Living Large In Small Spaces - Ten Petite Bedrooms Big on Style

Fiftieth post in the series 

"Living Large in Small Spaces"

Welcome Friends,

On today's edition of Living Large In Small Spaces we're looking at ten different bedrooms that have maximized their small size through great design. I think you'll like these.

1.
We start with this traditional bedroom. The headboard is recessed into the custom made shelving and cabinetry. French doors open into this serene space.

Traditional Bedroom by Charlestown Interior Designers & Decorators Jeanne Finnerty Interior Design

2.
This stylish bedroom uses animal prints to make a statement. Notice how the delicate legs of the nightstands give an open feeling to the space. The mirror on the wall adds visual depth.

Vanessa De Vargas - Turquoise LA

3.
Here's another winning way to create the illusion of depth in a room. In this contemporary Georgetown bedroom photos of columns at the Jefferson Memorial were used to create wallpaper behind the bed. The side tables have pull out shelves for additional space, and wall sconces take the place of table lamps.

Contemporary Bedroom by Alexandria Interior Designers & Decorators InDesign / Lori Ludwick

4.
This is one of the best bed-in-front-of-the-window scenarios I've ever seen. The open frame headboard allows light to flow into the room, and its style, finish and height compliment the windows instead of fighting them.

Traditional Bedroom by Santa Cruz Media & Bloggers Shannon Malone

5.
Skylights brighten this charming bedroom under the eaves and make it seem larger. Space is preserved with the use of tiny storage cabinets between the studs with room for a book and other night time essentials. Wall sconces stand in for lamps.

Contemporary Bedroom by London Interior Designers & Decorators Amory Brown

6.
Several design elements struck me in this bedroom photo. The beadboard walls and ceiling painted in the same color, the double ceiling molding and the simple window treatment. All of this makes the room appear larger. But what really impressed me is the use of two matching dressers.  One might be tempted to use one big dresser on this wall, but these twins break up the space and visually expand it, as well as provide room for a chair between them. Brilliant.  

Beach Style Bedroom by Portland Architects & Building Designers Whitten Architects

7.
Great floor space conserving concept in this small teen's bedroom: dual closets, over-the-bed shelves instead of a headboard, with room for a painting. I could see this basic idea used in a master bedroom with any design style. Imagine this same scene after changing out the door style with a cottage or French country twist. Or how about a rustic approach. So many options.

Transitional Bedroom by St. John's Photographers Becki Peckham

8.
Here's a very creative solution for placing a double bed in a very small room, while still allowing for access from either side. Place it at an angle and use an adjustable screen for the headboard. See how a nice sized chest still fits here, too, and doubles as a nightstand. Love this!

Shabby Chic Bedroom by Portsmouth Interior Designers & Decorators Lisa Teague Design Studios

9.
This bedroom is delightful. Cozy and calm.

Beach Style Bedroom by Atlanta Architects & Building Designers Historical Concepts

10.
And because I couldn't decide which of two views to share, I'm including both photos of this handsome bedroom.  

Contemporary Bedroom by North Vancouver Architects & Building Designers
Garret Cord Werner Architects & Interior Designers

I didn't think you'd mind. 

Contemporary Bedroom by North Vancouver Architects & Building Designers
Garret Cord Werner Architects & Interior Designers

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed exploring this collection with me. Do you have a favorite?

Join me next Saturday for another post in the special series

 Living Large in Small Spaces

See more home tours in the 

Living Large In Small Spaces Series here.

From the comments I've received, many

people have been encouraged by the homes and lives 

shared in this series.

If you live in or have designed a small space 

(approx. 1200 square feet or less),

 I'd love to feature your story, too.

Send me an email and let's collaborate.

(See the "Contact Me" page for my email address.)

Living Large In Small Spaces - Pure Honey

Forty-ninth post in the series 

"Living Large in Small Spaces"

Welcome Friends. Thanks for joining me for another edition of Living Large In Small Spaces.

Today's featured home, located in Columbus, Ohio, was found on Trulia.  It was listed on the market and sold about a year ago. 

Since the little sign on the front porch says "Pure Honey", we'll assume this petite home is a female. 

She's a bit of a tease. On the outside she says "I'm a traditional girl."

But open her front door and you're in for a surprise.

