再小的房子 你也可以創造出大空間
Let go of that T-shirt you’ve had since middle school, the cracked mirror that you haven’t had time to replace and the lamp that works only when you kick it on the third try. When you’re trying to maximize a small space, every inch counts, from under the bed to unclaimed wall space over your head.
扔掉那件你從中學留到現在的T恤，那面你一直沒時間更換的有裂縫的鏡子，還有那盞按三次纔會亮的燈。當你想充分利用一個狹小空間時，每一寸都很重要，不管是牀下，還是頭頂沒有利用的牆面空間。
While moving is considered one of life’s great stressors, living in a small space doesn’t have to be. All it takes is some thoughtful planning and smart storage options.
搬家被看作生活中特別讓人有壓力的事情之一，但住在小空間就不一定要難受了。只需進行一些深思熟慮的規劃，就存儲空間做出明智的選擇就好。
For Julia Haney Montanez, an interior designer living alone for the first time in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, purging is the first step to making the most of what you have.
對第一次在曼哈頓切爾西一帶單獨居住的室內設計師茱莉婭•哈內•蒙塔內茲(Julia Haney Montanez)來說，要最大程度利用你擁有的空間，首先要做的是清除。
“You have to stop being a hoarder,” Ms. Montanez, 30, said this week in her studio apartment. “The secret to small-space living is trying to avoid owning too much stuff; that’s a good practice for life. You don’t have to be a minimalist, but you have to get really creative where you store your things and maybe think twice about buying something new.”
“你得停止做一個囤積者，”30歲的蒙塔內茲本週在她的單間公寓內說道。“在小空間內生活的祕訣，是盡力避免攢太多東西；這是一種優良的生活態度。你不必做一個極簡主義者，但必須在存儲東西方面花些心思，或許還要在買新的東西之前三思而行。”
Once you’ve winnowed down your belongings, it’s time to consider how to use your limited space.
一旦去除了多餘的東西，便是時候考慮如何利用有限的空間。
Ms. Montanez, a producer for the Architectural Digest show and a freelance designer, lives in a 450-square-foot studio. When she first moved in, Ms. Montanez spent hours looking at the floor plan and figuring out the ideal configuration for her furniture. By living in the space for a while before making any major purchases, Ms. Montanez said, you get an idea of how to make your home as functional as possible.
蒙塔內茲是《建築輯要》(Architectural Digest)雜誌設計展的製作人、自由職業設計師，住在一間450平方英尺（約合42平米）的單間公寓內。剛搬進來的時候，她花了數小時研究建築平面圖，考慮配置傢俱的最佳方案。她先在裏面住了一段時間，之後才進行大的採購，她說這樣你就會知道如何讓房間儘可能地實用。
“As you live in the apartment you’ll know and understand what you need,” she said. “Do you have your freeloader friends crashing all the time? Then get a longer sofa. If not, get a smaller sofa because they take up so much space. Get to know your own space before you start throwing money at those things.”
“住在公寓裏的時候，你纔會知道和了解自己需要什麼，”她說。“你有喜歡蹭吃蹭喝的朋友老是不請自來嗎？那就買個長一點的沙發。如果沒有，就買個小點的，因爲它們挺佔地方的。花錢買這些東西前，先研究下自己的空間。”
If you have the opportunity to splurge, Ms. Montanez recommends creating a custom piece. For her it was a California Closet and a table that doubles as her office desk.
如果你有大把花錢的機會，蒙塔內茲建議你打造一件定製傢俱。她定製了一套加州櫥櫃(California Closet)和一張可以兼作工作臺的桌子。
“It was the best decision,” she said of the custom closet. “Everything goes in there.”
“那是我做出的最正確的決定了，”她這樣評價定製的櫥櫃。“所有東西都放在那裏面。”
Shoes, cleaning supplies and home office material like fabric swatches all live in her closet, neatly tucked away in designated cubbies alongside double hanging clothes racks.
她把鞋子、清潔用品還有布樣等家庭辦公用品全都放進了櫥櫃，每樣東西都被整整齊齊地歸置在指定的小格子裏，旁邊則是雙排吊衣架。
“Take your dinner money for the next month and put it toward something that will fit perfectly,” she said. “It’s like Tetris, and it’s that one thing you need.”
“拿出你下個月的晚飯錢，用來購買某種剛好適合的東西，”她說。“就像玩俄羅斯方塊時一樣，它要恰好符合你的需求。”
Making a tight spot work can require bending the rules on traditional uses of space. Consider using a medicine cabinet for storing glassware or kitchen cabinets for sweater storage if cooking isn’t a priority. Every space has to serve a purpose, said Susan Winberg, an interior designer based in New York City. “It has to have more than one function,” she said.
