Vancouver Apartments
It’s no secret that the real estate market in Metro Vancouver is… tight, to say the least. Real estate prices hit all-time high’s in 2015/16 becoming Canada’s most expensive housing market, increasing about 150% since June of 2005 according to the Teranet-National Bank House Price Index.
These high prices have made smaller, affordable spaces a sought after commodity - and a necessity for most - in Van-City and its surrounding regions, meaning that coming up with crafty and clever ways to make due with less space is as important as ever. Making your square-footage-challenged Vancouver apartment feel bigger is a bit of an art, but rest assured there are certainly ways to do it.
When in Doubt, Do Without
First things first: if you don’t need it, get rid of it. The first lesson is maximizing your residential space is to simply cut the clutter. You’d be surprised to see what you can afford to part with when you’re going through your possessions with a fine-toothed comb.
That second curling iron, the stereo that’s been collecting dust that you swore you’d fix one day, an extra 10 hoodies, or a loveseat that’s rarely used - you name it - we’re good at hoarding stuff we don’t need, and if your game is maximizing your space you need to be able to make room for the stuff that really matters.
Donate your extra stuff to a neighbourhood Goodwill, or Salvation Army Thrift Store. Consider putting your larger unwanted items up on Kijiji or Craigslist for sale. You can put the extra bit of cash towards some storage-minded solutions, more footprint-minded furniture, or simply stash it away for a rainy day.
Furniture Solutions
Investing some time to consider new storage-minded furniture is a great way to maximize some space in your apartment or condo. Many ottomans and coffee tables can feature a good-sized space for storage, making them valuable pieces when space is at a minimum. Pieces like these can be used to store living room accoutrement like DVD’s, vinyl LP’s, a few board games, books, throw blankets, etc. The additional space they free up can in turn be used to rearrange your abode and create even more space.
Similarly, opt for a new living room set that reduces space is key to maximizing existing square-footage. That massive chair that came with your couch and loveseat can easily be replaced for a more sleek and slim postmodern alternative, and the loveseat/couch combo itself is a dated way to furnish your chic urban living space in the first place.
If you’re really wanting to save space, consider getting rid of one of them altogether. If you do a lot of entertaining, keep the couch - if it’s just you, your spouse, and maybe the cat, keep the loveseat as your living room seating solution. The idea of the loveseat/couch combo as a requirement of the living room is as current as yesterday’s news.
Huge coffee tables can be substituted for just about anything, allowing you to finally use that vintage trunk you’ve been stashing in the closet for years, or the live edge bench that sits by the door and collects shoes, bags and hats all year. Reimagining the functionality of your existing roster of furniture is a great way to free up space and maximize your apartment’s feel - as well as it is liberating to redesign the layout of your space.
Storage Solutions
Aside from layout design, and buying new furniture, there are a plethora of ways to store your stuff in a more organized way that may give you the perceived feeling of improved space. Sometimes a clutter is always a clutter, but organizing and streamlining the way you choose to display and compose your stuff.
Vertical storage solutions are great ways to boost available floor space. Wall mounted storage shelves and racks provide an expansive band-aid for clutter that takes up a lot of room. The nice thing about vertical storage is, the possibilities are endless. Many editions of these space-saving shelving units are available in just about every aesthetic design trend, colour, and material conceivable to make storage in your living room, kitchen, bedroom, or bathroom a snap. Try wood, ceramic, plastic, an industrial flair with iron piping, etc., to fit the vibe of each of your spaces.
Organize your photos, some extra wall art, a few plants, the TV, your vinyl collection and build a pseudo library to create an intriguing vertical focal point to improve square footage. Further, they work wonders in the closet, ridding your bedroom of massive dressers and chests.
In the kitchen make extra space in cupboards by hanging your pots and pans above the island, or stove. It adds a warm, user-friendly utilitarian sense of function to the kitchen, and frees up swaths of space for the toaster, juicer, food processor and salad spinner. That counter space in turn, can now be used to prep meals, host your coffee maker, a drying rack for dishes, or be left bare as visual reminder to further confirm your space-saving prowess.
Aesthetic Trickery
Further to reducing the amount of possessions you have, and reorganizing the leftovers - and aside from investing in new, more compact furniture, or thrifty storage solutions, there’s one last option that can be used as a proverbial cherry on top of any of these answers.
Play with colour in your space as well. Both dark and warm colours can make rooms feel smaller than they truly are, and as a result, you’re left to steep in a space that’s unable to feel as grandiose as it truly is visually. Experiment with whites, creams, light greens and yellows to add to the sense of space in your apartment. A brighter hue adds a breath of freshness to any space that will help you to see its potential.
Also, open those windows. Utilizing as much natural light as humanly possible helps to bring some life into the room, which can open it up psychologically. Using long drapes with vertical accents can help to elongate the ceiling line, helping vertically challenged apartments or condo’s feel taller and loftier.