Good things can come in small packages.
Like the 10-by-13-foot dining room in a 1700s Maytown home that got a stylish makeover from Sarah and Kimberly Emlet, sisters-in-law and co-owners of Haven Made in Lancaster.
Or the room Sarah Wolfe, owner of Sarah Wolfe Design in Lancaster, recently put together with her daughter, who attends college in Arizona and picked the smallest room in a house to get the best deal on rent.
“Small spaces can actually be a lot more impactful than a larger room,” Wolfe says. “The pieces that you put into a small space have to have a purpose and a function, which can actually make the whole design aesthetic feel a lot more cohesive.”
That’s good news for Lancaster County residents, for a number of reasons, considering the ever-increasing expanse of apartments.
For example, High Real Estate is currently working on the the largest residential project ever approved in East Lampeter Township. It’s slated to feature 600 apartments across four five-story buildings. And Apartments.com lists more than 1,000 apartments currently available to rent in the county.
Some apartments are, of course, quite spacious. Others? Not so much. Same can be said for many of the houses and townhomes in the county. So, with all that in mind, we’ve compiled 10 tips for small spaces.
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Don’t push it.
Better Homes & Gardens this week ran an article called “Avoid These Small Living Room Mistakes.” Here’s one: “Although your first instinct might be to push furniture as close to the wall as physically possible to open up more space in the middle of the room, designers actually advise against this,” notes that piece.
“Float furniture slightly away from the walls to create a more open look,” Designer Amanda Leigh of House of Rolison told BH&G.
Careful with the couch.
A common mistake Wolfe sees in small rooms is putting in a sofa that’s too big. “It’s better to get a small couch and then bring in accent chairs or other seating opportunities that give you options without overwhelming your space,” she says.
Sure, some companies deal only in the massive. But increasingly that’s not the case. She points at West Elm, which has a search feature for small spaces on its website.
“I think brands are becoming more aware that not everyone needs a 110-inch sofa,” she says.
Wolfe bought just part of a sectional at the West Elm outlet for $130 and has used that to stage a few spaces. Using just part of a straight-edged sectional would be too obvious, she says. Not so with this one.
“And because it’s got a curve to it, it can tuck into a corner better or can work on an angle where a straight couch can’t,” she says. “So, there’s a weird hack on how to use a sectional and save money at the same time.”
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Keep it consistent.
“A lot of people think a darker color is going to make your room look smaller,” Wolfe says. And small space advice often includes using light colors. But dark can work if deployed correctly, she says. That means keeping to the color theme.
“Sometimes, when you break up a room with a variety of colors it can actually make the space feel choppy and smaller,” she says. “Just going dark is not a bad idea. But pick one and go with it.”
Sarah Wolfe used this area rug to define a workspace in the small room her college-age daughter rents in Arizona.
Define it.
Rugs can help define a space even within a very small space. Cue the one Wolfe used for her daughter’s room to bring together a small workspace beside the bed. The mother-daughter duo found that rug in a thrift shop. Trekking furniture from Pennsylvania to Arizona wasn’t an option.
“So we bought it all, put it all together, found the rugs, the décor and all that in like three days,” she says. “We were able to make it look cute on a budget and a little bit of a time crunch.”
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Reflect on it.
When you’re not using lamps to, say, read, aim them so they cast light on your walls or toward your ceiling, suggests designer Chelsey Brown in her book “Shut The Front Door: Make Any Space Feel Bigger, Brighter and More Beautiful Without Going Broke.” That works especially well if the walls are white or a light neutral.
“The ceiling will turn into a ‘reflector’ … spreading the light and having it bounce off walls and surfaces,” Brown writes.
Be clear.
Acrylic or Lucite furniture is an option to consider if that’s your vibe.
“Because the materials are clear, they don’t slow down the eyes and always make a smaller space appear larger and less cluttered,” Brown writes.
Modern apartments aren’t the only abodes with space constraints. In this before-and-after, Sarah and Kimberly Emlet - sister-in-law co-owners of Haven Made in Lancaster – made over this 10-by-13 dining room in a 1700s Maytown home by going bold with the wallpaper and light fixture, painting the chair rail and lower parts of the wall white to help widen the room, and using minimal window treatments to let in more light.
Be bold.
That’s one of the tips the Emlets worked together to compile in an email.
“Choosing one or two things in a small space to bring wow factor but leaving the rest of the room more visually minimal is a great tactic for small spaces,” they say, adding that technique worked in the Maytown dining room. “We went bold in ways that do not take up floor space with this gorgeous wallpaper and light fixture.”
Consider your surroundings.
“Your main living spaces should share a similar color palette and style,” the Emlets say. “Carrying the same wall color (and flooring, if you can) throughout multiple areas of your home will help those spaces feel connected and more expansive.”
Keep it covered.
The Emlets say they often see folks go too small with their rugs.
“Sizing up your area rug can actually highlight just how much floor space you do have,” they say.
Let there be light.
A small room that’s not well lit is going to look small, the sisters-in-law say. Choosing the right window treatments is clutch. In the Maytown dining room, they went with minimal window treatments to let in plenty of sun.
“In other spaces, the answer may be to hang drapes high and wide to make the windows appear as large as possible,” they say.
