I cannot pretend that I don't wish for more space fairly often. But after nine months in what my sister has lovingly nicknamed the "dollhouse" apartment, I have learned a few tricks that help keep me sane. Indulge me (and be grateful if you have more space and have never had to think about this!).
1. Clean, and clean often. You get a lot more up close and personal with your dirty dishes and dust in a tiny apartment, so I have noticed that cleaning more often is a requirement. The good news is that there are less windows/rooms/floors to clean!
2. Declutter. It may seem obvious, but while there is less room for clutter in a small space, it still accumulates quickly and has to be purged all the time. Maybe this is one benefit, there is really no room for that stack of mail you're avoiding. We also have a rule that if we forgot we owned something/haven't used it in over a year, we probably don't need to keep it.
3. Throw pillows and blankets are your friend. It's hard to resist the urge to go very minimal when you're dealing with a small space, but in my experience throw pillows, blankets, sheepskins can help a room feel more like home in any size apartment, even the tiny. Also true if you're lucky enough to have a tiny patio with your tiny apartment, weatherproof outdoor pillows are no joke.
4. Buy fresh flowers and keep some houseplants. I often have the reaction of, where are we going to put this? There's no room. But there is always room for a vase of daffodils or a windowsill plant, and they make the apartment infinitely more cheerful.
5. Space heaters in the winter, nice fans in the summer. Nothing is more depressing than a tiny apartment that's freezing or boiling. It has been worth every penny to invest in a nice space heater, and also a fan that we don't mind looking at all the time all day long. Added bonus is the white noise provided to block out the sound of your upstairs neighbor clomping around at 4:00 a.m.
6. Cook in your tiny kitchen! It is super intimidating and maybe there's barely room for more than one person and the endless supply of take-out options is beckoning to you, but with a little flexibility even the smallest kitchen can make a great meal. Extra points if you invite friends over for dinner and don't apologize about the size of your apartment.
7. Let go of the cost savings benefits of buying in bulk. I know it is much less economical to buy single rolls of paper towel, but when there is hardly any storage space, and you live one block from a Duane Reade, it's not worth the fight.
8. Finally some space saving items that we have actually found useful:
-Over the door shoe racks. We have no entryway so this saves us from tripping over all our shoes every time we come home.
-Collapsable drying rack for laundry, it fits in the tub and we hide it behind the bed when we're not using it.
-Stainless steel rods and hooks from Ikea that we hang pots, pans, mugs, dish towels, and even a dish drying rack from in the kitchen. Lifesaver.
-Platform bed with built in drawers. Not a necessity, but we needed to buy a new bed when we moved, and I am so happy we got one with drawers.
Happy tiny apartment living!
