August 3, 2025 • 29 mins
In today’s episode, Dean dives into the challenges and creative opportunities of designing small spaces. He shares why clutter is your worst enemy in tight quarters and how the right design “rules” can turn frustration into function. From the 3-5-7 rule to the 70/30 balance and the real meaning behind the rule of thirds, Dean breaks down how to use numbers and light to open up even the tiniest rooms. Tune in to learn how natural light, smart editing, and intentional design can transform your small space into something truly special.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
House Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Thanks for
joining us on the program today here on the first
Sunday of August. I cannot believe it. It's not even right, Honestly.
Although I have some reasons of my own for this
(00:22):
year to be over with as quickly as possible, putting
those aside, I can't believe we're already here in August.
Man Man today on the show, We're gonna have some
fun today. I thought it would be a lovely day
to talk about small rooms. It's always a good time
to talk about small rooms because you know, those of
(00:42):
you who have been dreaming about redesigning parts of your home,
you know, you get online. I keep wanting to say
you've leafed through a magazine, although you know, maybe some
of you still look at design magazines. My wife is
looking at a design magazine right now. But you know
you're online, you're looking at websites that stuff, and usually,
(01:06):
let's be honest, usually the really beautiful done to the
nines designs are in decor are in very very spacious rooms,
and as a result, you may end up thinking you know,
small rooms, Eh, not really worth it? Not true, not
(01:27):
true at all, because the fact of the matter is
most of us, most of us live in around, or
with you know, medium and sometimes quite small spaces. And
so as a result, we're going to talk about twenty
five ways to make the most of a small room.
That is today's program, and thrilled to dive into it
(01:49):
with you. You're not going to want to miss any
of these suggestions because I'm going to give it to
you straight, straight, and artsy and jugie and sexy and practical,
all of those wrapped up into one package, not unlike myself,
just saying uh. And of course, middle of the show
we'll be taking your calls. Let me give you the
number right now, eight three three two. Ask Dean eight
(02:14):
three three the numeral two, ask Dean eight three three
to ask Dean. That's the point. Whatever has you scratch
in your head about your home. When it comes to
calls and our program, it is always you setting the agenda.
Doesn't matter what I'm talking about. For the rest of
the show, you can call me about anything you want. Design, construction,
(02:35):
diy inside, outside, hardescape, landscape, all the scapes. I got
youa we'll put our heads together and get it figured out.
The phone lines are open, Yeah, there they are, right now.
They're open, right now. Eight three three two ask dean.
Let me introduce you to the most important human being
(02:55):
on the planet, my better half, my design partner, my
best friend in all the world, the person who makes
every day worth facing. Yet again, Tina is here as always.
Welcome home, Hey you, how you doing good? Pretty day?
It's going to be a beautiful day, a warm day,
(03:17):
I think, but a beautiful day. But not I mean
for August. For August, I have like a low to
mid eighties day is pretty spectacular, you know what. You're
absolutely right, that's looking at the bright side. It doesn't matter.
It's going to be in the low eighties, low to
mid eighties ound here, and uh yeah, I mean it
could easily be one oh one to one oh three today.
(03:38):
Let's hope that we don't welcome too much of that
in this year. But yeah, chickens were clucking away this morning.
It was actually cool enough this morning when I got
up at four to u, turn on the fire pit,
sit outside in the dark, turn on the fire pit.
I put on my hoodie, sat out there. It was perfection, coffee,
(04:00):
little toast. It was so nice, and so watch the sunrise.
It's been, it's been. It's been a lengthy morning for
me already. I just realized I just poured some coke
zero in my coffee mug. Not no, not accidentally on purpose.
But I'm sitting here thinking it makes you feel like
you're hiding some like like somehow I'm boozing it up
(04:22):
secretly in the studio, because what's in that mug. It's
not coffee. If it's not coffee in a coffee mug,
it seems like you're guilty of hiding something, like you
got something to hide. It's just coke zero. And I
know some of you are saying, Hey, it's nine ten
in the morning, Dean, what's with the coke zero? Hey,
I've been up since four. I've done the coffee in
the breakfare noon. This is yeah, this is like midday.
(04:44):
I'm already at my mid day. I'm ready for lunch.
Let's just put it that way, all right, Uh, great
things today, twenty five ways to uh make the most
of a small room. I want to start out with
just this one little teaser, and then when we come
back from break we'll dive in fully. I don't want
(05:05):
you to be frustrated by a small space, and I
don't want you to be frustrated that somehow small spaces
are difficult. Yeah, they are, and they are worth designing.
In fact, I would say they are more important to
apply design principles to than larger spaces. Now, I mean,
you could make the argument across the board that you know,
(05:27):
everything needs good design. Of course I would make that argument,
But I'm just saying when it comes to small spaces,
you know, and this is coming from somebody who spends
a lot of time doing design on very large spaces. Right,
So when you when you get eight to fifteen thousand
square feet of space to work with, you know, you
make decisions like should the hallway be six or eight
(05:50):
feet wide? You have so much space to play with,
and honestly, those decisions are not that critical. But let's
take the other extreme, like an RV, right, a recreational vehicle.
Every inch counts, every inch And that's why Tina and
I love designing small places as much as we love
(06:12):
designing the big ones, because it's a whole new level
of design challenge. Every inch counts. But if you do
it right. Oh, oh, it's sweet. It's sweet. All right,
that's where we're going. That's what we're gonna do. Glad
you're here, plus your calls, It's gonna be a great morning.
