Maximising Minimal Spaces

By Domitilla Lepri

With Shanghai housing prices remaining high and rental rates dramatically increasing, while housing allowances concurrently shrink, finding the perfect, spacious dream home is getting more difficult by the day.

Do you get anxious when opening your apartment door and seeing the chaos waiting inside? Is your bed covered with clothes because you have nowhere else to put them and in the kitchen there isn’t even enough space to store a pan?

If that’s your present situation, thankfully there are two aspects you can work on. First, you can make your house look bigger; second, create as much storage in which to squirrel away all the things you’ve accumulated in a city where you can get a pair of shoes for RMB 100 and dresses for RMB 200!

To make your beloved home look bigger, the most obvious trick is to place mirrors in every possible area. This will give you the feeling the place is much larger and brighter. Moreover, well-illuminated apartments – whether artificially or naturally, it doesn’t matter as long as it’s bright – look spacious. Conversely, dark homes always look smaller than they really are.

Another good tip is to only keep essential furniture; the room will look more spacious and larger.