If your new home is “cozier” than you’d like, small space decorating ideas could be what you need. When you have to move into a new space, and a smaller one at that, you’ll be amazed at how much stuff you have accumulated over the years as a single person. Your penchant for collecting atomic 1950s drinking and shot glasses will eat up your cabinet space, and your record collection is literally stacked up in columns by your record player.

This doesn’t only make your home feel overcrowded, it makes it look unclean, no matter how straight the organized piles of stuff are. You can keep your stuff and look like you live minimally when you give these 5 ideas a try maximizing your small space!

5 Small Space Decorating Ideas You Almost Forgot

Consider Small Room Furniture Solutions

If you’re in the market to get new furniture pieces for your small room consider multifunctional furniture. the Huffington Post suggests getting pieces with dual uses. A coffee table that serves as table and storage trunk makes for a funky (and functional!) statement piece in the living room. A bed frame with custom pull-out drawers will let you hide things under the bed in and organized way and will be completely hidden from sight.

Clear your surfaces

Having a bunch of little knick-knacks and the like sitting on the coffee or dining room table will make the whole space feel cramped, and having a table lamp for every side table won’t allow you much more use of its surface. Take the table and floor lamps away and install ceiling lights for a clean and minimal effect. The hanging ceiling lights will draw the eye upward and visually lengthen the space.

Small Space Decorating Ideas: Use vertical bookshelves

Speaking of verticality, a tall bookcase that measures from the floor to the ceiling will also make the space feel larger. It’s a common misconception that smaller spaces should use smaller furnishings, but StyleCaster says that having a few large furniture pieces in the space will make the small space look bigger.

Not only will a large vertical bookcase make your interior space feel larger than life, it’ll hold all of your books, records, and other odds and ends all in one highly visible spot. You’ll be able to show off your record collection and your friends won’t be too nervous to pull one off the shelf for a music sesh. 

Space saving tips: divide your small space with a divider

Smaller spaces shared with other people (like a shy roommate) can make you feel like you have no privacy. Let’s be honest, it’s an awkward situation. Room dividers like a folding screen divide the space without minimizing it. It divides the space into two new functional rooms and can even hide clutter. Is there a corner of the room that collects everyone’s shoes and jackets? A room divider will hide this mess while making the space look artsy and interesting. Doesn’t everyone want to live in a Pinterest-worthy environment?

Add a fresh coat of paint

It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint (or wallpaper) can do to a room, especially with small space decorating ideas. Details in the crown molding you’ve never seen before will suddenly pop out, and the way the light dances on the surface of the wall will feel new and exciting. Paint can help you create a bedroom or interior space that affects your mood. Elle Decor gives tips for what colors are best to paint your room and why. For example, a lighter room color that brings you joy and peace, such as with the colors blue, green and yellow can make your room feel serene. If you want to go for a more vibrant, rich color, red is a bold choice for dining rooms and spaces of your home that you want to feel vibrant and active.

Keep in mind that when you paint an accent wall you will be stuck with that color for some time, so make sure it’s a color you want to look at every day for years to come!

With just a few simple ideas, you can update your space and make your small living quarters feel larger than life!

For more home decor ideas on Stagetecture, take a look through our small space decorating ideas archives