Hang with us. More great stuff on the way. You
(06:33):
are Home with Dean Sharp the Housewistard.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Here to help you take your home to the next level.
We are talking today about twenty five ways to make
the most of a small room, and I just mentioned
before the break first, right off the bat first step
step number one. I don't want you to be frustrated.
(07:02):
Small spaces are the most difficult space to design properly
because every inch counts, because there's no margin for error
in a small space. Mansions don't have to plan their
space as well as that little eight y ten room
or eight by eight room, or whatever the case may
be that you've got in your house that you're trying
(07:23):
to make the most up. Mansions don't have to plan
their spaces as well as you know recreational vehicles do.
So that's just that's just the fact of the matter.
So let's start out together with this understanding that you
don't need to be frustrated, don't let it get under
your skin, because I'm going to help you through it,
and we're going to figure out exactly what the rules are,
(07:46):
and you'll be able to apply anything and everything that
we talk about today and make that space something very
very special. And you get a lot of options along
the way. So these aren't twenty five things that you
have to do to your space. This is a list
of twenty five five things that you can glean from
apply what works for your space, and you'll see a
(08:08):
tremendous difference along the way, I promise you. Okay, let's
dive in. That was number one, don't be frustrated. Number two,
purge the clutter. I know you've heard me say this
so many times before, and I'm gonna keep saying it,
by the way, because it's so true. You cannot design
well with too much stuff, and especially especially in a
(08:31):
small space. You need to purge the clutter. You need
to edit your life down. You need to get rid
of the stuff that attaches itself to you. Every time
you leave your home and you go out for whatever reason,
you come back and there's just stuff it's just on you.
It's in the bags. It's just it's showing up in
(08:52):
the mail, it's showing up from Amazon on the doorstep
every day. There's so much stuff. I'm not getting in to,
you know, a lesson on philosophical materialism. That's not my point.
I am just talking to you as a designer. Okay,
too much stuff. Too much stuff means clutter, and clutter
is not good design. I'm sorry. It's just the fact
(09:14):
of the matter, and it happens to all of us.
Tina and I are relative minimalist and we're not spartan.
You know, if you've ever been over to our house,
it's like, yeah, we have stuff. It's not like, oh,
empty rooms and there's a stool in the corner and
a sackcloth shirt that you would no, No, that's We're
not a monastic order over here. But we keep things
(09:36):
purged down pretty well. And yet yet I just spent
the majority of my day yesterday reshuffling through and reorganizing
our storage area, our storage shed. And you know, it
only took me what six and a half hours to
(09:57):
go through, And there are many of you who would
have walked in before I started and said oh, this
is a well organized shed, and yet there was so
much stuff that we needed to purge out of there.
And because we keep things small, purging is important. And
you know, so I had a major trip to Goodwill
and another major trip to dispose of some of the
(10:18):
stuff that's just trash, and it just happened. So I'm
just saying, I feel you, But you got to purge
the clutter. You have to, especially in a small space.
Nothing will make a small space feel wrong. Then too
much stuff? All right, Now, let's get to some fun things.
Number three, Follow the rules. Okay. Now you're gonna go
(10:40):
online and you're gonna be looking for tips and tricks
to make the most of a small room. And guess what,
You're gonna be barraged by a bunch of design and
decor rules. And I wish you could see me here,
because when I say rules, I'm making my little finger
air quotes rules. Why do I do that? It's because
(11:02):
these rules are not absolute rules, but rather useful suggestions,
and they vary in their degree of usefulness. By the way,
some are more useful than others. But let's run through
a few of them, and I'll tell you which ones
are the most important to follow in my opinion. First
of all, the seven percent rule seven percent rule is
(11:26):
something that I talk about a lot. I hold to it.
It's the height of a base board in a room
should be no less than seven percent of the height
of the wall. And you don't have to do the
heavy math on this, but listen, it's just a simple
way of saying. Almost all of you have way too
(11:50):
short a base board in your house. I don't care
if you've got an eight foot ceiling. Okay, The seven
percent rule says that your base boards should be just
about seven inches tall. And you're like, oh, isn't that
too big for that room? Won't that make that room
feel small and won't make the ceiling feel low? And no, no,
(12:16):
bad dog, No, no no it won't. I promise you
it won't. It will make the room feel strong and
significant and substantial, but it will not shrink it down.
Seven percent rule seven percent of the height of the
wall as the minimum height of the base board in inches. Okay,
(12:38):
that's a good rule to follow, generally speaking, good rule.
All of these again suggestions, but there you go. Okay,
the seven percent rule, all right? Now, next rule, the
three five, seven rule. The heck is that odd numbered
things are more interesting and dynamic. That's the three fives rule,
(13:00):
because you'll notice three, five, and seven are all odd numbers,
and so it often gets called the three five seven rule. This,
by the way, is absolutely true. You have two things
sitting next to each other. Eh, you know, you got
basically like a salt and pepper shaker. I mean useful,
but you know, boring to look at salt and pepper.
(13:21):
There they are. Pairs of things aren't necessarily now in
large scale, like two lights next, you know, on each
end of a bed or the night stands. There's a
there's a room for pairs in the world. All right,
but odd things by way of displaying in clumps. Mmmmmmmmmmm.
All right. I'm gonna leave you right there. We got
(13:42):
so much more to come. We will pick it up
right after this. Break your Home with Dean Sharp the
house Whisper.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Six forty here to help you transform your ordinary house
into an extraordinary home. Oh it is so dual, my friend.
Do not get discouraged. Do not every house, every well,
almost every house, almost every house out there has potential.