爲了讓一個侷促的空間變得不那麼侷促，可能需要打破傳統的空間利用規則。不妨用藥品櫃來存放玻璃器皿，或者在不經常下廚的情況下用廚房櫥櫃來存放毛衣。每一個空間都必須盡其所用，紐約的室內設計師蘇珊•溫伯格(Susan Winberg)說。“它必須具有不只一項功能，”她說。
Ms. Winberg typically takes on larger residential projects, she said, but with two children in their 20s, she began designing projects with much more limited space. Her daughter’s San Francisco railroad-style apartment, for example, had a Murphy bed alcove with no bed in it, she said. They put her bed elsewhere in the apartment and converted the alcove into a closet.
溫伯格說她通常會承接較大的家居項目，但現在兩個孩子都已經二十多歲了，因此她開始爲極其有限的空間做設計。例如，她女兒位於舊金山的鐵道風格的公寓，設有一個放墨菲牀的壁凹，但壁凹裏卻沒有牀，她說。她們把她的牀放在了公寓的其他地方，並把壁凹變成了一個壁櫥。
If you have limited closet space, prioritize where you store your things, Ms. Winberg advised. The Murphy bed closet is tucked away, so Ms. Winberg’s daughter uses that area to store winter clothes and boots, saving her more accessible closet for things that she uses more regularly.
溫伯格建議，如果櫥櫃的空間有限，就得對你要存放的東西按重要性排序。由墨菲牀凹改造而成的那個壁櫥是隱藏式的，於是溫伯格的女兒就用它來存放冬裝和靴子，從而把用起來更順手的櫥櫃留給更常用的東西。
If you’re working with a dresser, add another piece or shelf above the dresser for extra storage, she said.
她說如果你要製作一個梳妝檯，可以在梳妝檯上再添一層擱板或者架子，用來存放更多東西。
Madeline Fraser, one of the founders of a new app called Homee, which offers personal design services and a virtual showroom, summed up a similar approach to coping with small spaces in two words: up and out.
Homee是新上線的一款提供個人設計服務和虛擬展示廳的應用程序，其創始人之一馬德琳•弗雷澤(Madeline Fraser)把應對狹小空間的類似方法總結爲兩個詞：向上和向外。
“The use of the wall space is where you’re going to maximize your overall space,” she said.
“利用好牆壁空間，可以讓整體空間最大化，”她說。
Ms. Fraser recommended putting storage on walls with open floating shelving, an affordable option, she said, especially for renters who can easily Spackle the wall when it’s time to move out. And shelving can go beyond the living room and bedroom, too.
弗雷澤建議在牆上安裝開放式置物板，以便存放東西，她說這是一個經濟實惠的選擇，對租客來說尤爲如此，搬家的時候他們可以輕而易舉地用斯巴克(Spackle)填料將牆壁修復。此外，置物架也可以出現在起居室和臥室以外的地方。
Open shelving in kitchens, especially in a galley or small kitchen, can make the room feel more open. “When you have cabinets, it can appear closed off like there’s a wall there,” she said. Everyone thinks, ‘Oh, I have to have cabinets,’ but you can easily do open shelving and arrange your kitchen stuff to look cool. It will feel more like a restaurant.”
把開放式置物架安裝在廚房裏，尤其是飛機或船隻上的廚房或者很小的廚房裏，會讓空間顯得更爲開闊。“如果擺放了櫥櫃，會製造出一種封閉感，就像在那兒有一堵牆一樣，”她說。每個人都覺得，“噢，‘我必須擁有櫥櫃’，但你也可以方便地安裝開放式置物架，把廚房用品擺放得很酷。這會令人有身處餐廳之感。”
To keep things looking tidy, Ms. Fraser suggested bringing symmetry to open shelves by displaying dishes, cutting boards and kitchen accessories stacked in clusters or leaning against the wall. Books and bookends offer a way to ground shelving, too, she said. And for miscellaneous items, wire baskets can help contain odds and ends that may be without a home.
爲了讓所有東西看起來都很整潔，弗雷澤建議把盤子、砧板和廚房配件集中擺放或者使其靠着牆壁，從而給開放式置物架製造一種對稱感。她說，書籍和書擋也可以成爲一種落地式置物架。至於雜物，鐵絲筐可以幫忙收容或許無家可歸的零碎物件。
At a bare minimum, get the mattress and box spring off the floor, Ms. Fraser said. Every big piece of furniture should have legs if possible, to provide storage space underneath.
弗雷澤說，至少不要讓牀墊和彈簧牀座緊挨着地面。如果可以的話，每一樣大件傢俱都該有腿，以便在底下空出儲物空間。
“You can get an iron-rod bed frame that gives you more storage under your bed,” she said. “You can do a bed skirt and put a lot under your bed. Your mom will not be happy with you if she comes over and sees the bed on the floor.”
“你可以買一個鐵欄牀架，好在牀底下存放更多東西，”她說。“你可以做一條牀裙，然後把很多東西都塞到牀下。你媽媽來看你時，如果發現牀緊挨着地板，是不會高興的。”
