#small-spaces

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Nothing sucks away your creative drive like cleaning crusty day-old peanut butter from your kitchen table and hiking upstairs to retrieve the sewing machine from your husband’s nightstand before finally getting to work.

Since childhood, I’ve had a passion for creating and the desire for a dedicated creative space. I learned to sew in my parents’ sewing room, crafting Barbie clothes and miniature pillows for my dollhouse on my grandma’s Singer Featherweight from the 1930’s.

Unlike my parents, most of us don’t have a whole room for our hobbies, so the kitchen table and nightstand seem like reasonable places to work and stow supplies.

But there’s another option.

Do you have an empty nook or wall and a lot of disorganized craft supplies? If the answer is “yes” than you can create a little haven for all your crafting bits and baubles.

Our guest room has the perfect nook for a small craft area, but it didn’t live up to its potential until I gave it a big makeover on a small budget.

How could I create anything here? The mess doesn’t inspire creativity and prevents productivity – and there isn’t even a chair!

Fed up with wasting time rummaging for my hot glue gun, I followed the five room makeover tips used to redecorate the other half of the room to set up a functional and pretty small craft area.

Set the Groundwork for a Creative Space

Here’s how I used the 5 Room Makeover Tips That Will Make You Love Your Space to set the groundwork for a makeover with major impact:

Removed my blinders: The photo above screams “CHAOS!” The work surface is too small, the lighting is all wrong, and there’s no chair.

Determined who and why: This nook is a craft space for me and the kids, home office for our family, and occasional working space for my husband.

Visually mocked up the design: The mood boards from our guest room makeover guided the nook’s color scheme.

Shopped my home first: I seriously decluttered the space, and the only new items are the wall light, monitor, and chair.

Mixed styles: The tufted chair works well with the dresser’s pretty curves, and the basic IKEA desk goes with just about everything.

  Before we get into more detail about what you need to create your very own small craft area, let’s look at the “after” view from the same angle as the first photo.

New paint color: Nebulous White by Sherwin Williams.

3 Essential Elements to Create Your Small Craft Area

If your passion is making things but you have limited space, look for an underused wall, nook, or closet to create an inspiring and organized crafting spot.

1. Storage to Hide the Ugly and Display the Pretty

Guests who stay overnight in this room don’t need to see a pile of felt, glue sticks, and paper scraps. Here’s how to craft supplies in a small space:

The IKEA Alex drawer unit has plenty of storage for craft and office supplies, while the dresser (an estate sale find) is filled with fabric, paper, and more.

An old filing cabinet, revived with white spray paint, holds important documents and folders for each school year to keep my kids’ mementos neat and organized.

A DIY pegboard, made from materials we already had, keeps tools off the desk and adds a bold pop of color.

Basic laminate shelves got a quick, paint-free update and provide a place to display meaningful artwork and keep paper organized.

IKEA LINNMON Desk, Tufted Office Chair

2. Room to Work

Select the largest desk to fit in your space so you have plenty of room to work. IKEA has excellent inexpensive options, or build your own with an old door topped with a sheet of Plexiglass on top of two filing cabinets.

Moving our filing cabinet a foot to the right maximized the work area and created room for useful tools under the desk, such as:

Recycling basket (my kids check here first before using the “good paper” for their projects)

Trash can

Paper shredder

Dowels and twine keep ribbon and washi tape attached to the board. Old shower caddies – minus the suction cups – keep craft paint easy to access.

3. The Right Light

Our old floor lamp took up precious space, and wasn’t bright enough either. A wall light is a much better solution, although I’m still on the fence about the IKEA RANARP. This plug-in wall lamp’s industrial style looks great here, but the 40W bulb is too dim for nighttime sewing.

Never worry about peanut butter on your fabric again.

Pinterest is filled with gorgeous craft rooms, and it would be nice to have a whole room with washi tape, scrapbook paper, and craft paint from floor to ceiling. Don’t let lack of space hold you back. Look around your home for a little space you can transform into your personal creative haven, where the only sticky substance on the table will be from your hot glue gun.

Do you have a craft room or a craft nook? I’d love to see it! Drop a link in the comments below, or share a photo on Facebook.

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Check out these other decorating solutions!

