- (claps) Hey guys, welcome back. Today, I'm gonna show you
how to make a huge difference in your small space. (bright upbeat music) So, the problem is with small spaces, it's hard to kind of break out of that starter apartment vibe
that a lot of them have. And part of that has to do
with kind of the vendors, and what they supply. Some of it's kind of temporary, it's not particularly expensive,
but things have changed, and I'm gonna show you how a
pro solves for all of that. Let's jump right in with my number one tip for all small spaces, which is you have to handle the envelope. And that means, the floors,
the walls, the ceiling, everything you have to make sure that it's doing the right thing. What's the right thing? You wanna keep it all the same. So walls, ceilings, doors, your trim, your floors, everything. Now, on walls, trim ceilings, you wanna paint that
out all to be the same. You can either take it white
or you can take it dark, but you want to be on the extreme ends of the light reflectance value to make sure that those walls pop out in a way as best they can. And because you do the trim
and all the doors the same, there's no lines to break anything up. That's what I mean by
handling the envelope for a small space. And if you're not sure what a
light reflectance value means, check this video out, which
is "Stop Painting Now!", which goes deep into understanding how paint works with your site. Now, another thing to consider
when handling your envelope is, consider a completely
monochromatic scheme, which totally makes the space feel large. White floors, white walls, white ceilings, that thing's gonna explode. It's gonna be 600 feet, but
it's gonna feel like 2,500. Now, to keep it from feeling boring, make sure that you mix up your textures, your sheens, your shapes, your metals. Those can all go in as
kind of a textural story to make it be different, but keeping it monochromatic
is a really good tip to explode your small space. So, your next tip, which
is super important, and we're still on the envelope is about handling your flooring. Now, in a small space, you wanna make sure that
it's all visually the same. Now I'm not talking about if
your breath room breaks away, but the main space all should be the same. Carpet, wood, tile,
whatever it is you've got. If that's the case, great, and you wanna kind of
consider one of two options, either skipping an area rug altogether, or if you do do the area rug, make sure like you see
here that the area rug is tonally the same as the floor. So it doesn't create
this strong visual break on the floor level. Cause that's not where you
wanna draw people's eyes in a small space. You want them to move up and out, and have the space feel large. So, don't draw them down by
making a big accent break by putting an area rug in
where you don't need it. So, my next pro tip is
about room dividers. And especially if you're in a studio, or like a tiny one bedroom, you're gonna wanna the option to consider having some sort of
divider up at some point, maybe even not permanently, but you can think about a
number of different options. I love the idea of either glass grids, or kind of pierced, hanging grids. These are all great options, and kind of give you a
sense of some privacy that divides maybe the bed area from the living space. That's all cool. I love the idea of ripplefold drapery suspended from the ceiling, right? I would prefer to do them semi-transparent as opposed to here, but I kinda love the
groovy little painting that's hanging out in front. That's sort of a fun
little detail like that. I also love the idea of doing
storage as a room divider. IKEA has some great
options, or if you want, you can just do something simple, like my go-to is a little
screen from the inside, and I love the inside's version because you can make it a custom fabric. You can do whatever you want. If you don't want it
upholstered, you know, this is a really nice one done in raffia. And how about this one? This is amazing, and
it's perfect for you guys that have studios where the door opens, and you just fall right
into your entire space. This little guy creates
an entire entry hall out of your studio. So it's perfect for you guys. So, and if these tips are helping guys, be sure and let me know
which one is your favorite down below in the comments. And if you haven't
already, please subscribe, it's super, super helpful to the channel. Okay, so moving on the
next tip is a biggie. Getting your furniture scale right. This is a huge mistake I see a lot. I often walk into a space, you
ever put an eight-foot sofa in a studio. What you need in a studio, is a love seat. Now, there's a lot of really
great options out there now, to shrink your furnishings, and have them have a lot of style. So, you wanna make sure
that they're smaller, and you keep them light in scale. Think about things like a
small round dining table. I love this white one with
the sassy little brass chairs. That's a super little
solution for something small, or I love this little one that's almost like a bistro
table with the black base. That's fantastic and it's
two little lightweight Donaire chairs that looks great, and then will fit perfectly into a studio, and it gives you a multi-purpose surface. You know, you can't go wrong
with this little brass one, or of course the iconic
tulip table, always good. We're gonna link to
all of this down below. Think about seating
being on lightweight legs like this chair, bring it up a little bit, get a little space underneath. Opt for a love seat instead
of a full-scale sofa. There's some really good
