When you are limited on space it is very important to have a clear path forward when looking at the design. For most people when doing house interior design for small houses there is one priority: storage.
Storage is so important when you are in a limited space. A well designed house with lots of storage it doesn’t mean that it needs to be soulless. Storage isn’t a design style. It shouldn’t be your first consideration or it will dominate the space. That is why when we are looking at small houses we first focus on the overall feel by setting our clients some homework.
Interior Design Homework
If it’s just yourself who will be living in the space you will need to be very focused in your thinking. Sometimes having a sounding board works well. If you find this challenging remember to mention it at the beginning of the project and your designer will be able to account for it. If there is more than one of you then you will both need to sign up for a Houzz account. The first step is to create an ideabook for each of the areas in the house you are looking to re-design. Try and each add 10 images that you like the look at. If there is more than one of you, you each get 2 vetoes, take those images out and then you will be able to move forward with the 16+ you have left.
This will give you a good overall ‘feeling’ for the rooms. You may be surprised what has risen to the top when selecting images. It may be textured neutrals, parquet floors or even a rich paint shade. You will probably be equally shocked by the amount of design aesthetics that are ‘nice’ but you aren’t really drawn to them as your own unique space.
Don’t worry if they don’t feel the ‘gel’ together. Your interior designer will be able to work on that with you. If you can make notes on what you were drawn to in each of the areas (there is a function for that when adding the images to an idea book). That will also be a huge help and will also make you look deeper into each of the images.