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The Penny Crabtree Company,

1-866-765-1301,

Penny Crabtree; Instructor, Holistic Redesign Director, Award-winning Author

www.healthyhomedecorating.com & www.pennycrabtree.com

Creating Healthy Spaces Small Spaces Part 2

Perhaps you are just starting out in your first apartment rental home, or are starting over

again and you don't know how to begin decorating your new place? Here are some

easy, inexpensive, landlord friendly ideas for making a space your own!

Choose a feeling you want in your apartment or rental home.

Since apartments and rentals tend to be smaller spaces, choosing a set of feelings as a

theme to cover the whole space can both visually enlarge the space, and make the job

much less complicated. Want a relaxed, calming atmosphere to unwind in? Choose

neutrals or cool colors such as blues and greens. Want to express your colorful

personality? Try using bright, energetic color combinations.

If you are in need of furniture, check out yard sales, classified ads, and even thrift

shops to save yourself big bucks.

Keep your choices to simple pieces that will blend with any décor, in the case of a move

or a change of taste. You can make a simple platform bed with concrete cinder clocks

and ž inch plywood or mdf board. Futon mattresses are less expensive then regular

mattresses, and can offer good firm support.

Add Some Personality.

Now that you have a few pieces of furniture and have chosen your color scheme to

represent the feeling of the room, its time to add some personality! Throw pillows and

throw blankets add color and charm, warm up the room, and disguise imperfect furniture.

Most renters can't paint the walls, so add color in creative ways.

Pick up a collection of dollar store frames, spray paint them black for sophistication, then

frame unusual things such as pretty pieces of fabric, cd covers, soup can labels, or even

sheet music! Pick something you love, then display them as a grouping on the wall.

Don't be afraid to paint that old furniture your Aunt Rose gave you.

(Unless its an heirloom, of course!) Anything can be painted these days, even cheap

laminate bookcases. Clean the piece well, sand lightly, then prime with a specialty

primer such as KILZ Original. Now simply paint the piece with regular semi gloss house

paint! You can add stenciling or stamps to give it a custom feel. Paint all the furniture

one color to tie it together and make the room seem larger, or feel free to experiment

and paint all the dining chairs a different color. (Remember "Friends"?)

Just because it's a rental doesn't mean it can't be home.

Add your own stamp to each and every room giving it personality. Bring out those family

photos, use that rug you made in the third grade as a seat cushion, or hang your

Grandmothers costume jewelry from your chandelier. Use creativity, and learn to use

your home to express yourself.

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The Penny Crabtree Company,

1-866-765-1301,

Penny Crabtree; Instructor, Holistic Redesign Director, Award-winning Author

www.healthyhomedecorating.com & www.pennycrabtree.com

Make small space look bigger:

Small rooms can feel confining and uncomfortable. Luckily we can utilize certain design

concepts that fool the eye and make our rooms seem larger. Try these inexpensive

decorating tricks to make your rooms live bigger.

1. Use an optical illusion to expand space:

Hang large pieces of wall art when designing wall displays, it will give the appearance of

a larger living space.

2. Use Light Colors

Light and brightly colored walls are more reflective, which will help to maximize the effect

created by natural light. This does not mean you have to live with white walls. There are

a wide range of light colors paints available, such as light green or cream beige.

Once you've chosen your wall color, choose your trim and moldings colors. Paint your

trims and moldings in either the same hue as the walls, or a lighter color. Lighter objects

appear closer while darker or shadowed objects appear further away. When you paint

your moldings a lighter color, the wall appears further back - thus making your room

appear bigger.

Now, don't be worried that your room is going to be bland and uninviting, bolder and

darker colors can be be used in furniture, artwork and accessories.

If your colors are already dark, try to move the darker colors to a 'background' role while

maximizing your neutral white or ivory. Be careful when using wallpaper. Solid colors are

the safest, with tiny patterns taking a close second. Whatever the wall color or finish, we

recommend the ceiling in a small room be painted stark white to maximize brightness.

Color

When choosing color schemes, select soft and monochromatic colors.

Use the same or similar colors for your large pieces of furniture and your walls and keep

your ceiling lighter than the rest of the room

3. Mirrors

Mirrors can have a favorable impact on a room's appearance. A large mirror in the room

will reflect light around the room. The mirrors also reflect both natural and artificial light

to make a room brighter during the day and night. They bounce light deep into the room,

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The Penny Crabtree Company,

1-866-765-1301,

Penny Crabtree; Instructor, Holistic Redesign Director, Award-winning Author

www.healthyhomedecorating.com & www.pennycrabtree.com

making it appear larger. This is especially effective with near a window so the outdoors

can be reflected.

Use glass-front or mirrored cabinet doors to make spaces feel large and uncluttered.

Large, expansive mirrors over vanities, mirrored wardrobe doors or a floor-to-ceiling wall

of mirrors (combined with our decorating suggestions) can make even the smallest of

spaces seem larger.

Mirrors are great for creating an illusion of space and are an affordable and easy way to

open up a room or hallway.

Place mirrors on the sides in narrow hallways to make them less claustrophobic.

If you have a wall just in front of the entrance then placing a mirror here opens

this up.

A mirror can be a great feature as well so consider investing in a really classy

mirror and frame that stands out and complements the rest of the home décor.

Use mirrors in bathrooms, you can be liberal here especially if the room is small.

Make sure you place mirrors in usable heights. It can be quite frustrating and

cumbersome if you are forced to bend or jump just to use a mirror

4. Arrange Furniture At Angles

Arrange some of your larger pieces of furniture at a angle. You don't have to place the

furniture at an exact 45 degree angle, often a lesser angle looks best if you can balance

the look with another furniture piece.

Setting your furniture at an angle works because the longest straight line in any given

room is it's diagonal. When you place your furniture at an angle, it leads the eye along

the longer distance, rather than the shorter wall. As an added bonus, you often get some

additional storage space behind the piece in the corner, too!

5. Scale Furniture

Keep furnishings in scale with the rooms. In small rooms, use slim rockers, open-back

chairs or a simple sofa or love seat rather than overstuffed furnishings to avoid

overpowering the space.

There are stores that deal exclusively in furniture for apartments and mobile homes.

Despite its slightly smaller size, scaled-down furniture can be beautiful. An open

headboard is best for a small room. When furnishing, keep the view at eye level

unobstructed. Taller furnishings should be placed at the end of the room opposite its

main entry.

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The Penny Crabtree Company,

1-866-765-1301,

Penny Crabtree; Instructor, Holistic Redesign Director, Award-winning Author

www.healthyhomedecorating.com & www.pennycrabtree.com

Furnishings

When selecting furniture for your small space choose smaller pieces that have a more

open design.

Example:

A love seat with exposed legs, two small side chairs, and a small round

glass top coffee table, would be a better choice than, a large sofa with

hidden legs, love seat, and a large solid wood coffee table.

Arrangements and Traffic Flow

When arranging your furniture be aware of traffic patterns, all traffic should flow

uninterrupted through your room. In a living room start with the sofa or love seat. When

arranging your furniture start with the largest piece on the largest wall and facing your

focal point. Then create a conversation area. Place a side chair on each side of the Love

seat and place your coffee table where it can be reached from all three sitting places.

Accessories and Patterns

In small spaces be careful not to over use accessories. Remember, less is more if you

want to create that open feeling. Mirrors and shiny reflective accessories help create the

illusion of more space. Larger patterns should be limited to pillows and smaller

accessories rather than a large sofa or love seat.

Lighting

Use a soft even light and eliminate shadows which tend to slice a room up into smaller

spaces. Incandescent lighting will also soften a room. Avoid ceiling lighting this will

visually lower your ceiling.

Tips

Keep your apartment simple and clean. If you don't need it throw it out!

Clutter free - Stress-free! Less is more

1. Remove your interior doors (use curtains instead on closets and doors).

2. Replace your big refrigerator with a smaller, under counter model. Its more than

enough room.

3. Treat yourself to a really good, sturdy small vacuum, keeping your floor clean uplifts

its.

4. Use track lighting aimed at walls to free up floor space and create an expansive

feeling.

5. Install lighting inside closets so you can see whats in there. They will be easier to

maintain and you will gain the feeling of more space.

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The Penny Crabtree Company,

1-866-765-1301,

Penny Crabtree; Instructor, Holistic Redesign Director, Award-winning Author

www.healthyhomedecorating.com & www.pennycrabtree.com

6. Clean your windows often so that more light comes in and your view is not blocked.

7. Buy quality cookware, tableware, and linens. Small luxuries, such as table top

fountains, go a long way.

8. Go wireless, transfer all your music to your computer and sell your CDs!

9. Use full spectrum light bulbs to energize and enliven your home.

10. Have lots of dinner parties. People actually socialize better in small spaces. And, as

an added bonus, apartment dwellers who entertain take better care of their homes.

Space Hogs Here are the most common

1. Clothes.

If you're like most people, the clothes you wear on a day-to-day basis come from

a mere 20 percent of the clothes in your closet. In other words, 80 percent of

those clothes are just taking up space and never worn. Go through your closet

and remove jeans, sweaters, blouses, skirts, dresses, shoes and coats that you

never wear. Donate them today. Your closet will be ready to store any outfits you

feel wonderful wearing, and you'll be helping out someone who could be making

use of those unused garments.

1. Appliances.

Bread machines, juicers, griddles, mixers and other similar appliances are

wonderful--if you use them. However, if you have some, or all, of these

appliances, and you haven't used them in, conservatively speaking, a year,

chances are, they'll never be used in your lifetime. Say goodbye to them today,

and you'll be freeing up cabinet and counter space.

2. Magazines.

Do you keep every single magazine that enters your home? If you do, you most

likely have a few piles growing throughout your home or office. Try to go through

your magazines and cut out and file, only the articles or recipes, etc. that most

interest you. No sense in keeping the entire magazine, once you've read through

it and have chosen those pages that you'd like to keep for future reference.

3. Mementos.

While it's fine to keep some very meaningful things stashed away in a mementos

box, if you've accumulated more than one or two boxes of these treasures, you

may be going a bit overboard. Being sentimental is wonderful, but not when it's at

the expense of your living space or storage space. Go through these boxes of

stuff from time to time, and weed out the things that no longer have significant

meaning to you. Commit to 1-2 boxes at the most, and you'll have lots of

memories to look back on in the future, and lots of new space now!

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The Penny Crabtree Company,

1-866-765-1301,

Penny Crabtree; Instructor, Holistic Redesign Director, Award-winning Author

www.healthyhomedecorating.com & www.pennycrabtree.com

Furniture.

Is your home or apartment filled to the max with furniture you never use?

Perhaps it was passed down from a loved one? Or maybe you recently made a

move to a smaller place, but brought all of your big furniture with you. If it's not

functional or you truly don't have the space for it, consider letting go. Imagine all

the free space you'll have when it's gone.

Tricks of the trade

To help make a room look large glass table are a must! They tend to diappear

opening up a space.

Natural shampoo and conditioners made from chamomile, rosemary and henna not

only strengthen hair and enhance its color and texture

To make any room seem larger extend the wall color on the ceiling, painting a 3

band around the perimeter. Separate both colors with a thin black line. This fools

the eye into looking up subconsciously extending the wall height 3.

Quote of the week:

To love one's self is the beginning of a life-long romance

Oscar Wilde