin to king) complete with bed-side tables, lighting, book case and room for art work in the down position, and folds against the wall to look like a sleek wall unit when not in use. You can even get a matching one for Fido! (Google Murphy Beds to find options ranging from a $250.00 to $1500.)

If that seems radical, there are others ideas that are easy to implement and not only embrace you in comfort, but are functional and efficient as well. One key to arrangement that translates to any space is to stage furniture in a “U” or “L” pattern so that it feels like you’re walking into open arms. Interestingly, placing a couch on an angle to the corner does NOT make the room feel smaller. Corners are wasted anyway, so - if you place a sofa table with lamps and a plant behind an angled sofa, you’ve made better use of dead space and provided lighting and ambience, while creating a room that actually feels roomier. A can-light tucked in at the base of a palm tree splashes leaf patterned light across the ceiling adding drama and romance.

Visually join all of the pieces of the grouping with an area rug to create a zone that feels welcoming and cohesive, even if it’s floating in a larger area. Make sure each piece connects with rug, and play with angling the rug instead of having everything squared. Slanting it toward the larger part of the room or entry visually pulls people in while relating it to other areas.

In an effort to define areas in open floor plans with limited interior walls, folks will often arrange couches in a way that feels unwelcoming and chops up the room. As a general rule, don’t arrange a couch so that the back is turned to either the entry door or shared dining. In addition to making the area feel closed off, it suggests to visitors that this is private territory – so don’t intrude. The “open arms” positioning avoids this pitfall, makes better use of the room, encourages communication and makes for great parties.

The idea works equally well with desks, which people have a tendency to push against a wall resulting in your feeling cramped when working there. Placing the desk to view the room inspires creativity, productivity and greater integration with the whole of life. Computer cables tied together with a clip can be camouflaged with a plant, adding interest. Remember, the goal is to create a more functional and aesthetically pleasing space, not just a more vacant one. Leaving a room empty in the middle, which is what happens when you line up all the furniture along the walls, can make it feel cold and formal – the antithesis of the feel of living down town.

Now that you’ve pushed around some furniture, how about those closets and “non-existent” storage? Most folks have more storage capacity than they think – it just hasn’t been discovered! The answer is: go up/think vertical. (Whoa - you say your bike is already suspended from the ceiling? OK – but not above the couch or bed please…) In bathroom cabinets, for example people tend to use the bottom 6 to 8 inches - the height of shampoo bottles, various potions, electric toothbrushes etc. Using stackable, see-through drawers can quadruple the functional use, while keeping things neat, visible, and accessible. This idea works everywhere you have vertical space you’re not presently using. Adding shelves is also an inexpensive fix.

You can double the capacity in a pantry by using double-decker turntables (Rubbermade), and stackable bins for mixes, snacks and items that don’t stack well. Interesting baskets work for grouping items in the kitchen and on the bathroom counter, keeping them within reach and attractive. Elsewhere, reduce clutter by gathering like items into compact groupings – tricking the eye into seeing one item (the group) instead of lots of odds-and-ends. Configuring artwork in tightly arranged displays does the same thing and has more impact

If you still need room, try pegboard, which is NOT just for garages anymore. Spray paint a section using a complementary color (high gloss prevents scraping and marking) and hang it in a kitchen or unused portion of a closet to store or display everything from tools to artwork.

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