And I mean that seriously, I truly, truly, nine and
(14:15):
ninety nine out of a thousand homes have un tapped
hidden potential to become something truly extraordinary. That other one house,
we should just tear it down. But that's not your house.
I can almost guarantee it anyway. Speaking of that, if
your home needs some personal house Whisper attention. You enjoy
(14:38):
the show and you've gleaned a lot of information and
just general fun from the show. But you thinking to yourself,
you know what we need. We need Dean and Tina
here like staring at the problem and getting it resolved. Oh,
that can happen too. You can book an in home
design consult with us. You just go to house Whisperer
(14:59):
Die Design for more information House Whisperer dot design. There
you go. And also remember coming up in just a
bit in our second hour, your calls and the number
to reach me eight three three two ask Dean eight
three three the numeral two ask Dean eight three three
to ask Dan. There you go, all right back to
(15:21):
our list of twenty five ways to make the most
of a small room. We were right in the middle
of number three. It's a little lengthier one. Talking about
following the rules. I said, if you're going to start
seeking out a design advice for your house, especially decre advice,
you're going to hit websites and they're going to be
throwing all these rules at you. The seven percent rule.
(15:41):
Thumbs up on that one. The three five seven rule
that's where we were at. Three five seven rules simply
means that odd numbered things on display are more interesting
than even numbered things. And uh, but I got to
make a correction to this three five seven rule. Okay,
it's too complex because by the time you're up to
(16:03):
seven things, it doesn't matter. That's just too many things.
Too many things clump together on display. Seven things. I
would even go so far as to say that five
is too many because especially in a small space. All right,
so let's just take the whole three five seven rule
that says that odd numbered things are more interesting and
just call it the rule of three. Okay, three things,
(16:28):
three candles, three little chotchkes that you got from that whatever,
three little pieces of art, three, you know, whatever the
case may be, is more interesting than two. Okay, Now,
unless you take the two and you're working them on
some symmetrical thing to the left and right of a
larger item. That's totally fine, okay, but we're talking about
(16:50):
putting things on display. I've got a coffee mug here.
If I have two coffee mugs, that is actually more
boring than one coffee mug, and three three coffee mugs
is more interesting than one or two. It's just human nature.
We like staring at odd numbered things. It's more dynamic.
(17:11):
It doesn't settle into an easy pattern in us, and
therefore it draws attention. So just let's just call it
the rule of three. And the rule of three is
entirely an acceptable rule and one that you should use,
not going over for that small space generally speaking. All right,
what else the rule of three is confused with the
(17:33):
rule of thirds. Okay, so you got the rule of three.
That's about, you know, an odd number of things on display.
The rule of thirds much more important rule, generally for
the whole room. And that is and this applies to
all rooms everywhere, but especially to small spaces. Dividing a
space into thirds. Okay, as you look like as you
(17:57):
enter a room and you look across it the opposite wall,
dividing that space, if at all possible in two thirds,
and you're like, how what are you talking about? Well,
maybe with furnishings, okay, maybe the sofa that faces you
as you walk into this space, or that has its
back to you, or whatever the case may be. Uh,
you've intentionally not gotten too big of a sofa. More
(18:20):
on that later. Maybe it takes up the center third
of the space and leaves one third and one third
to the left and the right. Maybe that's how the
windows are patterned in this room. Maybe it's how the
art on the wall is. And by the way, it
doesn't have to be one third, one or one third
all divided into three. The rule of thirds simply means
that you're utilizing thirds. So it could be three one
(18:44):
thirds okay, or it could be one third something and
two thirds something else. But the idea is that you
break up the space into the ratio of you know,
one to three or two to three. Okay, So the
leords is not the rule of three. Three simply means
interesting things to look at. The rule of thirds brings
(19:06):
real harmony and balance to a space. Then you got
the seventy thirty rule. Uh, okay, what is this? The
seventy thirty rule. Is means that that you use a
dominant style or a color palette in a room for
seventy percent of the space, and then you incorporate a
contrasting or complementary pattern or color for the remaining thirty Okay,
(19:30):
so let me just confuse you for a moment. This
is going to be sometimes listed as the seventy thirty rule.
On another website, you might find it as the eighty
twenty rule, Like, well, what's that. It's the same rule,
except people disagree with the proportions, say is it seventy
thirty or is it eighty twenty? It probably doesn't matter, honestly.
(19:52):
And also you're also going to see it expressed as
the sixty thirty ten rule. This is actually my favorite
of those three. All right, So forget the seventy thirty rule,
forget the eighty twenty rule. Let's talk about sixty thirty ten.
Sixty thirty ten is essentially you'll nose those first two numbers,
sixty thirty, right, that's the rule of thirds, by the way.
(20:15):
Oh yeah, and then we got ten thrown in at
the end. What is this? It simply means this. It
means that we set up sixty percent of the room
has a dominant theme. Then we throw a one third
thirty percent secondary theme, and then for accent we throw
(20:37):
in ten percent just a third color or a third pattern. Okay,
so this would be sixty percent of the room is
set up to be kind of you know, let's say
a green sofa or furniture pattern. All right, thirty percent
of the room has got this secondary color going. And
then guess what, you throw a couple of throw pillows
(20:59):
on that sofa in a third complementary color. And they're small,
so they're only making up ten percent. You've vibeen with
me on that, all right, sixty thirty ten. So to
review the rules that I find useful that and you
can just dismiss the rest of them. Uh, is the
seven percent rule when it comes to the height of
(21:20):
the baseboard. You don't even have to remember that. You
just have to remember the dean says, get tall baseboards
in those room. There you go. But that's the seven
percent rule. The next rule is the rule of three.
