Making a little apartment, a little bigger.

When John and I moved into our current apartment, we were astonished with how much space we had. A 2 bedroom apartment within steps of "downtown", with a dining room and living room? To past Torontonians such as ourselves, this was a dream come true.

But, once we started to move our stuff into this space, and our stuff grew into more stuff, our office requirements doubled, and our family of 2 became a family of 3, who now needed toys and cribs...

Well, this large space seemed much smaller. With buying currently out of the question, we needed to make do.

So over the last year, I think we've done a great job at maximizing our in-home space: we converted a dining room into an office & TV room, a living room into a play room & dining room, and managed to squeeeeze a King Size bed into a bedroom which, arguably, shouldn't host a King Size bed. Another time I'll post a home tour, but in the meantime, check out six simple ways we've made our little home seem a little bigger.

First, we tackled the kitchen.

By painting all of the shelving units & cupboards a bright white, and removing the doors anywhere possible, we created a more open and functional space which in turn made our home seem a little larger. Granted, we have very (very) little countertop space; and no, our cupboards don't have proper shelving units... but: it feels spacious. And that's half the battle in feeling organized.

Clear jars are used to display cooking and baking products and open the shelves up to feel slightly larger than they would if we had opted for dark or coloured containers.

In my kitchen I can move, I can breathe, I can organize.



We then hid the "necessary" clutter in our bookshelf.

Unsightly coin jars, cigar wrappers (ahem), and books we will one day... one day... read, all find their home in our bookshelf. Installing a shelving unit with a door is a great way to maximize and create space. Fortunately for us, this bookshelf came installed in our home. Originally it was painted black, so we brightened the room up by giving it a fresh white coat.

We emphasized the size of the room by facing a mirror to a window.

You can't see it in the above photo, but the large mirror above directly reflects our front windows. This helps to create a larger, brighter look to our living room / playroom / dining room and is a great way to save a little energy in the evening as we can keep the lights off that much longer. ("That much" = about 30 minutes.)

We took advantage of floating shelves (versus side tables).

 
Our room is small, so side-tables were out of the question. And, while we tried to push forward without them, (first world problems, am I right?) there's something sweet about my own bedside lamp and a small place to keep my treasures.

I've seen people successfully accomplish the book-stacking side table (my aunt in particular - you guys rocked that for a few years and it actually worked) but John & I couldn't pull it off. Imagine Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine / Gabriel Garcia Marquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude as home to my teacup and bible. I'll keep all my pretentious literature on my bookshelf, thank-you-very-much.

Source 1 / Source 2 / Source 3

 (As an aside, here is what it would look like. Awesome, right? But I mean, look at the titles you need to have, to really make it work! What if someone asked you about one of these books? "Oh yeah, Oscar De La Renta", I would say. "Good dude.")

We make the most of our "outdoor space"

 We use the porch as though it were an extension of our kitchen because, well, it basically is. And that gives our space an added 10'x10' room for us to enjoy. It's a little noisy and dirty, but it's ours. Sort of. (That horrible floral set belongs to our neighbors but we'll take what we can get.)

We have begun to grow things.

  Inspired by my Aunt (this is what you get for reading my blog: shoutouts) we decided to start a herb garden and are loving how greenery really does add to a space. I'm not sure if it's the scent of basil or the fact that we're actually using a windowsill (which means, we've extended our space usage by 2 inches) but plant life makes a little home feel a little larger.

I found this website helpful for beginning my herb garden indoors.

There you have it.Six simple ways we made our little apartment, a little bigger. We are thankful for the space we have - and we are thankful that we can operate both a business and a family from our home - and are always looking for creative solutions to improve the life we live (in a cost-effective way).

Thanks for letting me free my inner-interior-designer. I promise she'll stay tucked away for another few months!