Helpful Ideas For Decorating A Small Space You Will Love To Live In

Helpful and practical tips for decorating a small room so it looks beautiful, feels comfortable, and makes the most of the space.

This is a comprehensive post filled with expert step-by-step directions for redecorating a room, so by the end of the process, your small room will look its best! This post is a must-read for everyone who does any decorating!

Do you have a small room in your home? We do. It is our sunroom. I haven’t measured it in a while, but I would guess it’s about seventeen feet by seventeen feet. That is definitely a small size for a main living space. And it happens to be the most used and loved room in our home.

Most evenings, it is just Bobby and me enjoying a little time together in this cozy space. But when our family comes to visit, this room fills up quickly. It becomes the gathering spot, and it can feel full in the best way.

So, how do you decorate a small room that needs to do it all and still look pretty? That is what I am sharing in this post—how to redecorate a room step-by-step and my best tips for creating a small room that feels open, works well, and welcomes everyone who walks through the door.

Let’s start at the beginning!

Are You Decorating Alone?

The first thing to consider when redecorating a room is whether to do it alone or hire a professional.

For our sunroom, I started it alone but wanted a second opinion, so I called on a professional to give me a little help! Ethan Allen’s expert designers will visit your home at no cost and provide you with personalized decorating advice. Since we were buying a sofa from Ethan Allen, I called Carolyn (Ethan Allen, Lancaster, PA), and she was a big help!

I needed a second set of eyes on our small sunroom, which lives very large, to tell me if I was going in the right direction!

Even if you’re a confident decorator, it’s a good idea to get a second opinion!

ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS BEFORE YOU REDECORATE A ROOM

Answering these questions before you redecorate will go a long way to making the best redecorating decisions.

• What will the room be used for?
• Who will spend time in the space?
• What is the biggest plus of this room?
• What is the room’s biggest drawback?

These may seem like easy questions, and often they are, but when redecorating, you want to be sure you know the answer to these questions because almost all your decisions will be made with them in mind.

Here’s how I answered the questions for redecorating the sunroom…

Our sunroom will serve as a space to watch TV, read, and relax, especially in the evenings. It is also the space we give over to the grandchildren to use as a playroom when they visit. Bob and I will spend the most time in this room, but when family comes (usually on weekends), many family members use it while we watch TV.

The biggest plus of the sunroom is the windows and the views overlooking the golf course. The scenery is ever-changing with the seasons, and each one is truly beautiful! Keeping the views in mind, there will be no large furniture in the sunroom to compete with or obstruct the views.

The biggest drawback is the sunroom’s size. It’s rather small, and we can’t expand it. Oh, I wish it were twice as big. But, wishing does not change anything, so I must work with what I have!

Now that I have answered the purpose of our sunroom, all my redecorating decisions will be made with that in mind. The same applies to considering how we utilize the space.

Get Inspired

One of the easiest ways to find inspiration for redecorating a room is to find images of rooms you love. Visit blogs, Pinterest, and Instagram. Peruse magazines and books. 

Did you see a neutral room with a beautiful texture that stopped you in your tracks? Or a magical piece of art that you want to use in your room? These are good examples of inspiration! Finding inspiration often helps give you direction when redecorating a room.

The inspiration for our sunroom was the rug! (Sorry, I don’t have a link; the rug is currently out of stock.) This rug was on a super sale, made of rugged material, and I thought it was so pretty! An incredible decorating trifecta!

Since our grandchildren play on the floor of this room, I needed a rug that could withstand a lot of wear and tear. We have had lots of spills on this rug, and they have all been easy to clean up.

I also wanted to bring a little more color, albeit neutrals, into the sunroom. This rug added a little more warm gray to this room.

Create A Mood Board

I think this is a step many people don’t take, and when we redecorate a room, we should. Using PicMonkey (free), I created a collage of all the things I’m thinking about putting in our sunroom.

I can get a very good idea about how the colors, style, and everything will work together.

The sofa is not the same sofa and is the wrong color, but it’s just a stand-in! And the rug is not the same rug, but the colors are somewhat close to the rug I have.

You can see sources for all the items I’m using in our new sunroom at the bottom of the post.

What Stays And What Goes

It’s important to decide if there is anything you are going to keep in a room you are redecorating. The paint color, the curtains, and hardware, the furnishings, the accent decor, the rug, the lamps… everything!

Here’s our list of things that are staying…

• The paint color
• A coffee table
• Small accent chairs (for awhile)
• The rug (new)
• Baskets
• The curtains and blinds
• Most accent decor

Here’s what is going…

• The sectional (we are giving it to our son and daughter-in-law)
• Our old rug
• The leather recliner
• A floor lamp

Set A Budget

When redecorating, it’s essential to establish a budget for any project, regardless of its size. A budget is a guide! For me, a budget gives me peace of mind. I like to work within the parameters of a budget. If not I could way overspend!

