Have a Little Space? Top Tips from Karl Sponholtz, Senior Interior Designer

Designing and choosing furniture for a little space can be challenging. Whether it’s a smaller apartment, small living space, or even a tiny home, your decor choices can make a big impact on whether your room feels cozy (great!), or claustrophobic and cramped (not so great).

Karl Sponholtz, one of our team’s interior designers, was recently featured in the news! Together with Angie’s List Founder, Angie Hicks, the interview focused on designing for a little space. Check out the video below, and keep reading for the top 4 interior design tips for small spaces!

Top 4 Tips for Small Spaces

Tip #1 – Think about Your Needs

“I think the key question is need and to find out, do you really need certain things? Do you need a dining room table? Do you need to have a space to work? And you include the things that you absolutely need, and you try to eliminate the things you don’t.”

Tip #2 – Choose Simple Over Complicated

“My favorite design hack for designing small spaces is keeping it simple. Keep the color palate simple, keep the material simple, and keep them running through the whole space. You don’t want to change floors, you don’t want to change wall colors, you just don’t want to change up too many materials, it can make it look complicated and look smaller.”

Tip #3 – Organization is Key

“Become a pro organizer, an organized room is a bigger room. Consider using clear containers to keep your supplies and your clothes in because it will keep your room tidy.” – Angie Hicks

Tip #4 – Furniture for a Little Space

“When it comes to furnishing small spaces you want to remember one thing that is the most important is comfort so don’t necessarily go for small furniture, go for big furniture that’s low profile. So I would say sofas and chairs that don’t have high backs – you don’t want to use that kind of stuff in a small space. Low backed furniture but big and comfortable.”

Conclusion

A little space requires careful consideration when choosing decor and furnishings. You’ll need to make the most out of each element, and make sure that the spaces you create serve your lifestyle, activities, and needs.

What are you thoughts on small spaces? Feel free to comment and share how you use your small room, how you keep organized, or even furniture you’ve loved in your small space.

In Chicago? Contact us for a design consultation, and get started on your decor project!

Read more

• Defining small spaces with unique partitions >
• Hallway decorating ideas >
• 7 elements of a perfect mudroom >

Karl Sponholtz is a Senior Designer at Habitar Design, has been designing residential homes and interiors for over 20 years. His ability to adapt his skills to a wide variety of styles and budgets is his greatest strength. He’ll tell you that design has always come naturally to him. He remembers rearranging the furniture in his house when he was 10. When his parents came home, they were shocked at how great everything looked. “It really did look better,” he laughs, “And I still use my own house as a laboratory!” His motto: “Design is a process and it needs to stay flexible, otherwise we’d have to stop shopping!”