Triple Bunks, Murphy Beds, and Indoor Swings — 12 Real Families Share How They Make Small Homes Work
One of my favorite parts of writing House Tours for Apartment Therapy is getting to explore beautiful, unique interiors around the world — and discovering all the deeply personal and wildly imaginative ways people make a space their own. And no one is quite as creative as a big family trying to make a small home work for everyone who shares the space. The 12 families below have each created homes that truly work for them, even when that means there isn’t a separate bedroom for every person.
While it’s always fun to admire a stunning home, it’s not a huge layout or an unlimited budget that impresses me. What I find much more compelling is seeing how people work within real constraints — of space, money, time, or energy — and still manage to create homes that are functional, thoughtful, and full of character.
Size and budget limitations are often where the truly brilliant ideas show up. The best House Tours aren’t about the most expensive furnishings, perfect gallery walls, or an equal bedroom-to-person ratio; they’re about problem-solving: the custom storage hack that makes a tiny bedroom work, the shared space that somehow meets everyone’s needs, or the organizational trick that keeps a home tidy day in and day out.
Sharing rooms has long been a tradition for some siblings, but the homes below go far beyond basic bunk beds. From where each family member sleeps to how everything stays organized and more — you’ll find inspiration no matter whether you share your home with kids, a partner, or pets.
1. A Storage Loft Is Turned into a Nursery with a Very Cool Louvered Wall Solution
When Beach and Michael Silver purchased this 800-square-foot apartment in Brooklyn, they knew they’d need to renovate. The bathroom and kitchen were dated and run-down, and perhaps most importantly, the apartment only came with one bedroom, not ideal for their growing family. The reno budget was initially $50K. But when Beach found out she was pregnant — and they knew they would “have to accommodate a whole extra person” — the budget increased.
To fit that extra person in, they got incredibly clever. “Floor space was limited, but we have 12- to 13-foot ceilings, so we looked upwards and turned a mostly unfinished storage loft in the bedroom into a nursery,” Michael begins. Because they would need the nursery to be dark and quiet for a sleeping baby (but didn’t want it to feel like a “tiny windowless dungeon”), they came up with the idea of a “wall of turnable wooden slats that could be closed to block light and sound, or opened to let in air and natural light, while also serving as a barrier to prevent our baby from tumbling to her death. We hired another woodworker friend to build the frame and slats, and helped him install it.”
Visit the full House Tour to see how they make a small one-bedroom apartment work for their family.
2. The Kids Take This Apartment’s Only Bedroom While Mom and Dad Sleep in the Living Room
Khrystyne Jaspers and her husband, Nic Jaspers, fell in love with the “natural light and the open layout” of this 700-square-foot apartment in Manhattan. There was only one problem: It only had one bedroom. When they purchased the apartment, they were a family of three, about to be a family of four, which presented quite the challenge. “I believe that the flow of a space matters more than the amount of bedrooms, and this space seemed perfect for our almost family of four. We loved that it was right near a beautiful park and had incredible train access but yet was so quiet and affordable,” Khrystyne admitted in their house tour.
“As our kids have grown, it’s been a constant battle of assessing what our family needs most in that season, and how to work within our budget to create longevity in the apartment,” Khrystyne wrote at the time of the tour. “Where do the bikes go? What size stroller are we willing to store? Moving from crib to bunks, etc.” Not to mention figuring out where each of the four would sleep. The solution was giving the apartment’s only bedroom to the kids … and transforming the living room into a primary bedroom for the parents at night. A Murphy bed ended up being the family’s first big investment after purchasing the apartment.
Check out the full House Tour to see more of this family’s solutions.
3. Custom Everything Helps This Family of Four Stay Organized
Alex and Margaret Ferrec are both artists and media producers who have lived in New York City for 10 years, seven of them in this 550-square-foot apartment in Washington Heights, which they share with their daughters, 4-year-old Simone and 2-year-old Florence. While the apartment somehow has three bedrooms despite the small size, it’s still been a challenge to fit a family of four in only 550 square feet. To make it work, Alex built quite a few pieces of custom furniture, including a toddler bed and the primary bedroom dresser and bed, as well as lots of custom shelving and another bed in the office.
