Note: this is a guest post and consideration was received for its publication. Creative commons licensed photograph by Jeremy Levine design.

Compared to other markets, finding spacious and affordable housing in Denver isn’t that difficult. Still, there are a lot of benefits to living in a smaller space. Financially speaking, smaller spaces are cheaper. They also force you to evaluate not just what you already own but things you think you might want to own—which keeps you from spending money on space suckers on a whim (another financial boon).

How smaller spaces are cheaper:

• Smaller spaces simply cost less across the board than larger spaces.
• A small home is cheaper to insure.
• Smaller spaces are easier to heat and cool, so your HVAC system doesn’t need to work so hard or use as much power.
• Smaller spaces are easier to light properly (and natural light goes further within them) so your electric bill will be lower.

You can see why it’s financially beneficial to go smaller, especially when you’re concerned about your financial health.

At the same time, it’s understandable that you’re attached to the things that you’ve collected. You worked hard to bring those collections together. You’re proud of them. You don’t necessarily want to give them away or sell them or toss them out. So what do you do?

1. Figure Out Some Creative Storage Options

We’ve talked about how to make the most of the space in your bedroom. Apply these same concepts to the rest of your house. You’ll be amazed at how many things can double as storage containers (and artfully so at that)!

2. Store Things Off Site

Do you really need to keep your Christmas decorations on hand all year round? Do you really need to keep every single book, movie, vase, art print, tchotchke, etc within sight at all times? Do you really need your winter clothing to be taking up space in your closet in the summer? These are examples of things that can all be stored off site in a storage unit. Storage units have come a long way from the dank holes they used to be a decade ago. Now they are affordable, secure and most are even climate controlled (check unclebobs.com for deals in your area). This is important for an area like Denver, where we get all of the seasons and they are all intense.

Either way, you are probably going to have to pare down, at least a little bit. Go through your home and look at everything you own. Consider each item carefully. If you haven’t used it in the last twelve months and it doesn’t have significant sentimental value, you can probably get rid of it and not miss it too much.

Instead of simply tossing out the things you decide not to keep, though, why not sell them? Put them up for sale online. Have a yard sale. Use the proceeds from the sale to finance your storage unit and a few of the artful storage containers we talked about at the beginning of this article.

The truth is that living a comfortable lifestyle doesn’t require lots of space or lots of things. If you’re creative you can make a small space feel and function the same way as a large space.

Note: this is a guest post and consideration was received for its publication. Creative commons licensed photograph by Jeremy Levine design.

When you’re looking to spruce up your home, lighting is one of the easiest ways to give the space a new feel while keeping it consistent with your current theme or décor. Lighting is a relatively easy fix and most of the items can be found online in places such as LEDRopelightsandmore or in most retail stores, which means you’ll be able to simply make use of the new appliances without a lot of work.

When you’ve decided you’d like to upgrade your lighting, you’ll need to decide what kind of theme you’re looking for and what kind of space you’re dealing with so you can most effectively use the room you’ve got for the best lighting possible.

Keep in mind that you can really change the ambience of a room simply by switching out the colors of the bulbs you’re using or adding in splashes of colors through lamps or rope lights. They make light bulbs in pretty much every color imaginable ranging from soft pinks for a romantic bedroom atmosphere or bright blues for something a bit more fun and wild.

In most cases these bulbs can be used in the lamps and lighting houses you’ve already got, which means you won’t need to purchase anything else to get the benefits. Even fluorescent black lights can be placed in most traditional fluorescent housings, meaning you can save money just by buying the black light bulbs.

Rope lights are a great way add a little bit of ambient lighting to a room quite easily. The best part about using rope lights is that they’re designed in such a way that they can be easily hidden behind furniture or on the corners of a room, keeping them out of sight while still emanating quite a bit of light. These are probably the easiest lighting pieces to install as oftentimes they’ll only need a few tacks or wall hooks to be used effectively.

Chandeliers are a classic lighting prop and for good reason. They add a lot of light to any room and they have such a great look to them that they work with pretty much every theme or décor you could possibly imagine. They add a ton of class to any space and the best part is that because they’re meant to be center pieces, the light flows around the housing, meaning you can light an entire room with just one furnishing.

Contrary to popular belief chandeliers are becoming easier and easier to install and most of them can be hooked into the existing wiring that’s already in the roof.

Another very easy lighting idea that is simple to implement is simply using what you’ve already got and using it creatively. One of the best ways to control the lighting in any room is to use sheers or lamp coverings as they’ll allow the light to filter through the fabric in different consistencies depending on the thickness and color of the material. If you add this in with one of the aforementioned colored light bulbs you’ll see that your entire room will look quite different.

Lighting is probably the easiest way to upgrade or spruce up any room in the house and it’s really quite easy to implement. It doesn’t take a lot to change some of the lighting options in your room and you’ll see a huge difference that will be sure to keep you happy.

This beautiful L&JG Stickley settee is on Ebay right now. Asking price is a bit over $5,000.