Design Tips For How To Make The Most Out Of Limited Space | Sarah 101 | Abode

paper was light gold in medieval times [Music] i want tobacco sugar [Music] that everything we thought we knew about the world might turn out to be completely wrong maximize style and space in a cramped living dining room for total family enjoyment i'm going to show you how right now great design comes from a winning formula mine is as basic as a set of building blocks put them together out of the results and you've got a sensational room today's case study is sonya and gary's narrow overcrowded living dining room the entire family shares the space or do they check out this storage statement we're going to show you how to inject style and sensibility into an open concept plan so that all can enjoy it's really hard to know where to put your furniture so that there's actually good flow to the room it's open but it's tight so this is tricky because right off the top we've got a crazy layout happening here we've got the kitchen in the far end and the dining room at the front right well the stairway doesn't have a railing on it we've got a major issue here we've got a little kid and we have a wide open stair another problem that anyone with kids has to face storage for toys see train play table coffee table needs to find a new home but let's think about some great toy storage solutions so that they're no longer the major design statement next problem is bulky furniture this sofa here look at this that is a 12 inch wide arm so right off the bat times that by two you have lost two feet in the room to useless arms not to mention the fact that there is absolutely zero consistency nothing goes with anything else and it's all just an absolute hodgepodge sonia and gary have a renovated kitchen in modern teak wood tones in this open plan home that's a good place to start for the living dining space we have to address furniture and layout fabrics and wall coverings a tiny dining space drapes and flooring toy storage and artwork our jumping off point is comfortable stylish furniture that's been put on a diet how about this chair like mid-century teak looks good from all angles which is a really important point because in order to make her furniture grouping work we're going to have to float some furniture to make a small living space appear larger and still work you've got to pull some of the furniture away from the walls you can do this it's all about scale like trading puffy sofa arms for slim and trim how about this cute chair that is a very good looking chair that chair really speaks to the point that you made about over skilled furniture that's the scale of chair that we need for her living room 350 refurbished few hundred dollars to reupholster it you're better than new you're all in for under a thousand dollars and it's seriously legitimate good design vintage furniture is usually rock solid and this piece could work in any room of the home can we do these two individuals and then a pair of these because this chair with the slotted back is actually pretty comfortable and it's tiny so if you're having friends over for drinks this is a perfect little lounge perch you're not watching the football game for five hours no but yeah and you know what else it takes a tiny amount of fabric to reupholster these chairs this is a big upholstery job with some repairs those are really small that's like reupholstering a cushion done so we've got chairs that need reupholstery we're also downsizing the sofa and need drapes fabric forms the all-important backdrop for any space that is fun how about that gorgeous there's something really exuberant about these yellow floral bursts of color and the room started out being extremely beige and extremely boring and this is exactly what it needs so how about drapes in this perfect sonja's big shouldered sofa is being swapped out for something leaner with more seating what if we did the sofa entirely in this simple simple simple twill and then what if we did just the back cushions in our sunflower what if we bought enough of the extra twill right to allow it so that if later on they wanted to have an entirely neutral sofa they could just have new back cushions made just the covers but for our purposes what if we went bold and just did something fun never done it don't know let's try it let's try it okay that's the sofa and drapes now for our vintage finds love this graphic rectilinear kind of a pattern fabric no that's fabulous this would look great on our vintage chairs love the smaller scale floral with the swirly leaf and love this zebra just for a bit of fun i think we've got good textures i think we've got a great solid and now i'd say tie it all together with a bit of mustard these fabrics will be used on pillows and maybe some larger pieces you'll just have to wait and see lots of pattern lots of texture lots of solid everything's washable everything's family friendly it's a great scheme [Music] now that we've nailed our fabric scheme let the upholstery begin this long narrow living room is gaining space with a shuffled furniture layout smaller scale pieces accentuate its width and are being upholstered in some tasty shades next up it's walls lighting and dining [Music] so far we've tweaked the layout and slimming down the furniture that's the scale of chair that we need for her living room we found fabrics that add vintage modern punch and personality now it's time to address the walls what do you think about adding a little grass cloth to the wall you know how much i love grass cloth what a great idea i didn't think you'd go with anything quite that strong well what i love about this particular one is it has a striped effect which i think will look interesting running down the length of the long wall and this bamboo that's running through it has kind of gray and cream highlights and low lights that seem to pick up perfectly on our fabric it definitely has this linen color you know the old standby is a simpler overall but i don't think that's going to give us enough texture so i say we go strong and i say we do this now i haven't forgotten that sonia and gary have a two-year-old this paper is going on a feature wall that will have furniture in front of it and then i thought that the combination of the grass cloth and the gray paint would reference what's happening in our fabric yeah grass cloth is a terrific way to add texture and natural interest to a wall because it's woven if you cut it it can start to fray and come apart i always prefer to have it end on an inside corner if you were to install it here around the entry hall where the two sides meet on this open corner it's gonna pull apart and over time it's gonna look