How to Optimize Your Small Quarters

For all big city dwellers, especially those in the big apple it is not uncommon to encounter the challenge of fitting more than one room into an already defined one.

Recently we moved from our bedroom to the living room; this doesn't make any sense, but let me explain; With NYC's home prices climbing up during a pandemic, and a growing boy, who turned 12 years old this Spring, we had to make a decision; either move to a bigger apartment and pay almost $1,000 more for an extra bedroom or continue to save money to buy our own apartment, when an apartment doesn't cost as much as a small house anymore, that is!

We decided that saving for our future made more sense than having extra space.

My main goal was to eliminate extra stuff to make room for our bed and to create a lounge area in our living room, instead of adding more furniture, or partitions to our place.

Here is how I did it:

Step 1- I had the apartment painted in semigloss pure white paint, which created a bright background for my gallery wall.

Step 2- I asked my dear husband to move the living room furniture and the TV forward to be able to place our bed on the back of the living area.

My son helped me move his piano from the living room into, what is now, his bedroom, where we kept our old queen bed for his use and gave away his twin bed. Besides his old bed, we also got a sofa table out, which I used just to display seasonal tablecloths and decor on top of it.

Step 3- We measured the space behind the sofa to order the right size bed and mattress.

Step 4- We ordered a platform bed from Resident.com and a mattress from Nectar.com. We got the sheet set and 2 pillows as a bundle with the platform bed.

Step 5- While the new purchases arrived, I started to hang up artwork. I created 2 distinct gallery walls to visually divide the spaces, but still, let it look like a unified gallery wall.

Step 6- I placed our spaghetti chairs, which were bought at Conrad, a long time ago, and our Ikea side table on the wall opposite our bed, with a large painting from Society6.com/Carsly, above the table, and I put the lamp plus our vase of cherry blossoms next to it.

Step 7- I bought 2 exact throw blankets from Ikea.com, once the bed and mattress arrived. The platform has a dark grey fabric around it, so I matched the Ikea blankets with it.

Step 8- I arranged the throw pillows from the sofa on our new bed, to make it look like an extra lounge area.

I am happy to report that our cozy little area feels very warm and inviting, and the Nectar mattress is extremely comfortable so far. I still haven't finished with my new cool lounge area since I intend to buy an area rug to put right next to the bed, I am also buying at least 2-floor pillows to put on the rug, and last but not least, I am buying a few more throw pillows for the sofa so it doesn't look so bare.

Moving to a bigger place isn't always the answer to our lack of space conundrums. A little bit of creativity, decluttering, and shuffling furniture around, can make a huge difference.

We can always choose to create a lifestyle worth living, even if we don't want to spend extra money, but if it makes sense, and you want to make a major move, hey, there is always a new place waiting to be filled with your personality, your tastes, with memories, and most of all, with love.

What are your space conundrums?

Would you stay, or would you move?

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by.