Many, if not most, of your decisions will be made by the price tags of things you want to put in your room. And knowing what you have planned to spend is a wonderful thing!

Here’s something important you should know about a budget…

Know Your Decorating Style

If you read StoneGable, you probably knew I was going to say this! More decorating mistakes are made because home decorators don’t…

I’m talking about our decorating lane! It will make you a much better decorator.

Know your style and use that style to filter every single thing you use to redecorate a room! From the rug to the curtains, to the furniture, to the accents, to the shelves, to everything. Filter it through your style! Stay in your decorating lane!

My style is Transitional style, and our home is casual and hopefully welcoming. I want family and friends alike to feel at ease, knowing they can enter any room and relax. Nothing is off limits. Your style might be Transitional, too. It’s a style that’s incredibly easy to live with. Find out more about this style by reading Why Beautiful Transitional Style Works In Almost Every Home. Nancy Myers’ core style is Transitional, and everyone loves the way she decorates.

To help you figure out your decorating style you might like to read HOW TO KNOW YOUR DECORATING STYLE

Choose A Color Palette

Knowing your decorating style and selecting a color palette before redecorating a room go hand in hand.

These are huge decisions, and your choices should work with the rest of your home. A home looks cohesive when the rooms in your home have the same style and color palette. Then one room seamlessly flows into another. And it’s a wonderful thing too.

Like your style, everything you put into the room you’re redecorating needs to be filtered through your color palette. This is so important! No color outliers!

You can use a pop of color in a room. Just ensure it complements your entire home’s color palette.

Our style is Transitional, and our color palette is neutrals. White walls, light, warm-colored furnishings, and accessories. Everything in our sunroom is Transitional and neutral, just like the rest of our home. I did add a bit more warmed-up gray to the sunroom. But you can find bits of warm gray throughout our home.

Set The Mood

Setting the mood of a room you want to redecorate works in unison with the style and color palette of the room you are updating. Think of the mood of a room as the feeling it evokes! Is it happy, relaxed, moody, cozy, serene, airy, or another mood?

I like to think of the mood of a room as the adjective that is tacked onto the front of the style of a room, which helps explain the character of your room.

The sunroom’s mood is casual and welcoming, as I said earlier. Again, the room’s mood will serve as a filter, helping us select only things that will contribute to creating the desired mood.

Measure Everything Before Redecorating

I love the old adage…

It means knowing the exact measurements of something helps ensure that there will be no mistakes.

Measuring Your Room

Knowing the measurements of a room and its architectural elements is very important. Because we want to know that what we choose for a room will fit and look comfortable.

Measure things like…

• windows
• doors
• fireplaces and a mantel
• built-in pieces like bookcases
• architectural features

Items that cannot be moved must be measured to create a room layout.

Measuring All The Furniture In The Room

It’s important to know the measurements of all the furnishings that will go into a redecorated room. Nothing is more frustrating and wastes time and money than guessing if something will fit and finding out that it is either too big or too small.

The largest purchase we made for our sunroom was our sofa. Therefore, obtaining the correct measurements was crucial.

The wall on which the sofa will be resting in the sunroom is 183 inches. The sofa we ordered is 95 inches long, and it is centered in front of the windows. The end tables on either side of the sofa are 20 inches wide and 24 inches deep. So that gives me plenty of room for them to fit between the side of the sofa and the wall.

What peace of mind those measurements give me!

Think About Good Elements Of Design

It’s important to have a basic understanding of some of the elements of interior design. Knowing about visual weight, scale and proportion, rhythm, color, and a few more elements of good design will really help you make confident and good decisions when you redecorate a room.

One of my blogging superpowers is taking interior design concepts and breaking them down into easy-to-understand, repeatable processes.

So, please read these posts! They will be so so helpful in creating a room you love! I like to think of the total of them as a mini interior design course!

HOW TO KNOW YOUR DECORATING STYLE

CAN YOU MIX WARM AND COOL COLORS

WHY VISUAL WEIGHT IS IMPORTANT

SCALE AND PROPORTION

COLOR IN DECOR

SPACE IN DECORATING

WHY BALANCE IS IMPORTANT

RHYTHM IN DECORATING

Think About The Layout Of Your Room

When you decide to redecorate a room it’s a good idea to think about the layout of all the furnishings in that room! The way a designer would figure out the best layout is usually through an app or a program online.

Floorplan.com is a great free online layout planner for the home decorator. Or you draw a room’s floor plan using graph paper, a pencil, and a tape measure.

Having a floor plan will ensure that everything in your room will fit.

Here is the floor plan for my sunroom.

My designer helped me by drawing out a virtual image of my sunroom on her floor plan program.

I knew I wanted a long sofa and wanted matching end tables to flank the sofa on the long wall. Virtually seeing how they would fit really helped me picture how the room would look.

