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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Tips On Using Space Offered

Gary Krino Orange County Register

Gripe, gripe, gripe. We don’t have enough living space. An apartment with one bedroom? We’d kill for two. A condo? So where’s the kitchen dining nook? And a boxy, smallish tract house? Sure would be nice to have a family room for the kids.

Elaine Lewis is a New York interior designer who has spent more than 25 years putting together model homes and has had plenty of experience in putting the “streeeetch” into all sorts of living spaces.

Now, Lewis has gathered all that experience in “Less Is More: A Practical Guide to Maximizing the Space in Your Home,” (Viking Studio Books, 225 pages, $29.95). It’s a hands-on book that’s full of tips, color photos and, most useful of all, plenty of floor plans designed to help you get the most from the space you have available.

Teaser tips from the book? Here’s a sprinkling:

Illusion. It’s a key word in stretching space.

If there is absolutely no way to carve a separate family room out of your existing home, try creating family-room niches throughout the house.

To create more space in beddy-bye land, try extending the bedroom into the closet.

A formal living room or dining room that is used only on major holidays might be, in reality, a spare room.