When we're putting things on display, if we can have
an odd number, but a small odd number, so optimally
three things clumped together, that's a beautiful and dynamic display.
(21:42):
The third rule is the rule of thirds, dividing a
space up using thirds one third, one third, one third
or one third two thirds. And then finally sixty thirty ten,
which is color main pattern, main color secondary pattern, and
then you know accent color thrown onto that. Oh oh,
we're digging in now. Right when we come back, great
(22:02):
rooms have balance and we don't want to tip the canoe.
What does that mean? Well, we'll find out right after
we take a little break your home a Dean Sharp
the house whispered.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Here to remind you that when it comes to transforming
your home, design matters most Oh it does, my friend,
so much so. And we're very very focused on that
today in today's show, because we're talking about twenty five
ways to make the most of a small room. And
believe me, the smaller room gets, the smaller space is,
(22:41):
the more important design is to that space. The more
important it is to get it right, that you follow
the rules, that you do it by the numbers, and
you effectively execute good design. That's what keeps a small
room shining and not cluttered. Or confused or in whatever
(23:02):
the case may be. So that's we're talking about that
today on the program. But right after the next break.
Just fyi, we're going to the phones middle hour of
the show. The number to reach me eight three three
two ask Dean eight three to three, the number two
ask Dean eight three to three to ask Dean. Whatever's
got you scratching your head about your home. I'm talking
(23:24):
about designing small room space today, but you can call
me about anything. Calls are up to you, design, construction, DIY,
all of the above. I got you. We'll put our
heads together. We'll get it figured out. Phone lines are
open now, give me a call. You can listen to
the show while you're in the queue. All right, let's
(23:45):
get back to our list of twenty five ways to
make a small room. The most uh great small rooms
have balance to them. Okay, this is why, by the way,
it's important to follow a rule like the rule of thirds,
so that we are not putting something so large in
a space that it is dominating the space and throwing
(24:08):
us off balance. Quite often, the greatest temptation is to
buy a piece of furniture for the room that's too small.
More in that coming up here in another one of
our rules. But just understand, great small rooms have balance.
In a small room, it's easy to what I call
tip the canoe. Right. You can imagine a canoe. It's
a relatively small space, thin space. Right, it's not that
(24:32):
hard to tip a canoe over. It requires balance. Now,
it doesn't have to be mind boggling, stressful balance, but
it requires balance. Right. A small room requires a certain
amount of decorative design balance. It's not that hard to
tip it. Okay, let's keep that room upright. Rule number
(24:54):
five daylight or darkness. I want you to go bold
or go go home. What this means is this I
would prefer, if at all possible, because I am a
lover of outside and a lover of natural light. If
there's any way, shape or form that we can bring
a good amount of daylight into a small space, let's
(25:15):
do it. Let's be bold about that too, even to
the point of oversized windows for undersized rooms. Man, one
of my favorite tips and tricks to do it wasn't
that long ago. We had a ten foot by ten
foot room that's a you know, not a big room
(25:36):
for a client, and uh, it just so happens that
this room had a you know, had a well proportioned
window in it, well proportioned for that room, so proportioned
to the room. It's a small room. It's small window, right.
The client wanted to make something special out of this room.
They wanted to make it a you know, a sweet
little space to sit for a couple of people to sit,
(25:58):
just a kind of a sitting, thinking, reading, hangout room.
Not a big media room or anything like that. Not
for big parties, just for them, okay, perfect. It also
happened to be the case that this room was technically
facing or the outside wall was facing out into the
rear yard where there was lots of fun and green
(26:21):
and plants and other things to look at. And I
made the bold suggestion that we start this room with
a big six by six foot window, big old glass window,
right in the middle of the room. They're like, Wow,
isn't that too big for this room. I mean, yeah, yeah,
(26:41):
it is big for this room, but it basically makes
it a viewport of a room. Okay, a six by
six window on a ten by ten wall means that
we've only got two feet of wall to the left
and the right, and then the rest of it is
all glass right in the center. And believe me, they
trusted me. We modeled it for them. They trusted me.
(27:01):
We did it that way, and game changer, right will
You will be hard pressed to find these clients in
any other room in the house than this little ten
by ten foot room, especially in the mornings and in
the early evenings, because it is a very special space.
So daylight, if there's any way of getting it there,
(27:24):
go bold or go home. Now the other side of
it is darkness, Go bold or go home. Some small
spaces have no way of getting easily natural light into them.
We had a client in Camerio, dear friends of ours.
They had a powder room that was kind of located
(27:46):
right in the center of the house. No exterior windows,
second floor above, so no way of getting a skylight
to it. And our suggestion was, hey, you know what,
this is already a dark room. Now you can try
and go white on white on white to keep this
as bright as possible. But the fact of the matter is,
if I turn the lights out in here, this room
is pitch black. So why don't we go the opposite way.
(28:09):
We went with black and gold foil wallpaper in there,
a black on black theme for this powder room. They
are just head over heels because this powder room, which
of course is essentially a guest bathroom, this powder room
is now it has that kind of jugey, moody feeling
(28:29):
that high end that restrooms in high end restaurants where
clubs or hotels have. Right you walk in, they're dark,
they're moody, they feel very private, they're very intimate. They're
rich in flavor and color, and so if you can't
bring the daylight in, then bring the darkness and go
(28:51):
bold or go home. There you go, all right. When
we come back, we're taking your calls. Your Home with
Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. This has been Home with
Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the live broadcast
on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from six
to eight Pacific time and every Sunday morning from nine
to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand on the
(29:14):
iHeartRadio app
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
House Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Thanks for
joining us on the program today here on the first
Sunday of August. I cannot believe it. It's not even right, Honestly.
