DECORATORS HAVE BAG OF TRICKS TO SOLVE SPACE PROBLEMS.

Byline: Barbara Mayer Associated Press 

Who are you gonna call when you're stuck in your present home, but need more space?

That's a trick some people turn over to interior decorators.

When she needed extra room, designer Joan Halperin went outdoors. There she created a bedroom to accommodate two children in a New Jersey apartment.

She found what her client needed by enclosing a 6-by-15-foot balcony/terrace off the living room. Although an unusual idea, its execution was rather simple, the decorator said.

"We installed sliding glass windows, sheetrocked and painted the ceiling and former exterior wall, and added electric baseboard heaters," Halperin explained.

A plywood subfloor and carpeting were installed and the room was furnished sparsely with built-in, gray laminate-covered storage beds, a desk and a chair, hanging bookcase and recessed ceiling mounted lights. Accessories were few, but the children were able to store toys and other belongings elsewhere in the apartment.

"The most fantastic accessory," Halperin said, "was the view, which was of the Hudson River and the New York City skyline."

Another designer, Nancy Mullan, turned a 10-by-13-foot, closetless room in a Brooklyn apartment into a more-than-adequate teen-ager's bedroom. First step was to build in a clothes closet along one end of the short wall. The niche that was created was fitted with a single bed for the occupant and a trundle bed for an occasional overnight guest.

Adding to the closet's utility, Mullan built shoe storage into the bottom half along one side and bookshelves into the upper portion of the same wall. The bookshelves are accessible from the bed side of the closet and the shoe shelves from the inside.

"You can pack quite a bit of storage in, over, and under a bed in a niche," said Mullan, "and it is a cozy and appealing arrangement, provided you have provided enough light in the niche with a swing arm lamp or a ceiling fixture, or both."

Mullan also had a window in this room, so there is the added benefit of daylight in the niche.

The decorator used space-expanding decorating ploys in the room. The skirted armchair is on casters so it can be moved to accommodate the trundle bed. And she installed carpeting with a diagonal pattern and painted the room in light colors. Both are methods to visually expand a room.

Dividing a wall by building in a closet or bookshelves and then using the niche for sitting, sleeping or a work surface is a good way to add to the flexibility of a room.

"But in a long, narrow room, make sure to do this across the short wall rather than the long wall to avoid creating a long tunnel-like space," Mullan said.

Removing a wall can create extra space in quarters that feel cramped and inadequate. Nonbearing walls without mechanical lines can be taken out rather easily, whether they are of sheet rock or plaster, Halperin said.

A floor plan of the space is essential in order to envision the possibilities.

"Get or make a floor plan for all the rooms, indicating the closets, bathrooms and outdoor areas. Darken those elements that must remain, like columns, bearing walls, and walls with mechanical services such as plumbing and heating lines," she said.

"You might find that two closets are back to back and if you take the partitions down you will have enough room for an alcove that could be a home office, a laundry room, another bathroom, or even a nursery if there is access to a window nearby," Halperin added. "Or you may realize that by moving a doorway a few feet you can build in a long wall of closets."

Don't dismiss a room as too small before checking the adjoining spaces."There is typically from 4 to 6 inches of depth in a wall," Mullan said. "You may be able to pick up a bit of space by invading the wall to recess bulky equipment such as a television set, a microwave oven or a refrigerator."

Mullan used this method to recess a large television set 4 inches into one wall of a little-used dining room, turning the room into a combination family room and dining room.

She rearranged the dining table by placing it against a window in one end of the room with four chairs around it. The other four chairs were distributed along the walls. She arranged easy chairs and ottomans on casters in the center of the room, facing the wall with the TV set and storage shelves now in place.

When the room is needed as a dining room, the chairs are moved out of the way, the table and eight chairs pushed back into the center of the room and the ottomans tucked under the table.

Both designers say that small rooms should be kept relatively free of furniture and accessories.

Mullan tries to avoid tunnel effects in rooms, which occur if there are lines of cabinets or furniture at the same depth on both sides of a room. Having a piece of furniture protrude into the room actually makes the space seem larger, she said.Try to emphasize diagonal lines, especially for floor coverings, she advised.