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5 Room Makeover Tips That Will Make You Love Your Space

How to Upgrade Laminate Shelves With One Clever Trick

9 Pretty + Practical Desk Chairs Your Bum Will Love

Small Space Book Storage Ideas

Let’s talk about where to store books when you are short on space. Although I have an e-reader, I still love the feel of a real book in my hands, and believe it’s especially important for kids to have access to physical books and not just stories on an iPad. But, where in the world to display and store a book collection if you don’t have the budget for built-ins, and don’t have the space for…

A pint-size apartment (this one is only 307 square feet) doesn’t need to feel cramped. With a few small renovations (and super-slick furniture swaps!), a small space can look much roomier. There are four key problems with this cozy (okay, claustrophobic) aparment. See how it transforms into a generous, soothing home.

No Room for Furniture The living room here is a mishmash of furniture, some too large-scale, making it feel cluttered and cramped.

One Solution: Scaled-Down Style and Cooler Color Swap out overstuffed furniture for trim, tailored pieces and let cooler colors, like this pale blue, take the lead. Warmer colors make a room feel more cozier – not exactly what a tiny space needs.

Another Solution: A Slimmer Sofa This sofa is skirtless and lichen-colored, making it seem less imposing. It doesn’t require an entire room of new furniture to make a tiny area feel bigger – even swapping out one piece (like this sofa) can help a place feel more livable.

But the Real MVP Is… Shelving saves the day! Floor-to ceiling shelves can help to organize all that stuff you’ve collected over the years. Another lesson: Storage can be beautiful. The books are stacked horizontally by color.

…

A Kiddie-Size Kitchen This kitchen is a real eyesore – an affront to the living area. In addition, it only has a mini-fridge and barely any storage space! Where to keep all the pots and pans?

The Solution: Now You See It, Now You Don’t Sometimes, there’s no way to improve the look of the actual kitchen unit, so you’ve gotta improvise. Here, a sheer linen curtain hides the kitchen when not in use.

And When You Do See It, It’s Beautiful With a few basic steps, the outmoded cabinetry looks modern. No more doors on the cabinets, just grand, airy open storage. Also, painting makes even the cheapest wood laminate look better.

…

A Shortage of Surfaces This console table can really hold only a lamp and your oversize work bag. So when it comes to eating dinner, the only other choice is the coffee table!

The Solution: The Unbelievable Folding Table Get rid of the clutter catcher! Here, this drop-leaf-design table stands in for the clunky console. And a chair is added on either side (for dining!). When both leaves are down, the table is less than a foot wide.

The Folding Table – Unfolded! With one leaf up, there’s plenty of room to work, and with a 90-degree swivel, it’s a table for six – count ‘em, six – for dinner.

A Few Other Tricks One ingenious tweak that made a huge difference: a mantel extension. Thanks to the sofa’s spindly silhouette, there is room for an almost-large coffee table. A thin LCD TV is better for decor – now, there’s room for a stand with a narrow bench! If you’re feeling adventurous, add a cozy for the TV to add color to the room.

…

A Bedroom That Felt More Like a Bomb Shelter Perhaps the most challenging part of the apartment: a bedroom with one narrow window that holds an air conditioner (and therefore lets in no light), barely room for a (mere full-size!) bed, and one closet – relatively spacious, but only big enough to hold one season’s worth of stuff.

The Solution: Finding the Center Even though there are only 13 inches on either side of it, the bed has to be centered – quite simply, it makes the room make sense! A headboard – really just fabric hung from a wooden dowel – lends weight to the “center” of the room. There’s more of that lovely symmetry in the two bedside tables.

… And Some Hidden Storage Built-in drawers and the storage boxes below can hold underwear, bras, socks … you get it.

…And Being Smart with the Spaces You Do Have Simple shoulder hooks in the inside of the closet can hold necklaces – the clutter of jewelry on a bedside table can make the bedroom feel overwhelming. And as for the shoes, they can stand proudly (and neatly) in two sturdy wooden organizers.

…

The Result A truly transforming makeover – and a very happy ending. This airy aerie is about the size of most people’s backyard patios! Thanks to petite furniture, an eye-fooling paint color, and a slew of storage spots, it feels positively spacious.

—Jennifer Noonan

Space is a limited resource in many homes, and figuring out how to make the most of it is no easy task. These 13 surefire tactics will show you how to use smart design tricks, organization strategies, and color cues to make every inch count in your small space.

1. Make it Multifunctional

Photo: airbnb.com

Make your room multifunctional by carving out distinct zones for various functions. Here, a lofted bed hides atop a closet unit, combining two important bedroom necessities into one and leaving the rest of the available space free to serve as an office area.

