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So many books on interior design are all style and no substance.
Kyle Schuneman’s “The First Apartment Book: Cool Design for Small Spaces” is full of real, top-to-bottom apartment makeovers.
Schuneman is a 27-year-old Los Angeles interior designer and television art director who has worked on shows such as Food Network’s “Giada at Home,” HGTV’s “Peter Perfect” and DIY Network’s “Creative Juice.”
Schuneman spent two years traveling the country for the book, reimagining 10 pads in various cities.
“A lot of people think decorating is just about pretty things,” says Schuneman. “I start with the person who lives in the apartment. Whether you think you’re creative or not, we all have a point of view.”
Here are a few of his tips for small-space design:
• Find out how the rooms need to work, then build from there.
• Scale is incredibly important, and that’s the No. 1 thing people aren’t good at. I think you’ll feel uncomfortable with giant furniture in a small space.
• You can paint a small apartment as light as you want, but no one is going to think you live in Versailles. It really depends on the amount of natural light in your space – not your actual square footage. If your room gets a lot of natural light, then you have a lot more freedom to play with colors.
• As a designer, you’re only as good as your sources. I have probably hundreds and hundreds of bookmarks on my browser that I can just scroll through. You create a library.
• Tile, for renters, is something that you can’t fight. Treat it like you meant for it to be there.
• I’m a big fan of collections. A good way to display them is in groupings, but spreading them out throughout your space. If you put it all on one bookcase, it becomes a shrine.
• It’s important to have various sources of light. It’s really about mood. Having table lamps and changing the wattage out to something not as bright is a great way to create an atmosphere.
