Whether you’ve moved into your first home away from home or you’ve recently downgraded due to unfortunate circumstances like divorce or a demotion at work, you might find yourself living in a postage-stamp-sized apartment with limited possibilities when it comes to interior design. You may have grandiose notions about a California king bed, a formal dining room, and a sectional sofa with seating for six, but those will have to wait for a larger residence. For now you’re stuck with a truncated space that probably won’t even fit the items you currently own. So once you’ve sold off your oversized furniture you can start getting down to the business of designing the small interior space for maximum efficiency and a little personal flair. Here are just a few tips to help you on your way.

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Choosing the right colors

The first thing to consider in the design process is your color palette and how the right hues can affect your space. Although a common trick is to paint the ceiling white in order to make small spaces appear larger, that doesn’t necessarily help you to choose the remaining colors for your apartment. However, you should know that dark or saturated shades can not only make a space seem smaller, they can also be overpowering. For this reason you might want to choose light neutrals and pale shades for walls and carpeting and then throw in accents in bolder colors to let your personality shine through. Another good trick is to place mirrors strategically throughout your space in order to make the most of any natural light coming in as well as create the visual illusion that your rooms are larger than they are.

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Choosing the perfect furniture

The next thing to consider is furniture, and while you almost certainly have to think about limiting the number and size of pieces in your apartment, it doesn’t necessarily mean you must live in a hobbit hole full of half-sized furnishings. You can find many ways to fit the right items in, provide for all of your needs (sleeping, entertaining, and so on), and still have the light and airy open space you desire (to an extent). This can be done first through the use of modular furnishings, or those that are made to fit together and come with many options for adding on. So you might start with a small sofa and add a couple of chairs from the same collection, along with side tables and an entertainment center to hold electronics, media, books, and display pieces. Many will items will have options for stacking so that you can expand and use vertical space when you don’t want to take up any more of your floor plan.

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Go for multifunctional furnishings

Of course, multifunctional furnishings are another great option. If you don’t have enough space for your king-size bed AND your dresser, thinks about getting a bed frame that has storage underneath (either built-in drawers or clearance for bins to hold your clothing). For the living room you can get seating or ottomans that have hidden storage compartments inside. And even if you only have a breakfast nook that accommodates a small dining set, get a drop-leaf table or one that has a cabinet built into the base. You probably know that apartment rentals are notorious for a lack of usable space, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find myriad ways to make the most of it through planning and design. So try these tips and watch your tiny apartment magically expand.

For more home decor ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Whether you’ve upgraded from your apartment to a town house (but you’re still suffering from small-kitchen syndrome) you’ve had to downgrade during the recession, or you’ve simply been dealing with a postage-stamp sized cooking space for as long as you can remember and your buildup of gadgets has gotten overwhelming, you may find yourself seeking ways to up the ante when it comes to storage space in this pivotal part of your home. But short of doing a complete overhaul that encroaches on another room, you may not be certain how to go about meeting your goal (especially if you happen to be operating on a limited budget). So here are just a few creative ways that you can add more storage without going crazy.

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Assess you current kitchen space

The first thing you can do is find ways to maximize the space you already have. Suppose, for example, that you have a lot of vertical space to work with, but you’re only stacking dishes, cookware, and so on to about half the height available on each shelf. You don’t necessarily want to end up with items stacked precariously high in order to use all available space, so why not think about installing additional shelves so that you have more surface area to work with? This could allow you to utilize the cabinetry you already rather than shelling out a ton of dough for new cabinets.

You might also consider replacing only certain cabinets, like those that overlap in a corner space. Just because the builders didn’t think to put in corner cabinets in order to make this area usable doesn’t mean you have to replace all of the cabinetry in your kitchen. You may be able to simply overhaul the corners (or even add Lazy Susans as a cheap alternative). And of course, structuring your space with a variety of kitchen organizers could help you to maximize usage. Storage racks, bins, and other types of organizers can help you to make the space you have more efficient.

