Olioboard Inspiration: Creative Small Apartment Decor Ideas

Entry #2875, October 4, 2013

Today we continue Stagetecture’s feature ‘Olioboard Inspiration‘. Last week you enjoyed – ‘Dramatic Autumn Bedroom Ideas‘ from Tabitha Loudon. This week I feature Mirella Parer who is a member of the Facebook Olioboard Fan Room group and she shares ideas for making the most of your small apartment. Clever ideas for organizing, decorating your small abode!

If you’re interested in being featured see details here: How to be featured on Stagetecture’s Olioboard Inspiration‘ series.

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Olioboard Inspiration #39

‘Creative Small Apartment Decor Ideas’  

  Mirella Parer

In a small apartment it is necessary to evenly distribute the space.

The colors for the walls and the floor must be clearly divided and equal throughout the apartment,keep to the lighter colours as dark colours will make your apartment look even smaller .

The use of mirrors helps to give the illusion of space, especially useful in small apartments.  Place mirrors on a wall opposite of a window wall and see how the view is multiplied times ten throughout the rest of the space

Small apartment decor ideas

Instead of the hassle of trying to fit in all your pieces of furniture together in a small space opt for convertible furniture. Convertible furniture is furniture that can serve for two or three purposes simply by moving around several parts. These pieces of furniture can be extremely convenient for a small space as they fill several functions, thus enabling you to get rid of unnecessary furniture and save space in your apartment

Divide the room into zones according to their function : dining kitchen and bedroom / living room. There are many great pieces of furniture available for just this purpose,bookcases, curtains and dividers can create distinct areas, as can different types of lighting — spotlights over your cooking area, for example, and lamps around the seating area. Besides making these areas more functional, such separations actually make your apartment look larger.

Creative tricks for your small apartment

The two areas in my project, a small apartment of 35 square meters in a town house, are separated only by a rug to give the illusion of a larger space . The sofa-bed  is near the only window and on the longest wall beside the sofa is a closet with sliding mirrored doors which reflects the light from the window and gives the impression of a greater breadth to the room. In front of the sofa is a small table / bench which is easily moved for the opening of the bed. The continuity between the living / kitchen area is achieved  by keeping the floor and the walls similar throughout.

The kitchen/dining area is a fitted out with a black and white kitchen  with plenty of vertical storage so as not to waste an inch of space and full height cupboards, use these for the kitchen towels and all your kitchen utensils. The extend-able glass topped dining table does not visually interrupt the area and the chairs are stackable. To illuminate the table a chandelier is used to give a glittering and romantic  aura.

The personal touch is added by the use of color through accessories, the white linen sofa bed made from a coarse textured fabric is dressed with soft cushions that mirror the color of the exquisite cabinet beside it. The raw silk curtains and another texture to the space and are kept to a neutral color. The c lamp with a gray shade and lavender base compliments the glass droplets of the chandelier above the dining table , giving the room a feeling of freshness and elegance. Even the kitchen accessories such as bowls, glasses and vases are lavender shades and add a further note of transparency and freshness.  The free wall behind the sofa is painted lavender to make it the focal point amongst the other walls which are white, a white frame is painted on the feature wall in which my modern graphic is hung thus adding interest and more color.

P.S. Olioboard is for me a fascinating creative play.

Mirella Parer is an Italian artist and lives in Liguria (Italian Riviera) and you can find her on her website and on Olioboard.