Making the Most of Small Spaces

After living in a 10 ft x 11 ft L-shaped cubicle my freshman year, not many living spaces seem too small to me.  Furthermore, living in teeny tiny apartments over grocery stores is positively charming when you're just getting started.  Lucky for those of us still in that "charming" period of life, there are little tricks and tips on making the most of the tiny crumbs of real estate in which we live.

This photo was featured in a recent House Beautiful article on how to make the most of small spaces.  It is generally taken for granted that light, neutral colors blend into each other and make small spaces seem larger but this room does just the opposite.  Using a single, bright color, they have unified the long, skinny room and made a room that could feel claustrophobic feel cozy instead.  Even though the pink is very powerful, they have paired it with neutral colors and not added any other competing bright colors which might make the room feel over crowded.  Furthermore, they created three distinct seating areas which break up the awkward long space of the room and make the most of the area they do have.

On a side note, this living room was also included in the article on small spaces.  Really??  Do the editors of House Beautiful really live in such expansive mansions that they consider this extremely normal-sized room to be so tiny that it is in need of special tiny-space decorating techniques??  Well, damn, I'm depressed.