Kelly Wearstler’s 7 Tips For Making the Most of Small Spaces
Kelly Wearstler has designed everything from massive Hollywood homes to small boutique hotels. She is a master of using space and she has some valuable insight into how you can maximize small rooms.
When Kelly Wearstler moved to Los Angeles when she was in her early-20s, nobody could have predicted the interior design phenomenon she would become.
Her unique design ideas transformed the philosophies of design on the West Coast.
And since those early days, she’s gone on to enjoy a fantastic career. From working with Hollywood luminaries, like Cameron Diaz, through to appearing in The New Yorker and Architectural Digest, Kelly has become an authority on modern interior design.
Now the head of Kelly Wearstler Interior Design (KWID), she specializes in creating luxury spaces for her clients.
But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have plenty of advice to offer to those working in much smaller spaces than she typically does!
In this article, we confront one of the critical interior design challenges – maximizing small spaces. How? By sharing Kelly Wearstler’s advice on how to create a lot when you start with very little.
Tip #1 – Mirrors Are Your Friends
When asked what it takes to be a good designer, Kelly says:
“Being a good designer is about visual trickery, and a mirror is the perfect medium to use.”
Trickery is key if you’re going to make the best possible use of a small space. With little room to work with, you’ve got to use every little trick you can think of to make the area appear larger than it is.
Mirrors are key to this.
With the clever use of mirrors, you can create depth in a room that would otherwise feel tiny. Mirrors also reflect the light that enters the room, allowing you to transform the space into something that feels much brighter and airier.
Kelly recommends placing three mirrors on the wall in a living room to achieve this effect. If you’re working on a bedroom, using a mirror for a headboard allows you to open the space up further.
Bedroom Designed by Eliriah Interiors
3D Rendering by Duke Renders
Tip #2 – Tell a Story With Your Room
Any room, no matter its size, tells a story about its owner. When you allow a smaller space to become cluttered, you’re not just minimizing what you can do with that space. You’re also showing anybody that sees it that you don’t care about that space.
And if you don’t care…
Why should they?
Kelly’s advice is to find a way to tell a story with your room:
“Your home tells the story about you. I've had Zoom meetings where somebody is in a gorgeous room. There's a beautiful piece of art behind. There's a sconce on the wall. And it looks super tight.”
The story doesn’t have to be complex.
A simple theme to the decoration can tell a story. Or, as Kelly suggests, a piece of art that means something to you or small decorations that accent the room's features can do the trick. The key is that you don’t discount a space just because it’s small. Instead of allowing the room to tell its own story, think about what you can do to tell your own story using the room.
Tip #3 – Paint and Repaint
Paint has always been an effective tool for transforming a room. And as Kelly points out:
“You’re never permanently committed to a paint color. You can always just paint it back later.”
Her point?
Feel free to experiment with color when designing smaller spaces. You have a limited amount of room to work with and some of your ideas may look better in your head than they do in practice. Through experimentation, you can come up with something that works well. And if you get tired of the paint job, you can always change it later.
Bedroom Designed by Eneia White
3D Rendering by Duke Renders
As for smaller spaces, in particular, Kelly recommends using bright colors to create an uplifting mood for the room. This doesn’t mean you limit yourself to yellows. Instead, choose colors that make you feel good. And remember, you don’t have to use the same color throughout the room, as Kelly explains:
“You don’t have to paint all the walls the same color. You can color block, or create an accent wall that’s different from the other walls.”
This handy little trick allows you to create some variety in a small space, creating multiple points of focus instead of making the room feel like it’s closing in on itself.
Living Room Designed by ModChic Interiors
3D Rendering by Duke Renders
Tip #4 – Comfort is Key
If you’re aiming to create an attractive design for a small space, the odds are that you intend to use it. If that’s the case, focusing on attractive pieces that place little focus on comfort may not be the best choice. If you do that, you may end up with a room full of furniture that nobody wants to use.
When designing a small room, focus on comfort first. Kelly has a simple rule that she uses when shopping for comfort:
“When I go out shopping, I always make sure I sit in a chair.”
The feel of the furniture is just as important as the look you’re trying to achieve. By focusing on comfort first, you ensure that every item you place into a small space has a purpose beyond its visual appeal.
Tip #5 – Use Furniture That Has Legs
Let’s say you’ve managed to fit a sofa into your small space. However, this sofa sits directly on the floor. Where is your eye drawn when you examine the space?
The front edge of the sofa.
The same goes for any furniture that sits directly on the floor. You essentially create a new set of constraints within the room that can make it feel smaller than it is.
Kelly’s solution to this problem is simple:
“For making a small space feel larger, consider legs on everything. Because if you have furniture that’s rooted to the ground and you can't see under it, your eye’s not going to travel beyond the lines of the front of the piece of furniture.”
Being able to see underneath your furniture extends your floor space because you’re able to see where the furniture sits. This allows you to highlight the full scope of the room, rather than being limited by the lines of the pieces you place inside it.
Dining Room Designed by City To Suburb Interiors
3D Rendering by Duke Renders
Kitchen Designed by Tiffany Leigh
3D Rendering by Duke Renders
Tip #6 – Get Rid of the Stuff You Don’t Need
Clutter is a killer with small spaces.
And yet, so many of us find it difficult to get rid of the things we own. We find excuses to keep items that we don’t use. But in doing so, we limit our ability to play with the limited amount of space we have.
Kelly says you should try to avoid this when working with small spaces:
“I mean, that's step one, just organizing and get rid of [stuff] that you just don't need, and donating it and just feeling good about that whole experience.”
The mention of donating is an important one here.
We often grow attached to the things we own. By donating instead of discarding, you can at least feel good about the idea that a piece of furniture you no longer need is going to somebody who can use it. And of course, that donation also means you can open up your space for new ideas.
Tip #7 – Use Multiple Materials
Smaller spaces run the risk of looking quite drab, especially if the furniture you place into them is all made using the same material. The space closes in on itself because there’s nothing to capture interest. Everything in the room looks the same, creating a closed-off aesthetic that makes the space seem smaller.
Kelly’s advice is simple:
“Different materials … make the room feel more interesting.”
This extends to every aspect of the room.
If you have leather furniture, you could create some contrast with wooden pieces. If the walls are painted with a gloss finish, a matte finish on the ceiling creates another point of interest. Even varying the materials used for cushions and rugs can help.
By diversifying your materials, you create the impression that you’ve fit far more into the room than you should be able to.
Living Room Designed by Rochelle Samuels
3D Rendering by Duke Renders
Small Spaces Matter
As interior designers, we often run the risk of overlooking the small spaces in people’s homes.
They can come off as unimportant, especially if we’re struggling with ideas on how to use them. However, Kelly Wearstler shows us that even the smallest of spaces can be transformed into something amazing.
You just need to know how to make the most out of what you have.
These seven tips should give you some ideas for any small spaces that you’re working on right now.
And with our help, you can see what those ideas will look like before you implement them.
At Duke Renders, we can help you create photorealistic 3D renders of any space that you’re working on. This means you can test out your ideas before you spend money on turning them into a reality.
