Don’t get Fooled by the Furniture
Those who sell or rent apartments in apartment complexes generally have a model apartment exquisitely furnished and set apart for display purposes in to which the prospective renters are led for viewing a sample of what they are looking for.
Architects and Interior Décor people have their own techniques for expanding existing limited spaces, at least visually. The beautiful rich furnishings very tastefully and maybe craftily arranged are designed to take the renters’ breath away and also serve a more important double purpose of giving them the impression of a larger and more spacious apartment, which is only a mirage.
Measure that Bed!
Since you are more likely to be viewing some cleverly arranged illusions rather than realities at the moment, finding the exact measurements of that bed could get you back to realities like pinching yourself to make sure you are not dreaming!
Ask the landlord or his agent who is taking you around, very politely for the dimensions of the bed and if he does not give you a clear reply or if you are in doubt, there is no alternative but to measure it yourself. He need not be offended: You can explain that it is for the purpose of visualizing how your special queen or king bed will fit into the room without cramming leaving you adequate free space. With that done, you may now clear most of your doubts and illusions and get a true indication of the actual space available in the apartment
Mentally Compare Your Furniture with the Furniture in the Apartment
Another important factor is to do a rough comparison of the furniture in this model apartment with those of yours that you will bring in. For example, is the living room arranged with adequate furniture or with just a large settee, two small settees, center table and two small stools with no other supportive furniture in the surrounding area? How does the large settee size here compare with yours? Is the bedroom arranged with just a bed with a nightstand, but with no wardrobe? Could this room take another nightstand and a wardrobe without getting cramped?
Like this, you can carry out a mental evaluation of every area of the apartment to assess if it is spacious enough for your purposes. If it is to be an accurate evaluation, not only should you take a count of the number of pieces of furniture, but also take note of their respective approximate dimensions. You should also take into consideration the fact that no area should appear cramped up when your furniture (comprising of at least the most essential items – if not all) is moved in to a similar apartment.
Layout of Furniture should give Optimum Utility as well as Satisfaction
Another scam used by leasing agents to portray a magnified floor space is to camouflage a limited amount of space with a comparatively large number of smaller sized pieces of furniture discreetly arranged to conserve floor space but not necessarily designed to give utility and satisfaction when applied in a real life situation. Take for example, a sitting room with a long couch, a home theatre, a TV, a music set-up, a coffee table, two other small tables and three or four chairs.
These could be arranged haphazardly to conserve space for display purposes for customers. But when you go to arrange them in such a way as to be able to view the TV screen from the couch and any of the chairs, while making the seating arrangement conducive to carrying on a group conversation when not watching TV, you come across various problems in properly arranging the furniture.
You cannot maximize utility and satisfaction using all the furniture dumped in this room for the simple reason that the room is too small to accommodate all the furniture in a meaningful and effective manner. In other words, all that furniture is superfluous due to the limitations of the room.