5 life hacks for living in a small apartment - simple and complex tips from designers

Designers know dozens of life hacks that can make a person’s life in a small apartment more convenient. If you don't have enough space, use some of them, and you will immediately notice that the living area remains the same, but the space has increased significantly.

Proper storage of things

Everyone who has to live in a small apartment has one global problem - lack of storage space. Sooner or later, the number of things exceeds a critical level, not a single square centimeter remains on the balcony that is not filled with something, and half of their contents fall out of the cabinets when opened. To prevent this from happening, you need to:

• use vacuum bags. Out-of-season clothing, guest blankets and pillows, spare towels and sleeping sets - all this will take up three times less space;
  
• use vertical surfaces for storage. For example, on the front door you can hang shelves for bags, keys, slippers, and umbrellas. If you have a lot of books, you should build a shelf for them “on the second floor of the room,” that is, under the ceiling. Also suitable for this purpose are shelves placed on both sides of the window;
  
• allocate space for a pantry. Even if it turns out to be one meter by one meter in size, you can put all mops, brooms, buckets, basins, detergent supplies, sports equipment and other things out of sight.
  

Multifunctionality and reduced size

In a small apartment, sliding doors are relevant. Being open, they do not take up space or limit the view, thereby creating the illusion of spaciousness. The same goes for curtains: instead of heavy floor-length curtains, you should prefer roller blinds or blinds.

If you associate white plastic blinds with an office, pay attention to wooden ones - they are more expensive, but create an atmosphere of comfort and tranquility in your home.

Furniture should be multifunctional. For example, wardrobe beds are now popular (the bed reclines, and under it there are hangers with clothes). To avoid buying a bedside table, you should build a pull-out shelf into the bed for your phone and other small items. The headboard can serve as the same shelf if its thickness is 10–12 cm.

Cabinets, including kitchen cabinets, should be chosen as high as possible, not wide. For a technical gap between the ceiling and the top of the cabinet, 3 mm is sufficient.

Non-standard apartment zoning

Most people are accustomed to zoning space using walls and doors. But for small apartments it is better to use sliding partitions and color zoning.

To visually increase the living space, you will have to demolish all the walls, except for the load-bearing ones and those that separate the bathroom. You can replace concrete partitions with light screens made of fabric, mirror glass or bamboo.

Flooring will help to visually delimit the space by changing its standard proportions.Designers have been using this life hack for years:

• A small “patch” near the front door is tiled (it is easy to clean and has good wear resistance).
• In the kitchen and in the hallway, floors are laid from the same material, removing the threshold and making interior joints invisible. Sometimes they also “capture” part of the room.
• The room and the balcony are also connected using flooring. It should be different from what was used in the kitchen.

Selection of color and light

Dark corners visually make the apartment smaller. Unfortunately, houses are not always designed with natural light in mind, so you need to correct the problem using interior tricks - for example, covering such areas with white wallpaper or placing light-colored furniture there.

Artificial lighting should also cover the entire room evenly. One chandelier in the center of the ceiling is an outdated design solution that is not suitable for living in a small apartment. It is better to use several wall lamps in combination with additional light sources - floor lamps, table lamps.

"Mirrored windows" and mirror doors

On the wall opposite the window, it is worth making a so-called “mirror window”. Firstly, it will reflect the sun's rays, making the room brighter. And secondly, it will create the illusion of large space.

Cabinet doors work on a similar principle, even if they are located away from the window. Therefore, it is worth making them mirrored, if not completely, then at least partially.

Of course, not everyone can afford expensive renovations that involve tearing down walls and replacing floors. But even such simple life hacks as organizing lighting and proper storage can work wonders.