Use cabinets and storage to their best use

But perhaps you have unused space where additional cabinetry could be added. If you happen to have an island or bar area that has open space above it you could hang new cabinets from the ceiling in this area or simply add a pot rack to get bulky cookware out of the cabinets and clear the space for something else. Or if you have overhead cabinets that fall short of the ceiling, you could tear out the old ones and replace them with something taller (or potentially even expand the ones you already have, although a seamless renovation could be difficult). Replacing only a portion of your cabinetry in order to enhance your storage capabilities is bound to be far less expensive than tearing out all of your cupboards and putting in new ones (even if they are more functional).

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In truth, without a major renovation you probably won’t be able to secure a lot of extra storage space in the kitchen (it’s not as if that pods promo code in your email inbox will help you here – unless you want your storage in the driveway). But you can definitely find ways to use the storage you do have to your best advantage, as well as tap unused space (often overhead) to expand your storage potential.

For more kitchen & bath ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Living in a small home or apartment is definitely a great challenge on how to squeeze-in your things. But this should not hinder you to have a comfortable and stylish home. To give you some ideas on maximizing your space at home, here are useful tips to maximize your space and make the most of your cozy home!

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Assess your current belongings

Assessing the things that you can still use and things to be kept is important when you require more space at home. Instead of buying new home furnishing or accessories, you may have it remodeled and refurnish. This will prevent your things to pile up over time. You may also consider selling it at a garage sale or donating it to those in need.

Get Organized

If things are thrown all over the place of the house, the more it looks smaller. So, after you sort, organize it. Then you can use every inch of space you can have and keep the things that are not usually used in a closed cabinet or in a garage.

The right furniture and/or accessories

Look for items that are purposeful, adjustable and easy to move. For instance, a sofa bed that can be extendable and folded when not in use is a great choice. You may also have a chair that has a built-in storage cabinet underneath. Of course, select smaller scale furniture to provide a breathing room in every area at home.

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Maximize the space under your bed

Typically, bed consumes a lot of space and so makes use of the space under it.  You can use it for things that can use occasionally like seasonal clothes and Christmas decors. These can be kept underneath but ensure that you will use appropriate storage boxes. Do not forget to label it for easy access whenever you need it. Another option is to have a bed that has a storage cabinet with drawers.

You may also invest in hooks that can be used in hanging miscellaneous items. It can put at the back of the doors in any part of the house. These tips will definitely widen your space at home.

For more small home ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Now that spring is officially underway there is a desire to take advantage of Mother Nature’s most prized assets – sun, fresh air and to be amongst foliage and nature. Outdoor living can be enjoyable or it can be a challenge if you live in a smaller home, an urban location, or an apartment with limited outdoor space. Here are a few ways to make the most of the season and still bring nature into your small and cozy outdoor space.

Image via: Cotede Texas.Blogspot

Assess your outdoor living space:  

• While you may not have a sprawling patio to put pool furniture there may be more usable area than you think. Measure out your terrace, patio, or balcony area and take these measurements to your garden furniture or online site. Outdoor furniture in polywood, wrought iron, aluminum, and resin wicker styles are usually smaller in profile than large wood and upholstered furniture styles. Look for bistro chair and table sets that maximize vertical height and still enable 2 people to sit comfortably with a table. Don’t be limited by what you think is a small outdoor living area.

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Enliven your space with plants and decor: 

• While your area might be small you can still take advantage of nature by adding hanging plants, potted plants and key decor pieces such as lanterns or hanging lights throughout your small patio or terrace area. Bring in a colorful all-weather area rug to place below your furniture and decorate your chairs with gorgeous throw pillows. You will be surprised how quickly your cozy small outdoor space feels comfortable and inviting. When using decorative outdoor pieces, ensure you measure out how much space it will use and that there is sufficient walking space around your pieces. Try and use ceiling hung and wall decor as much as possible to avoid this problem.

