Her favorite room in her apartment is 11 feet square, dark and faces an air shaft. She used black chairs, a black table, stained the floor black and painted walls violet with white trim. You feel as if you've stepped into a cloud. We can't get people out of the room. And you may not either, if you consider the following baker's dozen guidelines to make your small nest more enjoyable.
None involve costly architectural changes.
Don't overtax a room's functionality but make it work efficiently. Because of space constraints, every small room and small house probably won't be able to meet all your needs, so your overall purpose should be to prioritize, says Chicago designer David Kaufman of Kaufman Segal Design. Many of us have become pros at accumulating too many furnishings and accessories, so often any home, even large ones, may seem small once piled with possessions. To make small spaces seem less so, purge before you move in, then do so on an ongoing basis, says organization expert Monica Friel of Chaos To Order in Park Ridge. If you already live in a home, consider taking everything out of each room and slowly bringing objects back, says Landis.