RELATED:  10 Tips for Creating a Home Office that Works for You

2. Swap Your Doors

Photo: airbnb.com

Traditional doors require a significant footprint to allow for their swing. Consider swapping traditional French doors for sliding doors, and your small space will feel more open. This slider hangs from a valance just under the ceiling. As a bonus, its subtle blue shade adds a pop of color to the space.

RELATED:  Tight Quarters? 10 Smart Space-Saving Door Solutions

3. Get Leggy

Photo: airbnb.com

Furniture that’s upholstered all the way to the floor can swallow up a room fast. In a small space, opt for open pieces that are supported by slim legs—they will feel lighter and airier. The more floor you can see, the bigger the room feels.

RELATED:  Double-Duty Furniture—9 Affordable Favorites That Save Space

4. Add an Unexpected Element

Photo: airbnb.com

Emphasize whatever assets your small space has by creating unexpected but eye-pleasing focal points. This room highlights multiple showstoppers, including the statement-making floor pattern and pops of color on the window trim. It’s the climbing plant on the wall, however, that steals the show, drawing the eye upward to make the space feel bigger.

RELATED:  Awesome Accents—17 Ways to Make Any Space Pop with Color

5. Mix Storage with Decor

Photo: airbnb.com

Make practical shelving pretty by mixing decorative elements with items that need to be stored. These shelves house everyday objects that are camouflaged by colorful accessories, adding elevated style to an otherwise ordinary organization staple.

RELATED:  Shelf Life—10 Bookcases You Can Make Yourself

6. Get Rid of Unnecessary Furniture

Photo: airbnb.com

Purge any furniture that you don’t absolutely need in a small space, and find creative ways to replace its functionality. This diminutive bedroom easily does without a side table by mounting a reading lamp to the wall and using a deep window ledge for bedside storage.

RELATED:  Get Organized—25 Clever Ideas for Repurposed Storage

7. Try Open Storage

Photo: charlesandhudson.com

Open shelving visually fills less space than closed cabinets, and is a great way to display collections of favorite dishware, cookbooks, or other kitchen necessities. The only catch is to keep them neat—otherwise they might end up adding clutter to your room instead of calm.

RELATED:  9 Calming Colors for a Serene Home

8. Choose a Color Theme

Photo: flickr.com / via coco+kelley

Use a cohesive color theme to unify decor in a small space. Consistent pops of blue and black add energy to this white palette, giving the room a streamlined and visually organized feel.

RELATED:  Winning Combinations—9 “Can’t Miss” Color Schemes

9. Expand With Mirrors

Photo: ikea.com

It’s a go-to design trick because it works: Hang mirrors in a small room to make it feel lighter and brighter. And don’t be afraid to use more than one! While you might want to avoid placing them directly across from one another, combining wall mirrors with mirrored furniture is a great way to make a small space feel larger.

RELATED:  10 Classic Ways to Brighten a Dark Room

10. Loft Your Bed

Photo: ikea.com

Raising your sleeping quarters allows you to use floor space in other functional ways, such as for additional furniture or organization pieces. With the bed out of the way, this room uses floor space mainly for barrier-free lounging and living.

RELATED:  10 Bunk Beds Well Worth the Climb

11. Consider Sky-High Storage

Photo: ikea.com

Utilize every inch of vertical space and make the room feel more open by incorporating tall cabinets or stacked shelves into your space. Keep decorative accessories on top shelves, and fill the lower ones with items that are used frequently but still need to be stored.

RELATED: The Best 9 Storage Spots You Aren’t Already Using

12. Clear Your Space

Photo: cb2.com

Furniture made of lucite or glass will virtually disappear to the eye. A small space can benefit from that transparency—what once felt cluttered and clunky will instead feel airy and light.

RELATED:  10 Alternatives to a Formal Dining Room

13. Play With Height and Proportion

Photo: zillow.com/digs

Varying the height of seating can help you get more out of a small space. Floor pillows, ottomans, poufs, or even kids’ furniture mixed in with the rest of the design can help a small room accommodate a crowd.

Arranging your furniture is hard enough when all the furniture you own isn’t jammed into a single room. But here you are, in your itty bitty one room apartment, generously called a ‘studio’, and all that stuff has to go somewhere. Take heart! And take a few lessons from these real-life studio apartment layouts, created by real-life studio apartment dwellers life yourself.

