Cozy Cottage Corners

How to Add Charm to Small Space

Curb Alert + Beachy Colors + Cool Hardware = My Happy Place
 

The most common struggle I have when decorating our cottage is space... I should probably say "lack of space," 'cause there's not too much of it! Since we've only got about 1000 square feet to work with, "what goes where" can really make-or-break a room. We're a family of 6 (plus puppy), we're near the beach, and we're always welcoming friends and families to our home, so it gets tricky to find a balance between maintaining function (we need lots of places to sleep, but beds are big!) while keeping the charm (if there's a place to sleep in the room, everything else must be small!).

That means our first priority with furniture has to be beds (or places to sleep--like our kids bunk room). This particular space is a "middle room" of sorts. It acts as a bedroom/hallway, and because of its size, it is prime guest quarters.

A few years back, I scored this amazing trundle bed for a steal on Craigslist, so everything else has had to work around it. Since it only leaves a small space for anything else in the room, this little corner has been sitting vacant for a bit. But, like so many DIY bloggers out there, I'm a sucker for "FREE" signs on the side of the road, so when we passed this desk while we were out on a family walk the other night, I was pumped.

It was originally painted a pink and white combo, which wasn't my taste, but it is solid wood, a cute shape, and most importantly, SMALL! I didn't hesitate to snatch it up (translation: I didn't hesitate to beg my husband to bring it home for me... which he did... carrying it all the way back to our house 2 streets over! As much as he complains about my endless projects, I think he secretly loves them.). You can see how impatient I am, too... I didn't take an authentic 'before' picture before I started painting!

And happily, our new little desk fit perfectly against this wall.

So... a quick update/makeover later (using Junk Gypsy paint and some fun, metal knobs), and the desk was styled to match the rest of the room.

Above is the view looking at the this space from the guestroom (the one with an actual door!).

Making furniture work in a small room really all comes down to scale, and sometimes you just have to be patient until you find the right piece on the side of the road in your favorite furniture joint!

 

If you're looking for more SMALL SPACE ideas, check out my recent Boys Bedroom project for Habitat for Humanity.

And hey, are we connected yet? If not, find me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Google+, and Bloglovin so we can start sharing ideas together!