If 2015 is the year you find yourself moving to the big city, you will no doubt find yourself faced with a complete change of pace when it comes to your lifestyle. This is especially true if you are looking to move into an apartment or a smaller property. See how to make the most out of city centre living with our in-depth guide.

While living in such a property in a busy urban environment will for the most part feel like the epitome of cool, it may come with its challenges. But if it does, that should never be a problem. Challenges are designed to be overcome and there are ways around the trickiest of pains. Ways around these that will enable you to make the most of city life and look back and wonder why there was ever a problem.

To help you out with this, below we have listed a number of potential challenges and then our suggested solutions for these.

Storage

When it comes to smaller properties, storage will always be the number one concern. Living in a smaller place doesn’t mean you can’t have any possessions though. It just means you need to be innovative in the way that you store things and the placement of your furniture.

Decide if your rooms are large enough to divide up into zones that will make the space more functional, then think innovatively in how you place your furniture. Perhaps consider “floating” furniture such as the sofa by placing it more towards the centre of the room, doing this will then enable to surround it with cabinets which can be used for storage.

Consider places where things can be stored and aim to utilise all space available. Think about incorporating storage systems underneath beds, using floor-to-ceiling bookcases, making use of hampers and chests and covering side tables to hide things stored beneath them.

While cycling is a great mode of transport for travelling around a city, storing your bike in an apartment can on first sight, sometimes be a problem. Thankfully though, there are a number of innovative solutions to this problem. From wall mounted bike racks to bookshelves designed to vertically house a bike, there are all kinds of options for keeping a bicycle in an apartment.

Lack of light

Light can be an issue in apartments and smaller properties, but it’s not a problem that can’t be solved.

The trick is to play with direct and indirect lighting to give the illusion that the room is better lit than it is. You could do this by creating a dropped ceiling with embedded light bulbs – however, if you don’t wish to engage in vast home improvements, utilising mirrors can have a massive effect too. Try and place a mirror opposite a window and not only will you improve brightness, you will also create an illusion of depth.

Light can also be improved by paying close attention to the colour of the curtains you have in the rooms of your home. Avoid dark colours and printed shapes, and instead consider whiter and neutral colours which will refract any light that hits them.

Lack of garden

Not having a garden isn’t the end of the world. You will be thankful for not having one when you realise the efforts you would have had to go through with one – mowing, planting, watering etc. Living in a big city though, you will find yourself surrounded by no end of open spaces, all of which can satisfy your thirst for the outdoors. These vast array of parks exist to provide a sense of green, open relief against the rest of the urban environment.

Air conditioning apartment

On first sight, air conditioning an apartment can look to be a challenge. Limited room can mean there will be no space for external condenser units. There is a solution though, specialist air conditioning for apartments exists which doesn’t require any external modifications to your property but instead is water cooled. As of space will be at a premium, the condensing box of the air conditioning is stored under the kitchen sink or in a storage cupboard.

Not being able to decorate

If you are renting a property as oppose to buying it, you will often find that you are unable to decorate it. Don’t let this be a problem though, even if you can’t paint or paper the walls, decoration can be applied in other ways. Think about accessories – ornaments, rugs, pictures and the furniture you apply to a property can all have a massive effect on a property even if its walls are plain.

Look to do things differently by choosing accessories that are unique to you, items from your travels perhaps.

Making the most of living in a city centre apartment – Leary & Co. Ltd