Image via: Paris Nights and New York Lights.Tumblr

Every home should be able to enjoy outdoor living regardless of the space allotted to you. Even if you don’t have a space to call your own, invest in some portable picnic lounge chairs that you can take to your local park along with a picnic basket and a good book. Many cities have community gardens that the community can partake in and lounge and meet your neighbors. If you prefer to take advantage of nature from the inside of your home, consider window boxes full with beautiful seasonal blooms or even beautiful faux varieties. Enjoying the outdoors doesn’t require an expansive area, just the ability to let nature into your lifestyle!

For more outdoor living ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Lack of closet space is a common obstacle. Whether you’re renting an apartment, or your home’s storage space leaves much to be desired, it can be a daunting task to find the right spot for all of your belongings. Luckily, there is hope, and it can even be done on a budget.

Get Organized

The obvious, but often skipped, step in getting organized and finding storage solutions is to make sure you actually need the things you’re keeping in your home. So spend some time analyzing your items, and once you’re settled on what stays and what goes, consider which storage systems would work for you.

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One smart idea to keep in mind is giving pieces of furniture more than one job. Of course you prop your feet up on your ottoman, but what if the ottoman also held toys, blankets, and remotes? Baskets could be lined up underneath an entryway bench to hold mittens, scarves, dog leashes, and other items needed near the door. Placing a stylish trunk or hope chest at the end of the bed creates the illusion of a foot board while giving you storage for extra linens and a place to sit in the bedroom.

Choose a coffee table with a shelf underneath to hold magazines, entertainment items, or even closed baskets that hold miscellaneous items like office supplies or files from sorting your mail. Use a large dresser in your dining room as your buffet to hold table linens, serving ware, and small appliances. Put your television in an armoire and you’ll have lots of extra room for craft supplies, board games, stationary, and other things that would normally be stored in a closet.

Use Hidden Spaces

Also, think of looking “up” to find more storage space. Often the top 2 feet of a closet are completely ignored. Put a shelf way up high for things you don’t use often, like holiday decorations, and use up every inch of available space. Another brilliant idea is to hang a shelf, with brackets that match your style, above the door inside your bathrooms. That’s more unused space that could be filled with extra toiletries or towels.

Don’t Forget the Garage

The garage is another place you can find storage near the ceiling. There are many ideas on the internet for do-it-yourself storage systems made of wood, pvc pipe, and other materials that hang from the ceiling.

Don’t forget about hidden spaces, like under the beds. You can slide plastic bins underneath to hold out of season clothing, or consider building wooden boxes on casters that will roll in and out.

In other hidden spaces, like inside kitchen and bathroom cabinets, be sure to use mini-shelves or lazy susans within each cabinet to maximize the space. For example, don’t waste a 15 inch tall cabinet shelf by filling it up with only 4 inch tall spice jars.

No need to panic if your closet space is minimal. Make your furniture pieces more functional and use up every bit of space you can find!

Melanie Belasco Levy co-owns Houston Apartment Insiders, a free apartment locator service that works with almost all apartment complexes in town. Whether you are looking for an apartment in the Medical Center, Downtown, the Galleria, or anywhere else- HAI can help.

For more storage ideas on Stagetecture, click here

Choosing the Right Fireplace Mirror for your Home

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Given the large size of these mirrors they often create the feeling of a large amount of space for any room they are placed within.  The frames that surround the mirrors are often very elaborately designed and come in more shapes and sizes than one can count.  The style that one uses is often reflective of the materials and designs the rest of the home incorporates to work with everything instead of contrast it.  Even with these ideas there are many different options a household has to either work with or strategically stand out from everything else depending on the need.

Deciding on your mirror

The first thing one must do is decide where they are going to place it.  Overmantle mirrors are of course used mainly over the fireplace, but they serve a purpose in different parts of the room as well.  They are often most effective at transferring light and opening up lights given their massive size, and they should be placed for their intended purpose.  Installing these mirrors in a room opposite the mirrors is a good way to brighten the room with natural light instead of always running light bulbs.  Placing the mirror between windows can serve the same purpose, instead reflecting the light from the back wall to the ceiling and floor.

