Will Rogers stated that “too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like”. We have been guilty of this and our biggest lesson from the pandemic lockdown is that we don’t need as much as we thought we did.

Over the years, our living space has become smaller and we are happy with that choice. We started out with a two-bedroom cottage, moved to a three-bedroom house with two lounges and we now wonder what we did with all of that space! During our travels, large apartments in Malaysia changed to a French three storey 18th century townhouse to a New York 25th floor one-bedroom shoebox. We did gain more space with our first Berlin apartment which was spacious and although lovely, we wanted something that needed less furniture and maintenance. At the time of this post, we were in a one-bedroom French apartment and while we wouldn’t have liked each room to be slightly larger, we initially found the overall area to be enough. While this isn’t for everyone, it is really appreciated when it is easily cleaned in an hour or two!

Look for a Box

Regardless of how large it is, how many bedrooms or the nice garden, the best advice I was given was to look for a box shape or square. This  also aligns with Feng Shui practices. If possible, avoid strange angles and missing spaces particularly if you use the Bagua map. There is often a missing sector but this can usually be remedied with Feng Shui methods. If you can, avoid the relationship or wealth sectors being the missing areas as they are important. Our French apartment has small rooms and all are relatively square. We did think of knocking down the middle wall to open up the space to one room for dining and living but we like the idea of separate areas. It has also allowed us to use different colours and we are looking forward to decorating the dining room in a tropical theme with our Asian furniture.

Bigger is Not Necessarily Better

Recent interior design trends are interesting to note. People have moved to building conservatories, mud rooms and theatre areas. At the same time, cafes and restaurants are busier than usual and I have friends who have amazing kitchens which have never been used but they look fantastic! So ask yourself, why do we need the space? Is it just because we can? On the other side, mini houses are another trend for economic and ecological reasons. I love their plans and design but they are even too small for us. But we do have to ask why we think more is more? As another friend said, she just expanded the furniture and it was a headache to keep up and also to pay for.

How to Give a Sense of Space

Here are some tips and tricks on how to give a sense of space without having to have it:

  • Maximise the ceiling height – use neutral colours and let curtains ‘pool’ on the floor
  • Don’t put too many small pieces of furniture in the room – go for a large sofa but lean in style and no fussy lines or pillows
  • Add mirrors but check out my Feng Shui posts on using mirrors carefully as they reflect positively and negatively
  • Decorate with the 70% main colour, 20% as a secondary colour and 10% as a highlight and use different shades
  • Play with furniture placement – sometimes moving the rug to be vertical rather than horizontal can change the look quickly
  • Put it all together and then take at least one thing out – that extra picture, throw cushion and lamp

It is all about dressing a place and using the space efficiently.

You know you have reached perfection of design not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away. – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry