by Brooke Shambley

Created on: September 23, 2009

Buying furniture for small spaces can be very challenging when you have many needs for a room and very little space. Getting to a furniture store and actually seeing the furniture may tempt you to buy the first piece that seems to fit your needs. However, you really must decide on the needs of your room, the items that you need to purchase and then go the store with measurements or you might get less use out of your room than you had hoped. You want to gain functionality, keep the feeling of space, and help the room to look great.

Begin by deciding the use of the room. Will it be a bedroom? Or maybe it will be a computer room. Many families are actually opting to combine their living rooms and computer rooms. This keeps parents available to monitor their children's activities on both the television and computer, while also involving parents in homework that needs to be completed on a computer. You have to decide what you will use each room for and if it will be a multi-purpose room then you need to list the different uses of the room. If you were to decide that the bedroom absolutely cannot hold books, then you might need to find space for books in the living room. Creating multi-purpose rooms will help you use your home wisely and be happier with your space.

When combining spaces, you may want to make a bubble chart. You will make a list of all the needs you have for your home such as a sleeping space, closet space, computer space, a living space, an eating space, and a television space. On a piece of paper, you take each of the needs and place them into each of the rooms of your house. You may be surprised what areas you can combine. You have to use your imagination and let your logic catch up to the ideas. If you can dream it, you can make it happen.

As you decide on your spaces, you will find that each type of space needs certain pieces of furniture. With a computer, you need a desk. With a television, you need a stand or console. As you determine the various pieces of furniture you will need for your small space, you now have to decide how much space you are willing to give to each need. If you are always on the computer, you may want to devote a whole wall to a desk, printer stand, and CD holder. If you love books, you may want a whole wall of bookcases. Most times, you will want a mix and you will need to share space. Perhaps you want to place your computer desk next to your bookcase. You will need to know exactly how much space you have available when

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>