Image via: Remodelista

The last thing to do is decide on the shape and design of the mirror.  Wider mirrors are typically best in rooms that require the feeling of more space, and taller mirrors are better for decoration.  Lighting is not affected by the shape as much as its placement so that should not be considered here.  The type of frame is strictly up to the individual, but commonly plays off what other furniture styles are placed in the room.  Areas that do not have a defined style can get away with using simple white wall mirrors with minimal designs to blend in with the walls.  Black wall mirrors are good to add a sharp contrast to white walls to heavily define the presence of the mirror and go with everything else.  Colored frames are also good, but can easily ruin the look of a room if a non-neutral color is chosen.

For more mirror ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

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Plan installing corner baths for small sized bathrooms

There are different varieties in which corner baths are available and you can choose the one that you find best. After a long tiring day, it is a great pleasure to dip yourself in the corner bath and have a relaxing bath. This will help in shedding off all your tiredness and fatigue and rejuvenate and refresh you. You can also add essential oils and other fragrant elements in the corner bath to feel fresh. These baths come in different colors and patterns as well. You must buy the bath in sync with the bathroom color, floor tiles and wall tiles so that all the things look uniform and beautiful. A mismatching bathtub will ruin the entire decor and interiors of the bathroom.

Now it’s possible with the help of corner bath

The setting and theme of the bathroom plays a major role in selection of the corner bath for the washroom. If the bathroom has a traditional setting, the style and the design of the bath will be different than a bathroom that has a modern theme and setting. There are different kinds of accessories that are associated with corner baths and should be purchased keeping the bathtub in mind. There are many reputed brands that excel in the making of bathtubs that can be installed in the corners of bathrooms. The prices of the same vary depending on the materials used and the designs.

Marvelous space hoarders: corner baths a prerequisite for today

Ideal for small spaced, yet lavish and grand bathrooms, the corner bath is the solution to all your space crunch problems! Bath tubs are a statement of bathroom style, and those that may fit tight in a corner are a cunning escape from compromise for space.

Today, corner baths are available in all shapes and sizes to be custom fit into any corner of the bathroom that you may wish. A corner bath may form the focal point of your bathroom suite with other bathroom fixtures designed around it, or it may simply add a twist to that awkward corner in your modern bathroom!

These bath tubs are made from a variety of durable and light weight materials, making it easier to drain, clean and dry out completely, and the promise of lasting unspoiled for years to come. You may add a number of fixtures to the corner bath such as showers, jets, doors and curtains to ensure a personalized spa experience.

In modern bathrooms, corner baths can be fitted with a Jacuzzi or whirlpool, shower jet systems and even hydro therapy massagers to help you relax and let go of all your inhibitions and stress. Just lie back, and let your senses take over!

If you’d rather enjoy your bath time with music and television, you may actually get these fittings tailor made onto your corner bath. Additionally you may request for modern technological innovations such as aroma oil dispensers, underwater LED lights, and tub jets to add to your extravagant bath experience in your corner bath.

A corner bath is incomplete without soft music and dim light; and you may indulge yourself in a calming experience with a comfortable bath pillow and some aromatic essential oils. Let the young ones enjoy a bubble bath by adding some bath bombs or bath fizzles.

A corner bath is an intelligent choice to bring together the extravagance of comfortable bathrooms and the convenience of small spaces such as those we live in today. A corner bath represents a luxury in the midst of space saving designs; a retreat you can return to every day to rid yourselves of daily troubles and stress.

Jamith Peterson is an interior design specialist contributing extensively to the bathroom industry. He not only takes up design projects but also writes about various bathroom products like corner baths, steel bath, spa bath and design as well as DIY tips.

For more kitchen & bath ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

With winter in full swing the parts of your home that need the most protection are the ones exposed to the rain, snow, slush and mud on a daily basis. Whether this is your front entry, garage entry, laundry or mudroom, the need to have a place for all the wet stuff is crucial. If you have the option of having a large mudroom, you are fortunate. For those of us that have a small room, or maybe just a hallway, this post is for you (I’m raising my hand here, as I only have a laundry room wall!).

One from the archives…..

