Many people who are faced with the decoration of a small apartment put their hands to their heads and do not know where to start. Beginner’s mistakes are often made, such as cramming it with objects or, even worse, leaving it empty, at the coldest end of minimalism and without any kind of personal stamp.
We have compiled the best advice from four experts on the subject: the interior designer Natalia Zubizarreta, the architect Rocío Peral, the decorator Alejandra Muñoz and the interior designer Pia Capdevila. The warning is made: take note of these professional tips to make it very easy to decorate your small home.
Circulation and proportion
Interior designer Natalia Zubizarreta says that one of the most important aspects is to create a correct distribution. “The important thing in a large or small space is to respect the circulation so that it is fluid,” he says.
In a small living room, it is where we notice it the most: “If you stick the sofa to the wall and obstruct the exit to the terrace or the passage to the kitchen, you are making a mistake”. And not just for convenience: “Our brain visually travels through space when it enters a room. If he sees that there are obstacles, the feeling is already of rejection and it seems that everything is smaller.”
In love with custom-made furniture
The opinion of the experts is quite uniform, but if there is one thing where they expressly agree, it is the importance of incorporating custom-made furniture in small flats. “Everything that remains on the walls is custom-made, such as shelves, shelves, they will give us a sense of order and storage space, and therefore, there will be less visual noise and that translates into a feeling of spaciousness,” recommends Natalia Zubizarreta.
Rocío Peral also agrees from her point of view as an architect: “Custom-made furniture is a guarantee of success and in small homes much more so. For the living room we usually like to make custom-made furniture that occupies the total wall space,” she points out.
Three Decisions for Tidying Up a Small Living Room
Architect Rocío Peral highlights a recurring situation: “Many times there is a tendency to orient the sofa towards the wall, giving the television the greatest prominence. This means that sofas are often placed blocking the natural light that comes from the windows.” Therefore, he advises “orienting the sofas towards the outside, you will get a lot of feeling of spaciousness”.
In fact, interior designer Pia Capdevila also has a critical view of the television: “It’s a mistake to place a television that is too big,” she points out. Not only is it an aesthetic issue, but also “it is counterproductive for our visual health, since the distance between the sofa and the television should be approximately three times the measurement of the diagonal of the screen,” he says.
