While interior design principles are the same no matter where you live, decorating an urban home comes with a whole extra set of challenges compared to decorating a more spacious country home.
City homes tend to be smaller than ones in the countryside, and they often lack gardens, meaning that it’s even more important to put aside a space for quiet retreats. In addition, you’re more likely to have to worry about traffic noise, light pollution, and nuisance neighbors. The following tips will help you to overcome some of those challenges.
Get Creative With Storage
In a smaller home, you’ll have to make use of every inch of space available to you. This means that you’ll want to get creative with storage – working up as well as out. You may want to consider forgoing curtains for blackout roller blinds, as the blinds will cover just your window, leaving the nearby wall space for shelving.
Keeping your home clutter free may be a battle, but it’s one that is worth fighting. You can use your windowsill, and spare work space, to house flowers and houseplants, offering you a little bit of tranquility in your home for those days when the stress becomes too much.
Noise and Light Pollution
Double glazing is one of the best investments anyone could ever make when it comes to cutting down on noise pollution. If you’re a light sleeper, or just easily irritated by background noise, it’s well worth spending some money on getting your home kitted out with double glazing if it isn’t already.
To block out light pollution, you may want to opt for blackout roller blinds in your bedroom. Heavy curtains can also do the job, but blackout roller blinds are a safer bet as they will cover 100% of the window, and aren’t likely to waft open and let light through at inopportune moments. If passing cars, streetlights, or night-owl neighbors annoy you then it makes sense to keep your room dark and ensure a good night’s sleep.
Clean Colors
For smaller properties, clean, simple decorations and light colors are a better choice than dark colors and busy patterns. The reason behind this is that light, simple colors create the illusion of a bigger room. When space is at a premium, this optical illusion is appreciated.
Another positive optical illusion comes from the use of mirrors. A large mirror on one wall of a room makes the room appear a lot bigger. You may have seen this trick used to good effect in pubs and restaurants, why not try it in your own home?
Keep it Simple
A clean, clutter free environment is much nicer to live in than one that’s bursting at the seams full of stuff that rarely gets used. It may take a while to adjust to a less “stuff filled” way of living, especially if you’re moving from a large house to a small one, but once you make the decision to hold a grand clean-out, you’ll find that you don’t miss most of the stuff, and you’ll be glad you got rid of it.
Guest writer Amy Fowler wrote this article on behalf of Moonshadow Blinds, suppliers of many types of blinds including blackout roller blinds.
Pretty nice tips. I always consider making use of simple colors in furnishings and interiors. Making use of limited shades makes the rooms cool and clean