Although I have some reasons of my own for this
(00:22):
year to be over with as quickly as possible, putting
those aside, I can't believe we're already here in August.
Man Man today on the show, We're gonna have some
fun today. I thought it would be a lovely day
to talk about small rooms. It's always a good time
to talk about small rooms because you know, those of
(00:42):
you who have been dreaming about redesigning parts of your home,
you know, you get online. I keep wanting to say
you've leafed through a magazine, although you know, maybe some
of you still look at design magazines. My wife is
looking at a design magazine right now. But you know
you're online, you're looking at websites that stuff, and usually,
(01:06):
let's be honest, usually the really beautiful done to the
nines designs are in decor are in very very spacious rooms,
and as a result, you may end up thinking you know,
small rooms, Eh, not really worth it? Not true, not
(01:27):
true at all, because the fact of the matter is
most of us, most of us live in around, or
with you know, medium and sometimes quite small spaces. And
so as a result, we're going to talk about twenty
five ways to make the most of a small room.
That is today's program, and thrilled to dive into it
(01:49):
with you. You're not going to want to miss any
of these suggestions because I'm going to give it to
you straight, straight, and artsy and jugie and sexy and practical,
all of those wrapped up into one package, not unlike myself,
just saying uh. And of course, middle of the show
we'll be taking your calls. Let me give you the
number right now, eight three three two. Ask Dean eight
(02:14):
three three the numeral two, ask Dean eight three three
to ask Dean. That's the point. Whatever has you scratch
in your head about your home. When it comes to
calls and our program, it is always you setting the agenda.
Doesn't matter what I'm talking about. For the rest of
the show, you can call me about anything you want. Design, construction,
(02:35):
diy inside, outside, hardescape, landscape, all the scapes. I got
youa we'll put our heads together and get it figured out.
The phone lines are open, Yeah, there they are, right now.
They're open, right now. Eight three three two ask dean.
Let me introduce you to the most important human being
(02:55):
on the planet, my better half, my design partner, my
best friend in all the world, the person who makes
every day worth facing. Yet again, Tina is here as always.
Welcome home, Hey you, how you doing good? Pretty day?
It's going to be a beautiful day, a warm day,
(03:17):
I think, but a beautiful day. But not I mean
for August. For August, I have like a low to
mid eighties day is pretty spectacular, you know what. You're
absolutely right, that's looking at the bright side. It doesn't matter.
It's going to be in the low eighties, low to
mid eighties ound here, and uh yeah, I mean it
could easily be one oh one to one oh three today.
(03:38):
Let's hope that we don't welcome too much of that
in this year. But yeah, chickens were clucking away this morning.
It was actually cool enough this morning when I got
up at four to u, turn on the fire pit,
sit outside in the dark, turn on the fire pit.
I put on my hoodie, sat out there. It was perfection, coffee,
(04:00):
little toast. It was so nice, and so watch the sunrise.
It's been, it's been. It's been a lengthy morning for
me already. I just realized I just poured some coke
zero in my coffee mug. Not no, not accidentally on purpose.
But I'm sitting here thinking it makes you feel like
you're hiding some like like somehow I'm boozing it up
(04:22):
secretly in the studio, because what's in that mug. It's
not coffee. If it's not coffee in a coffee mug,
it seems like you're guilty of hiding something, like you
got something to hide. It's just coke zero. And I
know some of you are saying, Hey, it's nine ten
in the morning, Dean, what's with the coke zero? Hey,
I've been up since four. I've done the coffee in
the breakfare noon. This is yeah, this is like midday.
(04:44):
I'm already at my mid day. I'm ready for lunch.
Let's just put it that way, all right, Uh, great
things today, twenty five ways to uh make the most
of a small room. I want to start out with
just this one little teaser, and then when we come
back from break we'll dive in fully. I don't want
(05:05):
you to be frustrated by a small space, and I
don't want you to be frustrated that somehow small spaces
are difficult. Yeah, they are, and they are worth designing.
In fact, I would say they are more important to
apply design principles to than larger spaces. Now, I mean,
you could make the argument across the board that you know,
(05:27):
everything needs good design. Of course I would make that argument,
But I'm just saying when it comes to small spaces,
you know, and this is coming from somebody who spends
a lot of time doing design on very large spaces. Right,
So when you when you get eight to fifteen thousand
square feet of space to work with, you know, you
make decisions like should the hallway be six or eight
(05:50):
feet wide? You have so much space to play with,
and honestly, those decisions are not that critical. But let's
take the other extreme, like an RV, right, a recreational vehicle.
Every inch counts, every inch And that's why Tina and
I love designing small places as much as we love
(06:12):
designing the big ones, because it's a whole new level
of design challenge. Every inch counts. But if you do
it right. Oh, oh, it's sweet. It's sweet. All right,
that's where we're going. That's what we're gonna do. Glad
you're here, plus your calls, It's gonna be a great morning.
Hang with us. More great stuff on the way. You
(06:33):
are Home with Dean Sharp the Housewistard.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Here to help you take your home to the next level.
We are talking today about twenty five ways to make
the most of a small room, and I just mentioned
before the break first, right off the bat first step
step number one. I don't want you to be frustrated.