There are no before photos, so we can only surmise how she once appeared. However, since she was born in 1920 it's apparent that this Plain Jane has had quite a makeover.

She's opened herself up to new possibilities, traded in her 648 sq ft ordinary style for something more daring.

She's thrown caution to the wind and exposed her beams and brick.

And though she's kept her classic doors, trim and baseboards, she's exchanged her staid attic for a sassy loft.

She's streamlined her kitchen with a transitional style that works with anything from vintage to contemporary furnishings, choosing new wood cabinets that enhance her old brick.

She's done a great job of maximizing her small features.

Her restyled bathroom hints at her vintage roots.

's

Willing to embrace modernity, she's added skylights to bring in natural light.

This lady rests on a double lot that offers lots of landscape potential.

I have to tell you that Pure Honey turned my head.

How about you? 

Join me next Saturday for another post in the special series

 Living Large in Small Spaces

See more home tours in the 

Living Large In Small Spaces Series here.

From the comments I've received, many

people have been encouraged by the homes and lives 

shared in this series.

If you live in or have designed a small space 

(approx. 1200 square feet or less),

 I'd love to feature your story, too.

Send me an email and let's collaborate.

(See the "Contact Me" page for my email address.)

Living Large In Small Spaces - Chatfield Court

Forty-eighth post in the series 

"Living Large in Small Spaces"

Hello, and thank you for joining me for another edition of Living Large In Small Spaces.

Today I have the privilege of welcoming Kristi of the blog Chatfield Court as my guest. I invited Kristi to come and show us the small home she owns with her husband and tell us the story behind it. I know you're going to enjoy the photos of her charming home and her tale of making this small space live large. 

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I really look forward to Nancy's Living Large in Small Spaces series every Saturday, so when she invited me to share our small space with her readers, I was absolutely thrilled. Hi, I'm Kristi from Chatfield Court, where I share the DIY's and home improvements that my handy husband and I do on our small brick ranch that we moved into 2 years ago.

   
We've lived in 10 homes during our marriage, with this being one of the smallest, and it's been a bit of an adjustment for both of us. Our home was built in the 50's, and was a foreclosure, so it needs tons of work, both inside and out, which is fine with me because I'm not happy unless I have a long to do list, although I can't say the hubs feels the same way. It comes in at a little under 1200 square feet with 3 small bedrooms and 1 really tiny bathroom. We do have a basement, that houses the laundry and all of our extra "stuff", but it's unfinished.

 
It's just my husband and I, and our pup Finn, in our first house as empty nesters, so there were no sports themed or pink bedrooms to decorate this time around. Every room was all mine to fix up the way I wanted, which has been so much fun.

 
I find that my decorating style is clean and casual and really pretty simple. I'm not one that follows trends or a particular style, if I see something that I like and I feel it will look good in my house, I go with it. One thing that I've learned about living in a small space is that you have to be creative with how you decorate. You can't move furniture around, because most of it only fits in one spot, and you don't have a whole lot of space for pretty decor. Challenging to be sure but a fun challenge, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

 
Every room in the house was painted in a pinky beige hue, not my favorite, so I started painting and decorating as soon as we moved in. I've touched every room in the house at this point in the game, and even painted a room twice, the biggest one in the house (of course).

 
We've had a lot of big firsts in this small house. Besides it being our first as empty nesters and starting Chatfield Court, another big first was that I painted a whole room by myself. Sixteen years ago I seriously hurt my back and I've had to have multiple surgeries to try to help with the pain. When we moved in and I started Chatfield Court, I was determined to do the work myself (my blog=my work), so I started with our tiny bathroom and began painting. It took me a long time to finish, and it wasn't easy, but I'm proud to say I did it all by myself.

 
From the bathroom, I moved into the master bedroom, where we added crown molding and painted the ceiling, walls and trim.

 
Then it was on to the first of the guest bedrooms. In this room I went out of my comfort zone and painted the walls in a dark turquoise. I love the results and I'm so glad that I took a chance.





 
The next room on the list was the combination living, dining and entry. This is the largest space in the house, which faces North and can be dark, so choosing a paint color was a little tricky. I finally settled on, what I thought was the perfect color, and painted the room. After living with it through the long and dark winter though, I knew it needed to be repainted a lighter color. I'll tell you, I was less than thrilled that I had to paint the room again after 6 months and, while it took me a long time to get all the walls covered, I'm really happy with the results.

