Organised apartment living

Living in an apartment can have its ups and downs. Unfortunately, one of the down sides is that they are not the most practical living quarters with regards to space.

It is important when decorating your apartment to bear in mind that maximising space is important.

You do not want your living areas to look cluttered.

There are many ways in which to do this, and it is advisable particularly for one-bedroomed apartments.

Neutral shades will always suit a smaller space better. They will make the rooms seem bigger and will give a sense of space throughout.

I found when I moved into my apartment (after a lot of experimenting) that painting all of the rooms the same colour made a real difference in respect of creating a bigger feel throughout the apartment. There is nothing worse in a small space than to be confronted by bold and outrageous colours with every open door. It brings the walls in and it also highlights the fact that there is limited space.

Similarly, I found that keeping the same floor throughout the apartment also made a difference by comparison to other similar properties I had viewed, which changed the floor covering from room to room. I personally chose a wooden floor (with adequate sound proofing) and made sure that the fitter was advised to ensure that all of the grain in every room ran in the same direction to give a sense of it following through from room to room.

I also declined the option to have any type of door saddles in place as I felt that this also gave a larger effect. I have seen this also in apartments where the same carpet is used throughout. Once the carpet is plain and light in colour, it can create a space, which looks larger than it is, as it is not cluttered with patterns which would make it seem smaller.

Utilising nooks and crannies in an apartment is also vital for storing domestic appliances and indeed bulk such as sweeping brushes, hoovers, ironing boards etc. The back of the hot press door is a great place to hang these things and with a little effort you can keep them out of sight. In addition to this there is always room for extra shelves in the hot press and wardrobes to keep smaller items such as irons, hairdryers, electric shavers. When living in a small space, the less clutter the better and where something can be put away, it is always better to do this.

Apartments should not be cluttered with ornaments and numerous pictures on the wall unless it is an unusually large space. This type of decoration again takes away from the spacious effect.

Keeping doors open throughout the apartment allows light to enter each room and immediately makes it seem bigger as the eye catches the space of all rooms at the same time. Soft lighting in the corners of the room will also draw the eye down the room and will emphasise its full length.

Clutter in the kitchen along the worktops should also be avoided, especially if this area is visible from the sitting area. It will make the worktop look smaller than it is and therefore will make the kitchen seem cramped. Empty worktops will seem much bigger especially with some lighting under the eye level presses. Plain tiles in the kitchen will help to create a larger sense of space.

Keeping things plain within an apartment does not mean it has to be bland. With the right colours and textures, you can create a unique design and enhance it with the right use of fabrics and lighting. It does not have to be expensive. For example, a lot of apartments come with a fireplace but no electric fire. Try placing a mirror in the back of the fireplace and various sized candles in front.

This will create the illusion of twice as many candles and a novel fire.

Put effort into deciding on how to decorate. Remember it is not as easy to decorate an apartment as a house but it can be twice as enjoyable. Shop around and ask for products, which will help maximise storage within a smaller space. Many of the larger retailers these days specialise in fitting out apartments and would be more than willing to offer advice on how best to do this.