Click the links in the descriptions to see more photos of each apartment.

Above: Sandra’s Toronto studio feels surprisingly spacious for an apartment that’s only 204 square feet. A trunk next to the bed creates a bit of separation between living and sleeping areas, as well as providing extra storage. And instead of a couch, Sandra has opted for a single comfy chair — just right for an apartment for one.

Linsey creates a separation between the living and sleeping areas of her West Village studio with a simple trick: placing the sofa and the bed on opposite walls. This helps to define the two spaces, and eliminates that hotel-room feeling that comes from sitting on a sofa that’s right next to the head of your bed. It also leaves space for a small work area at the foot of the bed.

If you’re dealing with a studio apartment but hate the idea of looking at your bed all the time, take a cue from deRaismes’ 312 square foot DC studio. Here, a bookcase (the trusty IKEA Expedit - now Kallax) creates a legitimate bedroom on one side of the space — there’s even a folding door. A sofa, with a console table behind, helps define the transition between living room and kitchen. It’s a great idea for a small space, as the console can also provide additional kitchen storage and countertop space in a pinch.

If you have enough space, simply floating the sofa away from the bed, like Lauren did in her San Francisco studio, can be enough to create the feeling of a separate living area. Just because your space is on the small side doesn’t mean all the furniture has to hug the walls. Floating furniture in the middle of the room can help a room feel much more spacious, and open up a lot more space planning possibilities.

In Amelia’s 490 square foot New York apartment, she’s created a cozy bedroom nook by positioning her bed in a corner, and placing a bookcase at the foot of the bed. This leaves plenty of space for her living/dining area, which is actually quite spacious — proof that you can have it all in just one room.

More from Apartment Therapy:

The Dirty Little Secret of Small Space Living

—Debra immergut

A bathroom doesn’t need to be vast to feel comfortable, soothing, and elegantly efficient. A smaller space just requires some well-planned storage options and a clean, welcoming decor. These design tricks fit the bill on both fronts: They offer smart ways to maximize space, and they do it with uncluttered, style-savvy good looks.

1. Aim High

Photo: mysocalledhome.com

That foot or two above the door is an often-overlooked spot to eke out an extra bit of storage space in any room. In a bathroom, it’s perfect for spare toilet paper rolls and bins full of cleaning or grooming supplies. If you’re not tall enough to reach, take a cue from this homeowner and keep a folding stool in a corner.

RELATED: 16 Sneaky Storage Ideas

2. Crystal Clear

Photo: sweeten.com

A gleaming glass shower door is a classic choice for a tiny bathroom because it keeps the space feeling open. Be sure to choose a tempered variety, which is safer than regular glass.

RELATED: 10 Design Essentials for the Perfect Modern Bath

3. Thin Out

Photo: ebay.com

The fixtures that make up a bathroom—toilet, sink, and tub or shower stall—are big and immovable, which limits options for fitting in much storage furniture. That’s what makes a slim, freestanding drawer unit so ingenious. It makes the most of that narrow slot next to the toilet, hiding extra paper rolls and all kinds of gear in an unassuming, water-resistant cabinet.

RELATED: 17 Tiny Bathrooms We Love

4. Don’t Shed Tiers

Photo: bedbathandbeyond.com

Noticing a pattern? Embrace vertical storage by making use of a number of levels. Note how this small shelving unit packs multiple tiers of storage into a quarter-round shape that can be slipped neatly into an empty corner on the floor or countertop. An oil-rubbed bronze finish adds texture and warmth—big plusses in the bathroom, which can often feel a bit sterile and chilly.

RELATED: Easy Storage Ideas for Every Room in the House

5. DIY a Drawer

Photo: lowes.com

No built-in storage drawers? Install them yourself in the existing cabinetry or shelves. This wooden unit from Lowe’s is sold as a kitchen solution, but it works equally well in a bathroom cabinet. Simply screw the tracks onto a shelf, and you’ve got a sliding drawer that’s the perfect size for toiletries and cosmetics.

RELATED: Supersize Your Small Bath with These 8 Pro Tips

6. Reflect on This

Photo: ikea.com

Mirrors are a key element in the home-design bag of tricks—and especially appropriate for a small bath. Note how this tall storage cabinet looms less large thanks to its mirrored door. Along with its matching medicine chest, the cabinet increases storage space without making the room feel overstuffed.