terrible living rooms well underway now to address the oh so tiny dining room do you love that light fixture they're gorgeous okay i've never seen a fixture like this before which i find so exciting yeah what i think is so incredible is this is a handmade fixture brass made in egypt all these perforations will throw a really beautiful sort of dappled light effect on the ceiling which to your point about how bland and boring this base is i think will help to add some texture and some sort of mood in the evening this light is going to enhance the room in every possible way we found the perfect pendant and now we need the perfect size dining table to put underneath it if you have a dining room as narrow as sonja's you can still maximize seating potential without overwhelming the space okay this is 1900 for the set okay six chairs big table leaves but i don't like the chairs i'm not crazy about the chairs either if it's a package deal make sure you like the whole package because it's tricky to resell six chairs without the matching table oh this one isn't this a charmer look at the chairs cute little bow tie detail and it extends you want your fingers how was your chair listen on a scale of one to ten i'm only looking for a six here we've got a very small awkward space to deal with i was about to give a 5.5 this is a pretty stylish table that is a really stylish table and if you can figure out how that works i will give you a lollipop this just slides in okay that's pretty clever that is really cool the only challenge is i don't think you can do a glass table with parts that move with sharp edges with a two-year-old isn't too old enough to understand the words don't touch the table when nothing's coming up just right it's time to put on your thinking cap we're going with a smaller inexpensive table and focusing on the seating a bank out will tuck back into the corner and waste no space it's a clever solution for a small dining area and allows seating for six or more i have to get a dining room into a space that's less than eight feet wide oh okay so i think the only way to do it is by customizing a banquette i want it to be built as an l-shape okay so i needed to be built in one piece but then i needed to be able to go through the front door in one piece all right so in looking at this sample banquette that you have i think it's too high so what i was wondering is can we base it more on the style of a dining chair and then adapt it to become a banquette yeah that's that's not a problem the banquette will be upholstered in durable kid-friendly neutral fabric and the legs will complement the other teak furniture we're also having four dining chairs made to go on the opposite side of the table and work as occasional seating in a pinch our sleek and petite dining room is on its way we've added texture to a feature wall chose a seam-stealing light fixture and squeezed an l-shaped banquette into the narrow dining space next on our list artwork a rug and toy storage how about the gray oh the gray's perfect let's have it 119. i have a neck thing so i can't see out that out this fairly common open concept first floor can teach some valuable design lessons if space is tight in your living room look for smaller scale furniture that's the scale of chair that we need add some wow with fabrics and then think about a banquette to maximize seating in a small dining space not everyone has a hidden talent but if you do why not put it to great use gary is an amateur photographer who takes photographs wherever he goes and whenever he travels you know that photograph that was on the end of the closet that we really liked that little tiny one yes well turns out gary took it these are all his pictures yeah we've got about 60 images here we can use any of these we can use any of these what if we had it printed and then transferred onto plexiglass right maybe we could get a light box made so that then the whole thing would be eliminated i've zeroed in on a particular image that seems happy and cheery and sunny exactly the mood that i'm trying to capture in the living room and there are people more than willing to help okay so dave this is looking good is it working these ones are too long uh we don't have any room to actually put the connecting plug in to run the fourth bulb all right i forgot to account for the thickness of the frame yes and the depth of the plug we can still test out the lights on the two sides i will exchange these and get you something shorter the question is do we think it's gonna work i think it'll work do you yeah now this is only half that's cool isn't it right as david justin installs the rest of the lights tommy and i are out looking for drapery hardware this is called the tyranny of choice because i don't even know where to begin well i'll give you a hint we've got tight windows okay so we actually need to mount the drapery hardware on the side walls using cup mats which means we can't use any of these fabulous fancy finials okay so the only thing we can do is try and add some interest with a rod we could go with brush nickel we could go with chrome we could go with brass to try and highlight our yellow accents what about if we went lucite it's almost like taking the finial and making it into the rod wouldn't that be amazing love it then why not add some interest and add some sparkle make it seem very contemporary with the lucite rod we've got lots of wood and lots of texture but every room needs a little bit of crispness sparkle and clarity that's where lucide drapery rods come in they're a small detail but they link well to the glass stair railing for aesthetics nothing beats tempered glass it's the right nod to contemporary style and gives the illusion of space important in a home with such tight dimensions [Music] there's no rule that says kids and style are mutually exclusive i believe you can have both how about this is it an ottoman or is it a toy box hey where'd the toys go if you designate great storage right out of the gate you'll be able to keep your home clean and clutter free for 120 this could be our solution i know that is great how can they do this for 120 dollars is this being made by like child dolphins that are like sick and that's enough this is a feather and down insert and 100 silk cushion cover for 48 okay here's something interesting so this one 53 don't we have a zebra fabric let me just show you the fabric that we brought with us today which is which is way more expensive 150 a yard so we'd be into it for four hundred dollars going customers or we could pay 53 each so 106 and just walk out with them that's unbelievable obviously we're going to get the store-bought pillow with the really nice insert