looking ones out here. Now look at this ivory one, that's just chunky full of pillows, and you can cozy up in it, looks great. There's even the option of kind of this sort of cool, hanging chair
out of acrylic, which is great. It doesn't even have a base to it. It's sort of suspended in air. That's a wonderful solution. Now, here's a tip. Sometimes small spaces have
sloping edges to ceilings. So, what do you need to do there? Is you need to remember to
keep your furniture low, and that way you can
tuck some seating pieces back into that area and it
gives you full use of the space. Now, another good option for seating is there are smaller
scale corner sectionals because if you've got the room, and it lays out the right way, getting seating into a corner
is a great space saver. So, it's a good thing to look for. Another thing to think about is ditch the traditional coffee table. You kinda don't have room. Instead think about a couple of clustered smaller tables that can be moved around. Maybe even they double as a stool, or for instance, take a look at this one, which has storage in the center, and then a little Walnut top, or I love this little Lucite one that just rolls around
on legs, it's invisible, but it's a surface. So, if you need to put a
cocktail down, you're covered. And then of course I love this little one. They're doing some really
tiny little accent tables. I've used this one a lot because
it's like 10 inches around. It's tiny, so it's a great little surface, and there's a lot of style
now that's available to you that never was before. So, there's lots of great options now, and there's so many resources that we're going to do
the same thing again, where, drop your email,
at my www.lisaholt.com, get on my email list and
we'll be sure and send this huge list of resources
out for small space furnishings to you guys by next week. Okay, so next tip also super important is you wanna think
about all your furniture as being multi-purpose. It all needs to be
storage as best it can be. So, there's lots of different
variations on this here. Think about things like daybeds
instead of regular beds, trundle beds, they're also a good option. Murphy beds, a bed versus a sofa. And you know, there's all
kinds of different options. You can even make storage above your beds. I love this one from
Pottery Barn where they just wrap the whole headboard
in storage, which is great. That's a great solution. They're also now making
really great platform beds. So there's storage also underneath which really makes a big difference. Think about your TV. We've had lots of talks about TVs, but this time put the TV on the wall, and instead of doing a
credenza or a console below it, since you don't really
necessarily have the space, do some custom narrow shelves,
maybe they're eight inches, maybe they're 10 or 12. And that gives you the ability to use the space around the television without having to have a big, old piece of
furniture on top of it. And you've just mounted it to the wall. Try and use every surface
that you can think of. Think about wall desks. Those are great, they've come out with some really cute, lightweight light scale
ones, I love those. We talked about those coffee tables. Now they make them with storage. I love this one where the
lid pops up, that's great. Hide all that crap in the middle of that, or get little ottomans, and you can just lift the top off, throw all the stuff in
there that you don't need. How about using a bar cart? We always love bark cart. But get a small-scale one
and use that as an end table. Put it on wheels, it rolls
around, makes it super flexible. I even love this little tiny mirror that also has storage
shelves both to the side, and in back of it. So, there's lots of different options here that are now being made. So make sure you're thinking
about those kinds of solutions. So, my last tip today, and it's a super important one is, you have to really get strategic
and think about your space like it's a boat. You need to make use of all of that vertical space that you've got. Now, you can do things like run shelves all the way up the wall, hack something from IKEA. That's always a great solution. Or how about considering running
shells even over doorways. That's a great idea. This area where you've got
the space over the bed, that's fantastic. Although don't do that in California. Or take shelves all
the way to the ceiling, if you can, stuff them full
of those good-looking baskets so that you don't see all your crap, and just make sure that
every inch is used. Now, the second use, if you don't have the clearance
for storage is mirrors. Oh, small spaces and mirrors are meant to be together, let me tell you. So, you wanna think about leaner mirrors. I love this one. That's a big boy and you can
get them a little bit narrower. They can have frames,
they can be frameless. Frameless is even cooler. So, there's lots of new,
good options with it. You just have to be thinking
strategically on this one. Now, if you saw this video
on the first small spaces, it covers all the rest
of the kind of basics that you've got to cover first, before you start getting into decor. So, you wanna make sure
you gotta check that out. Now, we're gonna recap. One, you wanna keep your envelope clean, and as monochromatic as you can handle. Two, decide how to treat your floors, to maximize the visual space. Three, consider how you
can use a room divider if you need one. And what's a good solution for you. Four, shrink your furnishings, and make them double up as storage. And then five, make your vertical spaces count like custom shelves
mirrors, et cetera. (claps) Solutions, okay,
you guys with small spaces have a little bit of homework to do, and I will see all of you guys next week. (bright upbeat music)
