Tips for organizing small spaces

COURTNEY SMITH

Organization is key when living in small spaces such as dorm rooms.

1. Get rid of the junk. Small spaces are not made with the kind of storage space or floor area that can house a lot of knick-knacks and things that are not necessary for everyday life. Good rule of thumb for cleaning everything out: If it hasn’t been worn, watched, played with or used in a year, throw it out, sell it or donate it to a charity.

2. Separate the different living spaces by arranging furniture around various central focuses. Instead of just putting a dining room table in the living room and calling it a day, try to separate the spaces by hanging a light over the table and positioning the couches and other seating with their backs to the eating area and centered around the coffee table or television. Then, an apartment with only one common area can have several individually designed spaces.

3. Separation of space can further be achieved by hanging sheer colored curtains in doorways to form a barrier that will separate the space while still allowing light to flow from one room to another.

4. Hang sheer curtains on the windows as well instead of opting for heavier fabrics that will darken the room. Natural light will make the room appear much larger and help save on space that would have to be used for lamps and other lighting fixtures if the room were darker. Bonus: More natural light also helps save on electricity bills.

5. To make the ceilings appear taller, hang the curtain rods 6-12 inches above the tops of the windows. This will lengthen the wall and help cover up awkwardly spaced or sized windows while adding a splash of color and keep the space from feeling too cramped.

6. Hang interesting colored lights from the ceiling or walls to give the room a dimmed and relaxing atmosphere at night. Christmas lights are perfect for this (it may not be classy but it is cheap and add a lot of visual interest) because they do not take up as much space as floor and table lamps while still giving off a fair amount of light. Choosing lights that match the colors in the room can help make the lights blend more and not appear out of place or trashy. The best way to find Christmas lights that match most decors and color schemes is to scour stores that carry holiday decorations right before and after the holiday that matches the color palette of the room. Bonus: They most likely will be on sale!

7. Try to hang most wall art without frames or choose ones that are very thin and blend in with the color of the walls. Heavy wooden and stained frames add too much bulk to small walls and make the entire room appear smaller, over powered and crowded.

8. Use the same principle when choosing coffee and side tables. Instead of a large, dark and heavily stained coffee table, opt for a glass top stacked and secured to some sort of interesting “legs.” Although, be sure the glass top is at least a half inch thick so it will not shatter when things like plates or glasses are dropped on it. No matter how careful everyone is it will happen and picking tiny glass shards out of carpet is not fun.

9. Mirrors are a great way to make a room look instantly bigger because they reflect light and make the room appear to go beyond the walls where they hang. While large mirrors can work, it is often more interesting to buy a lot of small mirrors that are different shapes and sizes that can be stacked and formed into a design. Then, not only does the room appear bigger, but it also has a lovely focal point that can be used when getting dressed or, gasp!, undressing someone else.

10. When shopping for furniture, scale down the height of all the pieces so they do not appear towering compared to low ceilings. It is better is fill the space horizontally and leave open wall up above to display pictures or hang interesting fabrics than to have a few very tall pieces and a series of small and fragmented open floor areas.