 
The 2nd guest bedroom is my favorite makeover so far, mainly because I love the platform bed we made and the plank wall we installed. This room was a huge challenge for us because it needed to fit a full size bed. It's a small room with 3 doors and it's also a walk-through to the back of the house, so a custom bed was definitely necessary.

 
The hubs helped me put this room together by building the bed, which I primed, painted and, of course, decorated with pretty linens. Besides the bed and plank wall we also put up crown molding, made a new light fixture and painted the ceiling, walls, trim and doors. A lot of work for such a small room, but we love how it turned out.

 
The last room to get done is the kitchen and right now we are in the middle of an epic reno. Epic because we are in month number 9, with no end in sight. We've already done a ton to this tiny galley kitchen, including ripping out the soffits, installing a tongue and groove ceiling, painting all the cabinets and building a new set of cabinets for a blank wall that had none, but we still have a lot more to do before we can call it done. Here is what it looked like before we took out our sledge hammer and paintbrushes.

Before Photo

Before Photo

Before Photo

Unfortunately, there are no pretty after photos of this space...yet. But we're getting there. The last project we completed in here was a hidden garbage and recycle bin cabinet, which is awesome, and we're currently working on our new countertops, a project we've never tackled before.




That means that once this kitchen is done, I'll have finished all the rooms in our house. I'm not sure what I'll do after it's done but, even in a small house, there's always a project waiting on the to do list. Thanks so much for visiting with me and I hope you'll stop by Chatfield Court to say hi and to check out the new projects we're working on.     

Kristi Haight

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Thank you so much, Kristi, for being my guest today and sharing your lovely home.

Be sure to check out Kristi's blog here where you'll find lots of DIY inspiration, as well as the makeover of her pretty kitchen.

Join me next Saturday for another post in the special series

 Living Large in Small Spaces

See more home tours in the 

Living Large In Small Spaces Series here.

From the comments I've received, many

people have been encouraged by the homes and lives 

shared in this series.

If you live in or have designed a small space 

(approx. 1200 square feet or less),

 I'd love to feature your story, too.

Send me an email and let's collaborate.

(See the "Contact Me" page for my email address.)

Living Large In Small Spaces - Eco-Cottage

 Forty-seventh post in the series 

"Living Large in Small Spaces"

Eco-Cottage, Zealand, Denmark - Boutique Homes Listing

“One can furnish a room very luxuriously by taking out furniture rather than putting it in.” 

Francis Jourdain

Welcome to another edition of Living Large In Small Spaces.

I have long admired the Scandinavians for their ability to make less in a home look like so much more.  Today's featured cottage is a perfect example.

A vacation home in Zealand, Denmark, this traditional Danish/cob house began life as horse stables. The owners -- a Danish eco architect and his wife -- restored and redesigned it using natural materials and building techniques. It is original in every sense of the word.

There's a peacefulness about this home. 

The furnishings are minimalistic, allowing the architecture to take center stage.

Look at the texture in these rooms. The walls, the floors, the ceilings, the use of aged wood. It's beautiful.

What can I say about this kitchen? It's timeless and wonderful.

The lovely surprise in  this neutral palette is the living room floor painted in traditional Scandinavian green and red. 

It makes a subtle statement.

The round, white ceramic stove is so charming.

This green home has an odor-free composting toilet.

The cottage is stunning in its simplicity.

There are two bedrooms upstairs.

The built-in green cabinets on the landing are a nice touch.

Tucked under the eaves, the cozy bedrooms are filled with natural light.

Gorgeous windows throughout.

Furnishings are eclectic; antiques and handmade furniture sit well in this home. Lighting brings just a hint of industrial vibe.

The grounds invite outdoor living.

I love this cottage.

How about you?

No compensation received for featuring this home. For more information go to Boutique Homes here.

Join me next Saturday for another post in the special series

 Living Large in Small Spaces

See more home tours in the 

Living Large In Small Spaces Series here.

From the comments I've received, many

people have been encouraged by the homes and lives 

shared in this series.

If you live in or have designed a small space 

(approx. 1200 square feet or less),

 I'd love to feature your story, too.

Send me an email and let's collaborate.

(See the "Contact Me" page for my email address.)