How to decorate a home so that the space is flexible for changes, the workspace is easy to move, and we create a comfortable environment to live in? Questions that new residents often seek answers to. According to home decoration experts, you need to plan a few simple steps and you will be able to transform the space more often than every few years.
First of all, experts advise carefully preparing an electrical and lighting layout project and maximally evaluating all possible life change scenarios – where a workplace or children’s play corner could appear.
“It is ideal if you plan at least one socket on each wall. In this case, in the future, if the need arises, you will have the opportunity to increase their number. It is also very important to plan internet sockets, i.e. places where a television or wired internet might be needed. It is important to install the locations of these sockets quite accurately, because it is difficult to multiply or move them qualitatively,” says Ramunė Vytė, decoration project manager at “Apdailos formato”.
Predict where the Christmas tree will stand
There are many electrical appliances in the home that need to be charged, so it is recommended to plan for more sockets. For example, the socket for the vacuum cleaner charging station can be located under the cabinet, where it will be in an invisible place and will remain unnoticed. In the bathroom, sockets can be planned in the area of the bathroom cabinet, so charging devices will be much more convenient.
“People often adapt to the minimum number of sockets in old-built apartments and, when moving to a new home, do not think that if there were many more, life would become more comfortable,” says R. Vytė.
It may seem like a small thing, but even before finishing, new homeowners should plan where the Christmas tree will stand and plan to install a power outlet there. “For those who buy an apartment in the summer, I would advise them to think in advance about where the green tree will shine during Christmas. You will definitely want to decorate it with lighted garlands, so you will also need a power outlet. After all, you don’t want to run an extension cord all over the apartment, so you should think about a comfortable life before finishing,” says the “Apdailos formato” expert.
Recommends plasterboard ceilings
A few more areas of the apartment that are worth paying attention to are lighting and ceilings. For those planning a flexible space for changes, experts advise choosing plaster ceilings. They allow you to easily change the location of the light fixture or increase the number of lighting points. This is much more difficult to do if you have a stretch ceiling.
“Lighting cabling is also important during decoration. Lamp switches are no longer so relevant these days, because you can easily find lamps that are controlled by remote control or phone. However, if you want freedom: instead of one planned lamp, have several, turn them on in separate groups or adjust the lighting intensity (dim) – the cables must be thicker,” notes R. Vytė.
It is important to choose the floor covering responsibly.
For those who want to change the arrangement of furniture in the apartment more often, it is better not to choose natural wood parquet boards or solid wood floors, but to consider a high-quality laminate or vinyl flooring. Such coatings are more resistant to scratches and impacts than natural wood, and are also less or completely insensitive to the effects of sunlight. If you still decide to lay the floor with parquet boards or solid wood boards, it is better to choose lighter shades, bleached wood – the color changes of lighter floors are not so pronounced.
“Natural wood changes color from sunlight, so if you want to free up floor space where a sofa or chest of drawers will stand for at least a year, you will definitely notice differences in the color of the floor,” says the apartment decoration expert.
If you want to change the furniture positions more often, it is advisable to choose modular furniture that consists of separate segments or is easily transformed. They can be rearranged and, for example, a three-seater sofa can be divided into a two-seater sofa with an ottoman.
Kitchen design tips
What should the kitchen be like? First of all, with compactly arranged main kitchen attributes – refrigerator, sink, dishwasher, oven and hob. “If the apartment space is small and you want as much flexibility in the kitchen as possible, I would advise installing the most necessary appliances against one wall – so that there are as many options as possible for solutions in the remaining space,” says R. Vytė.
According to her, if the house is large, install electricity, water and sewage points in the kitchen area in such a way that, if you want to change the kitchen layout, the location of the sink or hob in the future, you have as many options as possible. “The emphasis here is on plumbing points, which are not always possible to bring to a certain place even during finishing, and without them you will not be able to connect a sink, dishwasher or washing machine. An additional water inlet in the wall will also come in handy if you want an ice-making refrigerator or a coffee machine that fills itself with water,” says the “Apdailos formato” expert.
Vytė also draws attention to the advantages of furniture on legs and the opportunities for more flexible changes. For example, furniture on legs allows a robot vacuum cleaner to clean the spaces under the furniture, it is important to choose higher furniture legs, at least 15 cm high. The legs also allow sunlight to penetrate under the furniture, which makes the change in floor color much softer, and such furniture looks lighter in the apartment space. Properly designed and manufactured, the aforementioned furniture can be easily transformed, for example, a small kitchen island with a half bar can later turn into a chest of drawers and a hallway console.