Studio Apartment Layouts That Just Always Work

Studio apartments come in all shapes and sizes, and usually, with tricky layouts. Fortunately, there are some tried and true furniture arrangements that can transform your problematic apartment layout into the space-savvy studio it deserves to be.

Don’t believe us? We searched our home tours high and low and rounded up seven studio apartment layouts that always seem to work. From vertical storage schemes to mini living room nooks, read on for a few foolproof ways to maximize your awkward studio apartment layout.

Whether it’s with curtain panels or a storage-savvy furnishing, like this beam divider with hooks and shelves we spotted in Rebecca’s 364-square foot guest house, carving out a proper bedroom will help make your studio appear larger in size by creating distinct rooms and give you a sense of privacy, too.

Multi-functional pieces of furniture are a failsafe way to make the most of your cramped studio apartment space. For instance, when paired with a slim chair or two, a coffee table can double as a desk or dining area in your tiny studio apartment, just like we saw in Jackie’s Upper East Side studio.

Let’s face it: Wall-mounted shelves can turn even the tiniest studio apartment into a storage-savvy space in no time. Case in point: Sara Blake’s Greenwich Village apartment, where she installed a handful of floating shelves and picture ledges and in turn scored a gallery wall, library, and an uncluttered bedroom—despite working with only 450 square feet of living space.

Who needs a humdrum living room when you can have small space friendly living nook instead? Take a cue from Stephanie, whose tiny 330-square-foot New York City apartment won our 2013 “Smallest Coolest Home” contest, and opt for a petite living corner in place of a full-blown living room to forge a stylish sitting area without taking up a ton of square footage.

Why waste your precious studio apartment space by using a sofa the traditional way when you can employ one to do double duty? Follow in Aster Thomas’s footsteps and use your sofa as a footboard to simultaneously carve out a clear-cut living area, too, just like she did in Harlem studio.

If you don’t have the space to build out in your tiny studio apartment, don’t forget you can always build up instead. Bunk beds and platform beds, like the lofty one Helen Louise devised by combining pieces of IKEA furniture, will free up lots of floor space and provide some extra room for storage.

Looking for an easy way to earn some opportunity while forging a few distinct rooms inside your open layout studio apartment? A tall freestanding bookcase, like this ceiling-length style we spotted in Franke Chung’s Chicago studio apartment, can moonlight as a room divider while offering up a ton of unanticipated storage space.