Choose Furnishing

After you have completed all the prep work, you are now ready to choose the items that will go into your room. You can confidently choose what you need for your room because you have…

• answered the important decorating questions
• know what you are keeping and what you need to get for your room
• set a budget
• know your decorating style
• choosen a color palette that works with your home
• set the mood of the room
• know all your room and furniture measurements
• have a basic understanding of good design
• know the best layout for your room’s furnishings

Wow, that is a lot of prep work! But, here’s the thing, taking the time to work out all the “behind the scenes” details will make you confident to pick out what you still need to put in your room! And that is decorating gold!

To have a room that works together and is attractive, we must think like a designer! The extra work is so worth it.

Start With What You Have

It’s important to think about the furniture you have when you redecorate a room. Does it fit the purpose of the room to be redecorated? And does it work with your style, color palette, and mood, and does it fit seamlessly into your room?

The furnishings that are staying in our sunroom were an easy fit with the new items we are bringing in.

Rugs, Paint, Wallpaper, And More

We need to think about things like a rug, wallpaper, and paint color when we redecorate a room. These

These may not be the stars of your room, but they are big contributors! These items bring beauty to the floor, walls, and ceilings in a room.

Here are a few key considerations to keep in mind when redecorating a room…

• a rug
• wallpaper
• a fresh coat of paint
• window coverings
• and binds and shades
• ceiling treatments
• architectual features like columns and alcoves
• speciality windows and doors
• accent wall

They should all be filtered through the prep list! And they should work with everything you put in your makeover room.

Some decorators start with a rug, paint color, or wallpaper as an inspiration for the whole room. But most of us make decisions about things like window coverings or shades as we choose foundational furniture and accent pieces.

Just be aware that these very important elements in a room need thought.

Our sunroom is painted the same as our whole open home, Simply White by Benjamin Moore. This soft, white color is a wonderful backdrop for all our furnishings, allowing the views outside to shine!

The rug was the first item I bought for the room. I just loved the colors! The rug added a big dose of warmth to the room.

Foundational Pieces

Now, it’s time to select any foundational pieces you’ll need for your room. Foundation furnishings are typically large or high-ticket items that are incorporated into a room.

They might be…

• sofa
• bigger chairs
• dining or kitchen tables
• buffets
• beds
• armoire
• large bookshelves
• tv console
• tv
• other large furniture

Once I did all the behind-the-scenes work, I was so excited to pick out a sofa, end tables, lamps, an accent chair, and some new accent decor!

I started by choosing a new sofa.

I chose this 95-inch sofa with firm, cushioned seating. The fabric is a performance fabric, Tuckahoe Ivory. It is the exact same fabric as on the sectional. I love this fabric because of its color and durability. It is also very easy to clean. And believe me, with six grandchildren nine and under, a lot of messes get cleaned up!

You can see the sources for the remaining items I chose for the sunroom below.

Accent Furnishings

Accent furniture is pieces that are not as large as foundational furniture and usually don’t carry a significant price tag, but are must-haves for making the room functional and attractive.

And these pieces should support the larger foundational furnishings!

Think of furniture like…

• a dresser
• nightstand stands
• end tables
• coffee table
• drink side tables
• small bookshelves
• benches
• dining room chairs
• accent chairs
• bar carts
• more

Accent furniture helps to make using a room easier!

Think of all the things a coffee table in a room is called to do. We can set a drink on it or a bowl of popcorn! Or we can use it as a table to play a board game. And we can even stack books on it, and my grandsons use it to play dinosaurs or race their cars across it.

I would love to get another coffee table, but our room is small, and this is the best small coffee table I’ve found. I really don’t think I could find another coffee table that looks as good after taking so many beatings from toys! But I’m always looking. Today, it holds a large basket of faux hydrangeas.

Accent furniture should not only be functional, but it should also add to the beauty of the room. These are big jobs for a piece of furniture!

I’ve received numerous comments asking about the location of the TV in our home. Here it is in our sunroom. We put it on the wall. That way, we can use the space under the TV to set a chair.

Decorative Accents

Decorative accents are items you add to a room to make it more attractive, functional, and to show off your personality and personal style.

These include…

• throw pillows
• trays
• vases
• picture frames
• artwork
• throw blankets
• candlesticks, candles, lanterns
• plants and containers
• lamps
• baskets
• object d’ art
• more

I love the embellishing part of decorating because I love making things pretty!

Remember, decorative accents should all work together with the focal point in a room.

Redecorating A Room Takes Time

It’s important to remember that redecorating a room takes time and a bit of work! There are lots and lots of decisions to be made. And they do not have to be made all at once. Take your time to make the wisest and best decisions as you redecorate.

Use these steps to redecorate a room, and you’ll be able to move forward confidently to create a room that is both useful and beautiful.

Shopping

Click on the image to go to the product. When items in this post are out of stock, I chose something similar for you to view.

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