(07:02):
Small spaces are the most difficult space to design properly
because every inch counts, because there's no margin for error
in a small space. Mansions don't have to plan their
space as well as that little eight y ten room
or eight by eight room, or whatever the case may
be that you've got in your house that you're trying
(07:23):
to make the most up. Mansions don't have to plan
their spaces as well as you know recreational vehicles do.
So that's just that's just the fact of the matter.
So let's start out together with this understanding that you
don't need to be frustrated, don't let it get under
your skin, because I'm going to help you through it,
and we're going to figure out exactly what the rules are,
(07:46):
and you'll be able to apply anything and everything that
we talk about today and make that space something very
very special. And you get a lot of options along
the way. So these aren't twenty five things that you
have to do to your space. This is a list
of twenty five five things that you can glean from
apply what works for your space, and you'll see a
(08:08):
tremendous difference along the way, I promise you. Okay, let's
dive in. That was number one, don't be frustrated. Number two,
purge the clutter. I know you've heard me say this
so many times before, and I'm gonna keep saying it,
by the way, because it's so true. You cannot design
well with too much stuff, and especially especially in a
(08:31):
small space. You need to purge the clutter. You need
to edit your life down. You need to get rid
of the stuff that attaches itself to you. Every time
you leave your home and you go out for whatever reason,
you come back and there's just stuff it's just on you.
It's in the bags. It's just it's showing up in
(08:52):
the mail, it's showing up from Amazon on the doorstep
every day. There's so much stuff. I'm not getting in to,
you know, a lesson on philosophical materialism. That's not my point.
I am just talking to you as a designer. Okay,
too much stuff. Too much stuff means clutter, and clutter
is not good design. I'm sorry. It's just the fact
(09:14):
of the matter, and it happens to all of us.
Tina and I are relative minimalist and we're not spartan.
You know, if you've ever been over to our house,
it's like, yeah, we have stuff. It's not like, oh,
empty rooms and there's a stool in the corner and
a sackcloth shirt that you would no, No, that's We're
not a monastic order over here. But we keep things
(09:36):
purged down pretty well. And yet yet I just spent
the majority of my day yesterday reshuffling through and reorganizing
our storage area, our storage shed. And you know, it
only took me what six and a half hours to
(09:57):
go through, And there are many of you who would
have walked in before I started and said oh, this
is a well organized shed, and yet there was so
much stuff that we needed to purge out of there.
And because we keep things small, purging is important. And
you know, so I had a major trip to Goodwill
and another major trip to dispose of some of the
(10:18):
stuff that's just trash, and it just happened. So I'm
just saying, I feel you, But you got to purge
the clutter. You have to, especially in a small space.
Nothing will make a small space feel wrong. Then too
much stuff? All right, Now, let's get to some fun things.
Number three, Follow the rules. Okay. Now you're gonna go
(10:40):
online and you're gonna be looking for tips and tricks
to make the most of a small room. And guess what,
You're gonna be barraged by a bunch of design and
decor rules. And I wish you could see me here,
because when I say rules, I'm making my little finger
air quotes rules. Why do I do that? It's because
(11:02):
these rules are not absolute rules, but rather useful suggestions,
and they vary in their degree of usefulness. By the way,
some are more useful than others. But let's run through
a few of them, and I'll tell you which ones
are the most important to follow in my opinion. First
of all, the seven percent rule seven percent rule is
(11:26):
something that I talk about a lot. I hold to it.
It's the height of a base board in a room
should be no less than seven percent of the height
of the wall. And you don't have to do the
heavy math on this, but listen, it's just a simple
way of saying. Almost all of you have way too
(11:50):
short a base board in your house. I don't care
if you've got an eight foot ceiling. Okay, The seven
percent rule says that your base boards should be just
about seven inches tall. And you're like, oh, isn't that
too big for that room? Won't that make that room
feel small and won't make the ceiling feel low? And no, no,
(12:16):
bad dog, No, no no it won't. I promise you
it won't. It will make the room feel strong and
significant and substantial, but it will not shrink it down.
Seven percent rule seven percent of the height of the
wall as the minimum height of the base board in inches. Okay,
(12:38):
that's a good rule to follow, generally speaking, good rule.
All of these again suggestions, but there you go. Okay,
the seven percent rule, all right? Now, next rule, the
three five, seven rule. The heck is that odd numbered
things are more interesting and dynamic. That's the three fives rule,
(13:00):
because you'll notice three, five, and seven are all odd numbers,
and so it often gets called the three five seven rule. This,
by the way, is absolutely true. You have two things
sitting next to each other. Eh, you know, you got
basically like a salt and pepper shaker. I mean useful,
but you know, boring to look at salt and pepper.
(13:21):
There they are. Pairs of things aren't necessarily now in
large scale, like two lights next, you know, on each
end of a bed or the night stands. There's a
there's a room for pairs in the world. All right,
but odd things by way of displaying in clumps. Mmmmmmmmmmm.
All right. I'm gonna leave you right there. We got
(13:42):
so much more to come. We will pick it up
right after this. Break your Home with Dean Sharp the
house Whisper.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Six forty here to help you transform your ordinary house
into an extraordinary home. Oh it is so dual, my friend.
Do not get discouraged. Do not every house, every well,
almost every house, almost every house out there has potential.
And I mean that seriously, I truly, truly, nine and
(14:15):
ninety nine out of a thousand homes have un tapped
hidden potential to become something truly extraordinary. That other one house,
we should just tear it down. But that's not your house.
