How to Make Your New York Apartment Feel More Spacious
The first time you moved into your apartment, it wasn’t as small as you see it now. With time, we tend to outgrow the available space. However, New York’s case is a little bit different. Almost all of its apartments are so small that it’s already crowded the moment you move in.
It’s now your duty as a New Yorker to learn how to make your living space look more spacious. Below are some proven ways you can borrow to make your already crowded apartment look a bit spacious.
1. Have it Simple – The Minimalist Style
An easy way to make smaller spaces look spacious is to keep everything – from decors to furniture, as simple as possible. Having lots of patterns, colors, pieces of art, and furniture makes the room appear cluttered. A rule of thumb is to declutter your apartment to give that spacious effect.
If you are an art lover, try to keep art decors to the minimum. For instance, you can have your framed pictures on one or two walls. Keep your wall colors to at least one or two and have them bright, so you don’t have to add other decors or lighting. For your furniture, keep the minimum possible so you can create an exposed feel to your eyes.
2. Maximize Natural Lighting
Pushing your curtains to the furthest side of the frame not only allows maximum light into the room but also means you have a more expansive view of the outside environment. Enough lighting makes your room a lot more spacious, and the goal is to have your windows draw in as much light as possible.
Similarly, incorporating the surrounding environment into your living space by having a view of the outdoors makes your room more open. If the curtain is causing unnecessary obstructions, you can opt to remove the curtains and drapes. This will reduce the things hanging on the wall and ensures a clear view of the surroundings. Another hack is to consider using curtains of the same color as that of your wall.
3. Use Mirrors
Again, this trick creates that spacious feeling, provided you have positioned them in the right place. Mirrors not only reflect light across the room, but they can also bring outdoor views, which is a great way to trick the eye into seeing more space. However, this will only work if there’s a great view outside and you have windows wide enough to let in those views.
Another way to use mirrors to create that spacious effect is by hanging a long narrow mirror on some wall sections. This will give an illusion of a higher roof. You can also place a mirror behind a source of light to help brighten your indoor space.
4. Opt for a Bed with Drawers
When living in a tiny apartment, there is one thing you cannot afford to misuse, any usable space. Under the bed is one of the spaces not used to its maximum potential. To maximize the little space in your bedroom, consider using a space-saving bed. A bed with a drawer can act as your closet, a shoe rack, or even your mini-library. Depending on the design, you can use the drawer space for storing anything that fits into space.
Besides saving your space, a bed with storage can be a timeless design that boosts the ambiance of your house. You may only have a challenge moving the bed around, especially when cleaning the room and even the bed itself. Even then, it’s a worthwhile investment.
5. Donate or Sell Other Things
More often than not, you’ll realize that many things cluttering your home are old clothes and shoes you have outgrown. Before stressing about the tiny space, check out for things that you haven’t worn or used in the past year, then sell them or even donate to charity.
After selling or donating these clothes, you’ll be surprised to find out that a lot of things filling up your space are the ones you no longer need. Similarly, donate old toys and books that your children have outgrown. If you want to make some extra money out of these items, there are some second-hand and consignment marketplaces you can choose.
Final Takeaways
Living in New York and its suburbs means that you’ll have to deal with space challenges in most apartments. If you still struggle with constrained space even after trying all the above hacks, chances are, you need to move out to a more spacious apartment. That is often the case if you are living in a rented apartment.
However, if you own a home, you may want to consider full-service reconstruction services from a reputed company. Here, the company will help you design a renovation plan, allowing you to extend a portion of your home to create more space.