no issues with the floors in sonya's living in dining space just what's on top of them how about a gray and cream zebra oh this is a bit perfect the only thing is that i think the biggest size we can get is an eight by ten okay and the problem that they had previously was the carpet was too small oh i know where you're going with this where you want to sew two of these carpets together i'm thinking we might need to do we get the pattern to match up or do we care i don't know if we care [Music] an area rug defines the room and sets up the boundaries but i'm looking to stretch the boundaries i want to make this living room seem bigger this is going to give us a show-stopper rug large enough for the entire room at a cost much lower than finding one large rug which would likely have to be custom [Applause] [Music] of course you have to get it right this is an unexpected surprise of the non-pleasant variety well the issue is we asked for the long sides to be seamed together we were supposed to get 10 by 16 and we've ended up with 8 by 20. this is what we got this is what we need and the problem is we can make this fit if we jam it right up against the wall but then that breaks our number one rule which is that the rug needs to be centered in the space you don't put a rug jammed up to one wall with four feet of space on the other wall back it goes to be re-sewn along with our copy of the order i feel like i've done this before yeah groundhog day lovely perfect this vintage modern family-friendly living dining room is almost done our jumping off point was slim trim furniture followed by punchy fabrics and wall covering a dining solution cool artwork and softening with a rug see how it all comes together next do you want both going the same way or do you like this with them going opposite ways you don't really care you just want me to this cramped awkward living dining room is transformed with style and solutions that make it streamlined and sumptuous i have to get a dining room into a space that's less than eight feet wide we've made the most of every inch of space making it work for the entire family and then some ready to see the results let's take a look we started with a hodgepodge mix and no cohesive design direction we took a design cue from the kitchen and created a living room dining room that has impact it has substance and it has a terrific design vision [Music] if you're tackling a long narrow space you need to scale down the upholstery forget the big overblown overstuffed pieces that act like blocks in the room instead opt for chairs that can act as room dividers but still allow you to circulate around them when working with vintage upholstered pieces it's important to choose fabrics that are well suited a 60s chair upholstered in a geometric print is a perfect marriage my favorite thing about buying vintage is sometimes you uncover a hidden gem our best deal in the room well it's a chair with some serious design credibility a paul macabre chair vintage 60s we paid 350 for it i found it online for 1500 repetition of pattern is an age-old design technique i like to use it in one statement that is strong which is the drapes and one that is slightly more subtle which is the back cushions on the sofa [Music] we found the perfect carpet but it was too small what did we do we bought two of them and sewed them together excellent solution for a space where you need something really specific like that perfect carpet your lamp side table combination should have some contrast so look at what i've done here a chrome angular geometric based table topped with the round teak ball lamp is just the right mix [Music] the light box photo is i think anyone would agree a pretty spectacular focal point in a room that has no fireplace or no armoire or anything to really draw focus introducing a banquette a round table and a few accent chairs allows you to create dining drama in a very small space having a pendant light that drops down from the ceiling and holds the space in the center where the eye line is is really really important to give the feel of atmosphere and to also provide some light in an area where you really need it to have a proper dining experience [Music] you want to look at flowers that are going to enhance the type of room that you've designed what we wanted to do was do something really branchy so the willows that we put in the large bars very strong statement but very contemporary statement in terms of their being very linear [Music] when creating a space with little people in mind it's always best to choose rounds nothing with a sharp corner also the repetition of the round helps to soften the room [Music] we've got storage cubes that hide toys we've got side tables with shelves and a console cabinet that allows you to hide clutter let's face it the kids aren't banished from this space but there will no longer be a mess strewn all over kids can be in the room there just needs to be a place for everything it's very calming and i think the best way to explain that was tommy our son's reaction to the place when he first walked in he looked around in awe and he just sort of went right in and started playing do you like the couch so the place it feels like our home now we're actually using it whereas before we just kind of used separate rooms because it was really it was really just tommy's play area we actually uh spent 90 of our time in that room compared to maybe 10 before so it's it's like a whole new house for us it's it's great originally when you walked into that room the impression that you got was that it was a mishmash of stuff that didn't work now when you walk into the room it looks like a fully realized and properly laid out and designed room in order to live in your space you have to be able to use it but you also really have to be able to appreciate it for its beauty [Music] take two that's 350 then we need to get two inserts that's four hundred dollars all in day three so we'd be into it for four hundred dollars we are into this for 400 for two pillows or this one which is 53 each so 106 dollars

Channel: Abode

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Keywords: Abode, affordable home decor, before and after makeover, creative home solutions, design inspiration, design tips, full home transformation, functional design, home and garden makeover, home improvement, home renovation tips, luxurious home decor, minimalist design, renovation experts, small space solutions, space-saving ideas, stylish home decor, stylish room decor, trendy home design, trendy interior design, urban living room design

Id: FCypIKZ1Eq4

Length: 22min 5sec (1325 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 25 2021