I can almost guarantee it anyway. Speaking of that, if
your home needs some personal house Whisper attention. You enjoy
(14:38):
the show and you've gleaned a lot of information and
just general fun from the show. But you thinking to yourself,
you know what we need. We need Dean and Tina
here like staring at the problem and getting it resolved. Oh,
that can happen too. You can book an in home
design consult with us. You just go to house Whisperer
(14:59):
Die Design for more information House Whisperer dot design. There
you go. And also remember coming up in just a
bit in our second hour, your calls and the number
to reach me eight three three two ask Dean eight
three three the numeral two ask Dean eight three three
to ask Dan. There you go, all right back to
(15:21):
our list of twenty five ways to make the most
of a small room. We were right in the middle
of number three. It's a little lengthier one. Talking about
following the rules. I said, if you're going to start
seeking out a design advice for your house, especially decre advice,
you're going to hit websites and they're going to be
throwing all these rules at you. The seven percent rule.
(15:41):
Thumbs up on that one. The three five seven rule
that's where we were at. Three five seven rules simply
means that odd numbered things on display are more interesting
than even numbered things. And uh, but I got to
make a correction to this three five seven rule. Okay,
it's too complex because by the time you're up to
(16:03):
seven things, it doesn't matter. That's just too many things.
Too many things clump together on display. Seven things. I
would even go so far as to say that five
is too many because especially in a small space. All right,
so let's just take the whole three five seven rule
that says that odd numbered things are more interesting and
just call it the rule of three. Okay, three things,
(16:28):
three candles, three little chotchkes that you got from that whatever,
three little pieces of art, three, you know, whatever the
case may be, is more interesting than two. Okay, Now,
unless you take the two and you're working them on
some symmetrical thing to the left and right of a
larger item. That's totally fine, okay, but we're talking about
(16:50):
putting things on display. I've got a coffee mug here.
If I have two coffee mugs, that is actually more
boring than one coffee mug, and three three coffee mugs
is more interesting than one or two. It's just human nature.
We like staring at odd numbered things. It's more dynamic.
(17:11):
It doesn't settle into an easy pattern in us, and
therefore it draws attention. So just let's just call it
the rule of three. And the rule of three is
entirely an acceptable rule and one that you should use,
not going over for that small space generally speaking. All right,
what else the rule of three is confused with the
(17:33):
rule of thirds. Okay, so you got the rule of three.
That's about, you know, an odd number of things on display.
The rule of thirds much more important rule, generally for
the whole room. And that is and this applies to
all rooms everywhere, but especially to small spaces. Dividing a
space into thirds. Okay, as you look like as you
(17:57):
enter a room and you look across it the opposite wall,
dividing that space, if at all possible in two thirds,
and you're like, how what are you talking about? Well,
maybe with furnishings, okay, maybe the sofa that faces you
as you walk into this space, or that has its
back to you, or whatever the case may be. Uh,
you've intentionally not gotten too big of a sofa. More
(18:20):
on that later. Maybe it takes up the center third
of the space and leaves one third and one third
to the left and the right. Maybe that's how the
windows are patterned in this room. Maybe it's how the
art on the wall is. And by the way, it
doesn't have to be one third, one or one third
all divided into three. The rule of thirds simply means
that you're utilizing thirds. So it could be three one
(18:44):
thirds okay, or it could be one third something and
two thirds something else. But the idea is that you
break up the space into the ratio of you know,
one to three or two to three. Okay, So the
leords is not the rule of three. Three simply means
interesting things to look at. The rule of thirds brings
(19:06):
real harmony and balance to a space. Then you got
the seventy thirty rule. Uh, okay, what is this? The
seventy thirty rule. Is means that that you use a
dominant style or a color palette in a room for
seventy percent of the space, and then you incorporate a
contrasting or complementary pattern or color for the remaining thirty Okay,
(19:30):
so let me just confuse you for a moment. This
is going to be sometimes listed as the seventy thirty rule.
On another website, you might find it as the eighty
twenty rule, Like, well, what's that. It's the same rule,
except people disagree with the proportions, say is it seventy
thirty or is it eighty twenty? It probably doesn't matter, honestly.
(19:52):
And also you're also going to see it expressed as
the sixty thirty ten rule. This is actually my favorite
of those three. All right, So forget the seventy thirty rule,
forget the eighty twenty rule. Let's talk about sixty thirty ten.
Sixty thirty ten is essentially you'll nose those first two numbers,
sixty thirty, right, that's the rule of thirds, by the way.
(20:15):
Oh yeah, and then we got ten thrown in at
the end. What is this? It simply means this. It
means that we set up sixty percent of the room
has a dominant theme. Then we throw a one third
thirty percent secondary theme, and then for accent we throw
(20:37):
in ten percent just a third color or a third pattern. Okay,
so this would be sixty percent of the room is
set up to be kind of you know, let's say
a green sofa or furniture pattern. All right, thirty percent
of the room has got this secondary color going. And
then guess what, you throw a couple of throw pillows
(20:59):
on that sofa in a third complementary color. And they're small,
so they're only making up ten percent. You've vibeen with
me on that, all right, sixty thirty ten. So to
review the rules that I find useful that and you
can just dismiss the rest of them. Uh, is the
seven percent rule when it comes to the height of
(21:20):
the baseboard. You don't even have to remember that. You
just have to remember the dean says, get tall baseboards
in those room. There you go. But that's the seven
percent rule. The next rule is the rule of three.
When we're putting things on display, if we can have
an odd number, but a small odd number, so optimally
three things clumped together, that's a beautiful and dynamic display.