RELATED: 8 Bright Ideas to Boost Natural Light

7. Borrow From Your Entryway

Photo: ikea.com

Take a long look at your entryway, where you store coats, shoes, and hats, and you’ll find inspiration for another room in your house! Any coat rack works equally well in a bathroom, where it can catch robes and soggy towels.

RELATED: Hang On—9 Designs for a DIY Coat Rack

8. Double the Duty

Photo: ikea.com

When selecting bathroom furniture, look for items that offer enough function to earn their keep. For example, this artful seat is a chair and a towel rack! This design bundles a lot of functionality into a compact and lovely package. Crafted from bamboo for a spa vibe, it offers a place to perch, rungs for hanging items, and a shelf underneath for shampoos or a scale.

RELATED: Double-Duty Furniture—9 Affordable Favorites That Save Space

9. Get Some New Wheels

Photo: ikea.com

Lifesavers for small spaces, wheeled carts bring flexibility to the layout with their ability to simply roll clutter into another room when company comes. On this clean-lined IKEA model, a sectioned top tray organizes a slew of little items, such as makeup and toothbrushes. The shelves underneath can be removed to accommodate larger articles as needed, and there are even bars for hanging towels on the sides.

RELATED: Trading Places—9 Reasons to Steal Furniture from Other Rooms

10. Don’t Forget the Doors!

Photo: wayfair.com

It’s an oldie but a goodie: When storage space is tight, check behind your doors. A large organizer or hook rack can be suspended from the bathroom entry door. Smaller units, such as this shiny shelf, can be hooked inside an undersink cabinet to keep grooming gadgets or cleaning supplies within reach.

—Jennifer Noonan

If you’ve got a small room that feels cramped and tiny, you may have tried opening up the space with a coat of white paint. Perhaps one of the most common pieces of design advice, white paint can indeed make a small room feel airier. That’s not your only choice, though. There are several colors, including dark, bright, and bold ones, that can work in small spaces. Click through our favorites before you head to the paint store.

1. Mellow Taupe

Photo: Susan Victor via Zillow Digs

Low ceilings in small spaces can leave a room feeling stuffy. Open up the space by painting the walls and ceiling in the soothing tone of taupe. The dimensions of the room will melt away, making it feel bigger and warmer, too.

RELATED: 11 Lessons to Learn from AirBnB’s Tiniest Homes

2. Cheerful Yellow

Photo: abeautifulmess.com

Instantly inject cheer into a small and poorly lit space by painting it a lively yellow. An excellent color choice for half bathrooms and tiny galley kitchens, it will quickly wake you up and help you start the day on the sunny side.

RELATED:  10 Classic Ways to Brighten a Dark Room

3. Deep Blue

Photo: Zillow Digs

Play up the coziness of a small room by enveloping the walls in a dark blue hue. In a study or bedroom it will create a cocoon-like peacefulness that invites introspection. If the thought of four dark walls leaves you feeling claustrophobic, consider a navy blue accent wall in an otherwise neutral room.

RELATED: 11 Reasons We Love Blue Bedrooms

4. Crisp Green

Photo: Designed by Mandeville Caynon Designs; photographed by Nat Rea

Crisp and cool green paint turns a small room into a peaceful sanctuary. Ideal for a bedroom, it will provide both a clean, bright design, while establishing a soothing environment.

RELATED:  10 Small Bedrooms with Huge Amounts of Style

5. Dazzling Orange

Photo: Kimball Starr via Zillow Digs

It may seem counterintuitive to choose a big and bold color for a small room, but it can work. Painting a small space a saturated orange will draw the focus away from the furniture, knickknacks, and appliances in the room, bringing your eye up the walls and making the space feel bigger.

RELATED:  The Best Paint Colors for Low Light Rooms

6. Neutral Gray

Photo: Zillow Digs

Neutral colors in medium tones give a space substance and style without overwhelming a small room. Paint the walls of a small living room or dining room a warm gray and immediately elevate your decor.

RELATED:  Set the Tone—8 Colors for an Inviting Dining Room

7. Almost White

Photo: designed by Sarah Phipps Design; photographed by Joseph Eastburn

Nearly white paint comes in a range of shade from eggshell to ivory to beige—and there’s a reason a fresh coat of any of these colors is a popular choice for small spaces. It reflects light and lifts the eye away from clutter, creating a calming retreat.