Houston Chronicle

Use out-of-the-box ideas when arranging furniture

- By Christine Brun CREATORS SYNDICATE Christine Brun, ASID, is a San Diego-based interior designer and author of Small Space Living. Send questions and comments to her by email at christineb­run@sbcglobal.net.

Dare to be bold in how you arrange furniture in a small room. Freedom from preconceiv­ed notions might encourage a higher function from your space. Toss out old ideas or pictures from your past homes. Search the Internet for out-of-the-box suggestion­s and awaken to all sorts of new possibilit­ies!

The website Houzz gives the public thousands of concrete ideas about decor. People email dozens of views when they are fleshing out ideas for remodels or refurbishi­ng projects. This beats flipping through piles of heavy magazines, like we used to do before the useful tool of electronic media. Pinterest is the other go-to resource for fresh and modern ideas. Since a younger demographi­c uses social media and a younger demographi­c primarily lives in smaller homes, you will be exposed to innovation and creativity in spades.

When seniors downsize, they may have some physical constraint­s to consider; neverthele­ss, those can be worked around.

Generally speaking, we are worried about anything that might be a tripping hazard, furniture being sturdy enough and unobstruct­ed pathways. When recent college grads are moving into their first place away from home, they may be looking at a glorified studio apartment or a mini-loft in an urban setting. A young family with an infant might be living in a three bedroom, one bathroom vintage home, and making it work through clever space planning.

No matter the stage in life, the main challenge to small space living is how to coax the space into looking good. Another hurdle is how to create enough storage or eliminate the need for tons of storage. Remember the mantra: “If you don’t use it, get rid of it!” Or store stuff in an outside shed, rented storage unit or basement. Lean living works best if you want to create a beautiful environmen­t.

What I love about this bedroom furniture arrangemen­t is the confidence. Someone bravely decided that it would be suitable to position the headboard on the window wall without worrying about partially blocking windows.

By using a window treatment that is tailored and not bulky, precious inches are saved. When you install drapes with a valance and sheers, about seven to nine inches of depth can be used up. In a small room, that can eat into the walking room around the foot of the bed in a serious way. We can imagine that putting this bed along the window side of this room freed up another solid wall for either a flat-screen TV, workstatio­n or display area.

Lifestyle trends drive furniture manufactur­ers. Companies are stopping production of armoires, as no one needs that bulky furniture any longer to “hide” a TV.

Bookshelf manufactur­ing is also being tapered off because people have slowed down purchasing hard copies of books. All of these subtle shifts are starting to be recognized in the arrangemen­t of any particular room. Less need for storage translates into a leaner and lighter look. When this is the guideline, we can begin to create more attractive smaller spaces that are not filled to the brim with storage items like chests, cupboards or bookcases.

If this bedroom also featured a storage bed, one with pullout drawers under the mattress, there could be a place to stash extra blankets or seasonal duvet covers. Plenty of people use storage drawers for out-of-season folded clothes, sports attire or other household items such as wrapping papers, family photograph­s, or mementos. Consider dualpurpos­e pieces of furniture, furnishing­s that hide away stored items and flexible alternativ­es that are specific to your home.

 ?? Creators Syndicate photo ?? This bedroom furniture arrangemen­t has lots of confidence. Someone bravely decided that it would be suitable to position the headboard on the window wall without worrying about partially blocking windows.
Creators Syndicate photo This bedroom furniture arrangemen­t has lots of confidence. Someone bravely decided that it would be suitable to position the headboard on the window wall without worrying about partially blocking windows.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States