Decorating Small Apartments

Decorating Small Apartments

In decorating for small apartments there are always doors that take up space and necessitate the cramping of the furniture. If possible, remove such doors. Take away the large double doors between the living room and the hall; paper and paint the walls alike,and observe the astounding amount of space created. A rug placed between the rooms will aid to the illusion that the rooms are really one large room.

In a room paneled in oak or white paneling, if the doors are made to simulate a panel, thus leaving them unobtrusive, a sense of space is added. This is true because a door generally breaks up a continuous wall surface.

In the small room where there are many scattered windows, curtain them with the same color as the walls and woodwork. English casement cloth may be well used in such an instance as it comes in the general tones of a wall color and necessitates only one set of hangings. Moreover, it is of a quality good enough to fit any interior. If, on the other hand, a showy, figured drapery is used, together with the necessary addition of an under-drape, the walls would be cut up, unrestful and space-contracting. When apartment windows are left with but little curtaining, so that one can see out, more sense of space is afforded; as one sees beyond the window into space. Windows completely covered, however, shut one in and limit the vision to four walls.

In order to give height to the apartment room, the curtains should hang straight to the floor, with a valance, and the material should be of a light texture and not too wide. Thin voiles, gauze or even chiffon under-curtains may be used to give a touch of smartness to the apartment.

Select the furniture for an apartment with the greatest care and with equal care place it. Leave the floor space uncluttered, leave wall space, table tops, mantel shelf, piano tops every place on which to place "things", as free as possible from an accumulation of useless and irritating objects.

The disposition of books in an apartment is always a problem, as so many ready-made bookcases are rather unseemly. Very often when we merely rent a house or an apartment we do not wish to go to the expense of building bookcases for the tenants that will follow, and we find it difficult to move great, long shelves. Below is a practical remedy for this problem. Suppose the available space is 10 feet long. Have three separate bookcases made 40 inches long and five shelves each, the lowest shelf clearing the floor by 25/2 inches. These three sections may be nailed together just enough to hold them. On the top a 10 foot board may be nailed to the three cases and a strip of molding nailed along the front of the entire length. This will give an unbroken top shelf. The whole is then stained or painted to match the woodwork of the room. When we leave the apartment we have only to lift off the top board and molding, which have been lightly nailed, and the cases are ready to move and readjust in another apartment.

In selecting beds for a small apartment, it is best to choose those with low foot and head boards or low: four posters, as beds that are too high seem cumbersome and they break up the wall space. For most apartments a chiffonier and dressing table make an adequate combination in place of the regulation bureau. With them two people can dress at the same time. Moreover the dressing table is a light, graceful piece of furniture. A cheval glass or a mirror set in the door answers the purpose better than a bureau glass.

Chairs with rockers are an abomination in a small apartment. Equal comfort can be had from a small, upholstered, down-seated chair. Like chewing gum. rocking chairs are an unpleasant Americanism profitably dispensed with.

In accommodating oneself to living and eating in the same room, the greatest consideration should be paid to the placing of the apartment furniture. There should be orderly distribution involving the greatest possible use of all the pieces concerned and the best possible appearance. The desk, book shelves and large living room table, should be placed at one end of the room. At the other, the dining table, the serving table or buffet, generally convertible affairs, accommodating themselves to a dozen uses. When meals are not being served the dining end of the room should not betray its use. The table may be covered with a dark piece of brocade and one single piece of pottery or a plant bowl placed upon it. One decorative piece of this character will be sufficient as one does not want to remove a lot of little ornaments each time the table is set.

I am familiar with one such room, used for dining and living, where the most compact and systematic arrangement possible has been made. By the windows at one end is a large desk with an easy chair beside it. Between the windows is a large, gate leg table holding books and a lamp, and a couple of comfortable chairs. By the farther window is the piano. Round the walls are ranged low book shelves. On one side, midway in front of these, is a low couch that can be pulled out and converted into a double bed. This serves as guest room! Opposite it is a wide fireplace. In summer, when the fireplace is not used, a double wicker settee is pulled in front of it.

In the third corner is the entrance to the kitchenette, and in the fourth, a 45 inch round table, which can be enlarged with leaves for a dinner party. In daytime this is covered with an old damask piece and an Italian majolica basket stands on it. On the low book shelves nearby are a few pieces of interesting table pottery, two decanters and a Venetian fruit dish - suggestive of a sideboard but with clear spaces between in which to place serving dishes during meal times.

Between the dining table and the kitchenette door stands an old Brittany credence in which are kept the silver pieces, and in the drawers, the linen and the flat silver. Such cabinets or reproductions of them are easily picked up, and for this purpose they are invaluable.

Next Page: Decorating Small Apartment Bedrooms.