August 22, 2006 in Home

Learn how to size up those small places

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Mark Lund for Real Simple photo

The cramped living room was made to feel more spacious by lightening the walls
(Full-size photo)

Wendy Kuncken is crazy for castoffs. Bits of crockery, vintage photos – she buys them with abandon at flea markets, tag sales and on eBay. “It’s my personality,” she says. “I just love collecting.” That’s all fine, except that while her collections grow, her 650-square-foot apartment in Englewood, N.J., doesn’t. “It’s too small to live in – it isn’t functional,” says Kuncken, 45, who works at an antiques gallery. But small spaces don’t have to be cramped. They can be comfortable, bright and clutter-free. With help from Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, author of “Apartment Therapy” (Bantam, 2006), and other design professionals, Real Simple made the most of her small rooms with new color, furniture and storage solutions.

Living room

Kuncken had tried to gain open space by pushing furniture to the walls, where it collected clutter. “People in small spaces often try to get the room they want by moving stuff to the edges,” Gillingham-Ryan says. “But it kills warmth.” Kuncken obscured the windows behind layers of plants and curtains. Without a coffee table, the room’s dominant presence was a chair facing a television.

Real Simple solutions: Let the light in: When the curtain rods extend beyond the window frames, the curtains allow in more light and draw the eye outward. “Windows are the eyes of the room,” Gillingham-Ryan says. “When you cover them up, you make your place smaller.”

Center the room: To enliven the space, Gillingham-Ryan suggested a sociable triangle consisting of a Chris Madden classic sofa ($799, www.jcpenney.com), a Room & Board Flynn club chair ($699, www.roomandboard.com), and a slipper chair moved from the bedroom. The neutral-colored Ikea Inez rug ($149, www.ikea.com) helps unify the room. Pier 1 Imports Lijang hexagonal trunks ($225 each, www.pier1.com) are combined to form a coffee table.

Concentrate collectibles: For more impact, Kuncken’s pottery was collected on the Crate & Barrel Aspect leaning bookshelf ($199, www.crateandbarrel.com). “The way you display something can be as important as the collection itself,” says Matthew Dennison, co-author of “At Home With Color” (Ryland Peters, 2006).

Bedroom

The downbeat beige-and-brown palette and busy rug pattern made the room feel smaller than it was, as did the disordered items on the bureau and the bedside table. Sunlight (and a garden view) were blocked by curtains and needless layers of window accessories.

Real Simple solutions: Keep it bright: The bedroom was made to appear larger by replacing the active patterns in the rug and the bed linens and the overall drab color scheme with bright, upbeat items, like a striped bolster pillow by Variegated Inc. ($110, www.variegatedinc.com), a rickrack duvet cover ($300, www.variegatedinc.com), and an Ikea Ringum solid-color wool rug ($35, www.ikea.com).

Create reflections: Kuncken lacked a prominent mirror in her bedroom. The Umbra Arbo walnut-framed mirror ($550, www.umbra.com) was hung above the dresser to reflect light from the window, making the 9-by-10 room feel more spacious. “Mirrors are a tried-and-true way to open up space,” says Susan Zises Green, a New York designer. “They almost always help a small room.”

Find multitaskers: One reliable way to get the most out of your square footage is to selecting furniture that contains storage space. A pair of J.C. Penney Co. bookseller tables ($249 each, www.jcpenney.com) can act as shelving for books and containers.

Kitchen

Kuncken couldn’t resist treating the kitchen as another showcase for pottery and plants. As a result, the kitchen had so little counter space that she ate standing up and sliced bread on the floor. Utensils were jammed into a small drawer under the sink.

Real Simple solutions: Create a triangle of efficiency: With purely decorative items removed, Kuncken can now move unencumbered among the three key work areas: sink, stove and refrigerator. “Finally I can turn around and put something down,” she says. “I actually enjoy being in here now.”

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