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Original Entry #416, February 13, 2011

Have you ever noticed that the one place in your home that gets the most dirt, wear and tear, and wet spots is the entrance to your home? Whether you enter your home from the main front door, a garage door, or even a side laundry room, trying to keep this area organized and clean can be a challenge.

Last year mudrooms were the second most viewed topic and post on Stagetecture – Best of 2010 – #2: Mudrooms: A Place for Storage, Sitting and Slickers

Of course we would all love massive mudrooms that you can fit your child’s bedroom in, but what if you don’t have a lot of space? Today’s post is dedicated to making a small space into a mudroom. While it may not be a ‘room’, designating a hub spot for all of the boots, hats, backpacks and umbrella’s would certainly help – right?

Here are a few ideas to turn your small entry, or corner of your garage or laundry room into a perfect mudroom.. or mudspace!

Here are key items to make sure you have all the mudroom amenities you should need.

1.) Storage:

Movable, versatile boxes and baskets, as well as wall hooks for coats, winter wear and pet supplies!

2.) Wet wear placement:

If you don’t have floor space, how about build cubbies with rubber mats to store shoes, and then have a bench to sit on below?

3.) Maximize wall space

If you don’t have space to install cabinetry, use hooks and creative placement of wall organization to still have a perfect mudroom area.

For more mudroom ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

If you have rooms of your home that are small are just feel small, the addition of mirrors may do just the trick to make your space feel larger, brighter and more inviting, Whether you are in a small bathroom, or want to add more drama and light to your dining room, there is a mirror for every space.

Take a look at these mirror ideas I found, I guarantee, there are a few ideas here that are begging to be mimicked in your home!

Brightening bathroom

One way to brighten up a dark bathroom is by adding a mirror against a high contrast colored wall. In this bathroom the yellow wall and the mirrors reflecting the window on the opposite wall bring in a flood of beautiful light. Nothing is better than tons of natural light into a bathroom… no surprises when you are looking at yourself in the mirror.

Image via: My Little Happy Place

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Double drama

These double floor standing mirrors add instant drama and an eye-catching way to draw your eye directly to the dining room. The rich dark frames around the mirrors guarantee that you will notice them, while still enlarging the space.

Image via: Decor Pad

Colorfully simple

I love this idea of taking colorful framed mirrors of various sizes and placing them on a dresser, or table! This idea is so simple, it is scary. These gorgeous pink ones would look great in a small bedroom, and reflecting the gorgeous flowers, who wouldn’t want to awake to this sight in the morning?

Image via: Gypsy Purple Home.Tumblr

Mirrored closet doors

Back in the 70’s, sliding mirrors doors were quite the interior design trend. I love the Parisian feel to these doors that still enlarge the room, but keep it tasteful and not over powering with reflectance. Gorgeous!

Image via: The Essence of the Good Life

Mirrors can be used in many ways, from furniture and closet doors, to a collage of mirrors lining your long stairwell, the possibilities are endless. Antique and vintage stores make great places to discover mirrors, and to add a do it yourself project on to, for a customized look for your interiors.

For more bedroom ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Like so many of you I enjoy gorgeous photography! The only thing better than great images, are beautifully photographed holiday home decor. Over the weekend I came across some great images on Pinterest, and thought I would share them with you.

Christmas trees are usually the show stopper and the main attraction in most of our homes at the holidays. Here are a few I found that are not only beautiful, but command center stage in any holiday home! Whether you enjoy trees that look like they belong in a castle or you like simplicity, I have picked a few trees that I’m sure you will love.

Grand Elegance

Image via: Inspired-design.Tumblr

Magazine Christmas Trees

Image via: Martha Stewart

Rustic Simplicity

Image via: Completely Coastal

Paper Trees

Image via: Martha Stewart

Potpourri Trees

Image via: Etsy.Topiaries

Tiffany Blue Christmas

Image via: Christmas Decorating.Tumblr

Whether large or small, grand or simple, make your Christmas tree tell something about you and your holiday home!

For more holiday ideas on Stagetecture, click here.