(21:42):
The third rule is the rule of thirds, dividing a
space up using thirds one third, one third, one third
or one third two thirds. And then finally sixty thirty ten,
which is color main pattern, main color secondary pattern, and
then you know accent color thrown onto that. Oh oh,
we're digging in now. Right when we come back, great
(22:02):
rooms have balance and we don't want to tip the canoe.
What does that mean? Well, we'll find out right after
we take a little break your home a Dean Sharp
the house whispered.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Here to remind you that when it comes to transforming
your home, design matters most Oh it does, my friend,
so much so. And we're very very focused on that
today in today's show, because we're talking about twenty five
ways to make the most of a small room. And
believe me, the smaller room gets, the smaller space is,
(22:41):
the more important design is to that space. The more
important it is to get it right, that you follow
the rules, that you do it by the numbers, and
you effectively execute good design. That's what keeps a small
room shining and not cluttered. Or confused or in whatever
(23:02):
the case may be. So that's we're talking about that
today on the program. But right after the next break.
Just fyi, we're going to the phones middle hour of
the show. The number to reach me eight three three
two ask Dean eight three to three, the number two
ask Dean eight three to three to ask Dean. Whatever's
got you scratching your head about your home. I'm talking
(23:24):
about designing small room space today, but you can call
me about anything. Calls are up to you, design, construction, DIY,
all of the above. I got you. We'll put our
heads together. We'll get it figured out. Phone lines are
open now, give me a call. You can listen to
the show while you're in the queue. All right, let's
(23:45):
get back to our list of twenty five ways to
make a small room. The most uh great small rooms
have balance to them. Okay, this is why, by the way,
it's important to follow a rule like the rule of thirds,
so that we are not putting something so large in
a space that it is dominating the space and throwing
(24:08):
us off balance. Quite often, the greatest temptation is to
buy a piece of furniture for the room that's too small.
More in that coming up here in another one of
our rules. But just understand, great small rooms have balance.
In a small room, it's easy to what I call
tip the canoe. Right. You can imagine a canoe. It's
a relatively small space, thin space. Right, it's not that
(24:32):
hard to tip a canoe over. It requires balance. Now,
it doesn't have to be mind boggling, stressful balance, but
it requires balance. Right. A small room requires a certain
amount of decorative design balance. It's not that hard to
tip it. Okay, let's keep that room upright. Rule number
(24:54):
five daylight or darkness. I want you to go bold
or go go home. What this means is this I
would prefer, if at all possible, because I am a
lover of outside and a lover of natural light. If
there's any way, shape or form that we can bring
a good amount of daylight into a small space, let's
(25:15):
do it. Let's be bold about that too, even to
the point of oversized windows for undersized rooms. Man, one
of my favorite tips and tricks to do it wasn't
that long ago. We had a ten foot by ten
foot room that's a you know, not a big room
(25:36):
for a client, and uh, it just so happens that
this room had a you know, had a well proportioned
window in it, well proportioned for that room, so proportioned
to the room. It's a small room. It's small window, right.
The client wanted to make something special out of this room.
They wanted to make it a you know, a sweet
little space to sit for a couple of people to sit,
(25:58):
just a kind of a sitting, thinking, reading, hangout room.
Not a big media room or anything like that. Not
for big parties, just for them, okay, perfect. It also
happened to be the case that this room was technically
facing or the outside wall was facing out into the
rear yard where there was lots of fun and green
(26:21):
and plants and other things to look at. And I
made the bold suggestion that we start this room with
a big six by six foot window, big old glass window,
right in the middle of the room. They're like, Wow,
isn't that too big for this room. I mean, yeah, yeah,
(26:41):
it is big for this room, but it basically makes
it a viewport of a room. Okay, a six by
six window on a ten by ten wall means that
we've only got two feet of wall to the left
and the right, and then the rest of it is
all glass right in the center. And believe me, they
trusted me. We modeled it for them. They trusted me.
(27:01):
We did it that way, and game changer, right will
You will be hard pressed to find these clients in
any other room in the house than this little ten
by ten foot room, especially in the mornings and in
the early evenings, because it is a very special space.
So daylight, if there's any way of getting it there,
(27:24):
go bold or go home. Now the other side of
it is darkness, Go bold or go home. Some small
spaces have no way of getting easily natural light into them.
We had a client in Camerio, dear friends of ours.
They had a powder room that was kind of located
(27:46):
right in the center of the house. No exterior windows,
second floor above, so no way of getting a skylight
to it. And our suggestion was, hey, you know what,
this is already a dark room. Now you can try
and go white on white on white to keep this
as bright as possible. But the fact of the matter is,
if I turn the lights out in here, this room
is pitch black. So why don't we go the opposite way.
(28:09):
We went with black and gold foil wallpaper in there,
a black on black theme for this powder room. They
are just head over heels because this powder room, which
of course is essentially a guest bathroom, this powder room
is now it has that kind of jugey, moody feeling
(28:29):
that high end that restrooms in high end restaurants where
clubs or hotels have. Right you walk in, they're dark,
they're moody, they feel very private, they're very intimate. They're
rich in flavor and color, and so if you can't
bring the daylight in, then bring the darkness and go
(28:51):
bold or go home. There you go, all right. When
we come back, we're taking your calls. Your Home with
Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. This has been Home with
Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the live broadcast
on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from six
to eight Pacific time and every Sunday morning from nine
to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand on the
(29:14):
iHeartRadio app
Home with Dean Sharp News
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!