Your condo has become all sorts of things in the prolonged months of quarantine. For one, it has become your office – your bedroom being the background for every online meeting with colleagues. It’s also a classroom, with your kids finding their happy corner in the living room, as they’re tuned in to their virtual classes.
Although malls and parks have slowly reopened, your home serves as your ever-ready recreational space. You can head out to the balcony for meditation or for some pleasant reading. In the living room, you can turn it into a mini studio for workouts and even a theater for Netflix and chill.
With everything happening at home now, you’ve probably realized it’s time to spruce up your condominium design to accommodate all these activities and improve your indoor comfort.
If you’ve been asking, “How do I style my condo?” all quarantine long, then ask no further. With the following design pegs, it’ll be easy to redecorate your place to match your new normal lifestyle.
1. Introduce plants
Greenery will not only give a fresh, new look to your condominium interiors, but it will also help boost people’s moods, according to science. We long to interact with nature, as this eases stress.
By bringing it inside your home, you’ll wake up happy and stay motivated throughout the day amid these stressful times. Embrace the plantito or plantita in you and buy a few indoor plants to keep in your condo.
Some popular and low-maintenance plants perfect for your home interiors are the snake plant, bonsai, and succulents. Use different sizes and materials of pots to make them more aesthetically pleasing. Place them in vacant areas where you want to draw the eye to, say, the sliding door to the balcony, leading one’s eyes to the outdoor views.
2. Maximize minimalism
How can you maximize your small condo space? By going minimalist; simple and clutter-free is the way to go. The first thing you must do is get rid of all the mess. Go to every room in your condo and toss out the things you rarely use or don’t need anymore. Donate them to charity, sell them online, or just give them away.
After taking the clutter out, your next condominium design consideration should be how to keep the space from accumulating clutter. In this case, you’ll need to find good storage solutions – and resist your urge to “add to cart” when you go online shopping. While maximizing your existing cabinets, install a few shelves or place some racks against your walls.
“How else do I make a small room look bigger?” Take more inspiration from these superb interior design ideas for your small condo space.
3. Paint your walls
Give them a color that would help relieve quarantine fatigue. According to color psychology, cool hues like blues, greens, and purples can promote a sense of calm in a room. Since neutral tones are muted, they’re also easy on the eyes. Go for white, beige, or gray.
If you’re interested to know what color makes a small room look bigger, the aforementioned hues can brighten up your space, making it look larger and more inviting. For added illusion, paint your moldings with a hue lighter than what’s on the walls so the latter looks like it’s farther back.
In case you’re planning to do a condo makeover and repaint your entire unit, explore these paint colors for specific areas in your home.
4. Rearrange your furniture layout.
You’ll be surprised at how much space you have in a 25-square meter condo when you do a little rearranging. The first thing you must do is follow the natural flow of foot traffic. How do people in your condo go from one space to another?
Make sure there are no obstructions along that pathway. This should give you a good idea on which furniture to move and where to place the table, sofa, and other furniture.
In most instances, small condominium designs adopt an open floor plan because it’s free-flowing. Interior designers simply distinguish spaces with rugs or different color palettes. Try this yourself and other layout ideas to maximize your space.
5. Create a workspace
Even though offices have expanded operations capacity when the quarantine measures eased, remote work is here to stay. As such, create a dedicated workspace at home, as this will do wonders for your productivity.
If you don’t have a spare room to use, a corner in a private area – say, your bedroom – will do. However, if your only option is a high-traffic area such as the kitchen or the living room, you may install a divider, like a curtain or wood panels, to assimilate privacy.
As for the furniture, go for those that provide lots of storage. More importantly, invest in stable, ergonomic designs. Remember, you’ll be spending a lot of time in this space so you might as well invest in pieces that promote better health.
With ergonomic furniture, you can be sure that back and neck pains will never be a problem, and you'll be in a better mood for productivity. A height-adjustable desk will also help prevent heart problems and obesity, as this will encourage standing every now and then.
6. Make room for a small foyer
Yes, you can have a foyer even in a small home. You should have one, in fact, not only for aesthetics but also as a disinfection area. Place isopropyl alcohol dispensers at the top of your shoe rack. It would also be best if you could designate a place for your indoor footwear. This way, you can easily slip into them after removing your shoes.
Put a large basket near the door where you can drop packages such as online shopping items and groceries. A spray container with a disinfectant solution should also be nearby. If your entryway is a little bit cramped, condo design experts in the Philippines usually recommend adding a big mirror to create an illusion of larger space.
7. Personalize with accent pieces
This is the answer to the common dilemma: how do you make a condo cozy? This is a very important question today since a lot of people have been cooped up at home for long periods. You need sources of inspiration and comfort whenever cabin fever creeps in. For this, accent pieces that speak of your personality are your best bet.
Hang pictures of your family in hallways or display unique, odd-looking vases from your travels. Think about what makes you happy and express this in your condo design. Whenever you’re stressed out from work, look at these pieces, and feel a sense of coziness.
8. Let the natural light in
Wouldn’t it be more pleasant if your interiors are brightly lit? Your condo unit design takes the spotlight, making the space more comfortable to live in. More importantly, natural light has plenty of health benefits, including boosting vitamin D, improving your sleep, and preventing depression. All of these are important during this time of health crisis and isolation. As such, make sure to incorporate this into your interiors.
Use sheer instead of blackout curtains to let the sunshine in. Or if you want privacy, opt to layer and adjust them to your liking. The switch of textures in window treatments is one classic condo interior design idea that can drastically improve the visual appeal of a room.
A safe space, the home has kept you protected in this time of crisis. Turn your place of refuge into a vibrant, inspiring sanctuary when you channel your creativity in redesigning it. Revamp your condo and make quarantine life a little less stressful and more bearable.