As housing and living expenses in Singapore continue to rise, living in modern small apartments is becoming more common, especially for young professionals.
Living in a small apartment doesn’t mean decorating will be out of the picture. Yes, working around limited spaces (especially on a tight budget) can be challenging, but it’s not impossible!
While big-scale renovations may be out of the picture for now, there are still numerous budget-friendly home decor ideas to help you dress up your small apartment or rental space.
Today, we’ll talk about decorating small apartments. You’ll learn the best ways to pull off peak budget interior design!
1. Use floating shelves
The best way to maximise a small apartment’s limited space is to make use of floating shelves. You’ll find them in nearly every guide to affordable interior design too!
Floating shelves can help you make the most of vertical space in a small room. These types of shelves provide storage space in areas where it normally wouldn’t be possible to store household items, including corners and behind doors.
If you have a modern apartment, we recommend either stacking or staggering them. Take a comprehensive design approach to selecting the one that works best for you:
- Stacked shelving – Choose this if you want a more streamlined look. They epitomise a minimalist, modern style best, with clean lines and a practical focus.
- Staggered shelving – Choose this if you’ve been designing a home around the idea of a bolder, more artistic (or personal) style. It can help break up the rigidity of modern design.
Whichever option you choose, these shelves offer an effective way of storing books, personal items, and other decorations without consuming floor space like standard cabinets. Plus, they can make your space look cleaner and more organised, creating the illusion of a bigger room.
It’s also easier to move around when less furniture and appliances are eating up your already limited floor space. That’s what makes floating shelves top choices for interior design services focusing on compact homes.
2. Make a statement
No matter how small a space is, you can make an impression by choosing the right furniture and household items. Specifically, you can select particular items to serve as statement pieces.
A statement piece is something that catches someone’s attention and intrigues them to explore a house further, regardless of its size. It can be any flashy furniture or interior decor that quickly catches the eye.
To figure out how to choose such a piece for your dream home, establish a focal point in the room where it’s going. That tells you where that item will go once you’ve chosen it.
Next, look for something that’s eye-catching as well as appealing from all angles. Think about what will be next to it – will it still catch your attention even with those items nearby?
It may help to take active steps not to overcrowd the focal point you’ve chosen. Moving a few things away can help make your statement piece more noticeable while bringing everything in the room together.
Some homeowners use sofas, centre tables, area rugs, or wall paintings as statement pieces, but it’s up to you what you want to use in your small apartment. The right statement piece can be such a great conversation starter that your guests won’t even notice how tiny your apartment is!
3. Take advantage of rugs
Area rugs are quite powerful when it comes to decorating small apartments. A well-placed area rug helps create designated spaces, making your apartment feel larger than it actually is.
For example, placing one under your coffee table and sofa can make your living room area feel like its own unique space. That’s still true even if you have an open-plan home where the living room flows right into the dining room.
Even if there are no walls or doors that separate the rooms from each other, placing a rug in each area will make it feel like you’re stepping into a different part of your home. They basically “zone” spaces, helping you establish distinct areas.
Now in terms of colours, we suggest rugs with subtle patterns and on the lighter side of the colour spectrum. Lighter-coloured rugs do an excellent job of separating small spaces without making them look cluttered.
Take note that it’s all too easy to pick the wrong rug or rug pattern here, by the way. Embracing a comprehensive design while achieving smart spatial subdivision can be more complex than some think.
If you’d like advice from someone with expertise in this field, reach out to us at The Rug Maker. We can save you the hassle of looking for the perfect rug with our personalised rug consultation. You can even create the dream rug for your dream home with us!
4. Add mirrors
A popular trick for making a small space feel larger and lighter is strategically hanging mirrors. It’s one of our top budget interior design ideas with big results!
A well-positioned mirror expands the visual space of any small room instantly, helping to make your apartment feel more open and airy. It can give the illusion of a larger space without investing in high-cost interior design tricks.
And since many small Singapore apartments may be low on natural light, mirrors can help reflect what light is there. This is great for people who live in darker HDB apartments in Singapore’s denser areas. You get a wider-looking and brighter space for so little – what’s not to like?
5. Use multipurpose furniture
Another way to decorate on a budget is to use multipurpose furniture! The more uses you can get out of each piece of furniture, the fewer furniture items you’ll have filling up your limited space.
For example, a sofa that doubles as a bed can be functional and practical in a tight studio apartment. Why spend money on a full-size bed when the right convertible sofa can help you sleep soundly at night?
When it comes to tables, we recommend using the same one for eating, drinking coffee, and working at home – just learn how to clean it regularly!
Don’t hesitate to try non-conventional furniture pieces if it means saving not only floor space but money as well.
6. Avoid clutter
Small apartments can easily get cluttered and cramped, so make it a habit to clean regularly to avoid clutter build-up!
It’s worth noting that avoiding clutter is more than cleaning and organising. Being clutter-free is about adopting a less-is-more mindset and asking yourself before making any purchase, whether it’s big or small.
Get creative with storage solutions to keep clutter at bay and make the most of your space. Try furniture with built-in storage, such as ottomans with hidden compartments or bed frames with drawers underneath.
You can also use shelves, hooks, and organisers to maximise storage without sacrificing floor space. Always remember that the more items are scattered around your small apartment, the less usable space you have available.
Designing with limited space and budget
Decorating a space always comes with expenses, but the costs don’t have to break the bank, especially if you’re working with a small space.
The thing about decorating a small apartment is that it boils down to how you value and take advantage of the limited space that you have. You have to make the space work for you, instead of the other way around.
If you’re considering adding a rug to your apartment, feel free to get in touch with us! We can design and make a custom rug for small houses… and even give you more modern, small apartment design ideas along the way!