“With two young children, our home-world is now primarily a place where we rest, play, learn, and are inspired,” Margaret wrote in their house tour. “It’s a small space so it has to be practical, but it’s also important to us that it’s cozy, filled with meaningful items, and is visually interesting. We love storied and playful things — especially quirky folk items that are humanistic and handmade.”
Explore more of this clever apartment in the full House Tour.
4. DIY Triple Bunk Beds Are the Key to This Family of Five’s Home
This 750-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment transformed from a space Sarah Almodovar was not interested in to a dream home for herself, her husband (and DIY extraordinaire) Peterson, and their kids, ages 1, 3, and 5. “We’ve transformed every inch of our 750-square-foot space as our family has grown from newlyweds to a family of five,” wrote Sarah, who described the home before she moved in as “peeling tiles, suspicious smells, claustrophobic.”
With permission from their landlord, they renovated the space themselves, including removing a bedroom to turn it from a three-bedroom apartment into a two-bedroom space. They made this move despite knowing they’d be having kids one day.
“We felt like we’d be OK with our kids sharing a bedroom, and if we ever felt like they needed two rooms, we’d figure it out (maybe a Murphy bed in the living room),” Sarah wrote at the time of the house tour. Their current kid solution? “Probably our triple bunks are the most impressive DIY we’ve done. As our kids started to outgrow cribs, we knew we needed a good long-term solution,” Sarah writes. “It’s living proof of what we always say: Families don’t need to outgrow their space; they just need to reimagine it.”
See all the great ideas in the full House Tour.
5. They Carved Out a Nursery Nook in This 300-Square-Foot Rental Apartment
300 square feet might seem like barely enough space for one person, but in the case of this small apartment in Brooklyn, it’s plenty of room for a family of three! Amanda Heald and her husband, Josh, saw the potential in this tiny space. And when Amanda learned she was expecting a baby, they turned the bedroom into a lofted primary bedroom and nursery.
“Lofting our bed was a game changer for us but it’s not a typical loft with a ladder; we built a two-tier loft with stairs that lead to the platform below the bedroom window and a step that leads to the bed,” she wrote in their house tour. “I don’t know how the tenants before us were able to manage in this 80 square foot bedroom — the minimum square footage a bedroom can legally be in NYC — without building upwards because that was the only way we could make the space work for us.”
Look through more of this small home in the full House Tour.
6. The Secret to This Small Family Home Is That It’s Always Evolving
We’ve toured the home of Cory and Jenny Davis (and their three kids) a few times now, simply because there’s an impressive amount of big family-thriving-in-a-small-space energy to be found in it. The couple has rented this one-bedroom apartment on the Upper East Side for over 15 years now. But instead of moving into a larger space as they’ve added to their family, they’ve adapted the space as needs have changed.
Jenny looks at their home as specific areas instead of rooms meant for only one function. “I imagine ‘zones’ where we can play, create, think, or rest,” she wrote at the time of their second house tour. “This gives us so much more space and enables us to better adapt our apartment to our changing needs and values.”
For instance, they once used an office alcove off the living area as a nursery by “squeezing in a crib and adding foldable accordion doors.” That nursery alcove later served as a bedroom for twins. Later, the flexible alcove space was transformed into a “massive movement zone with a rock wall, monkey bars, and a net loft leading to a ledge.”
The foyer has served as a primary bedroom (thanks to a Murphy bed), a closet has been a small office, the entryway has been a LEGO station, and even a corner of the kitchen has acted as a play kitchen. But all of that was at the time of their last house tour with us. You’d have to check Jenny’s own socials to see what the family is using those spaces for now. However that may be, you can bet they’re using every inch of that 650 square feet wisely for their family!
See more of this home in their first tour and the most recent house tour.
7. Smart Storage and Double-Duty Furniture Supports This Family of Five
Despite being a family of five living in only 600 square feet, Heather, Michael, Lennon, Georgie, and James’ Upper West Side home doesn’t feel too crowded, thanks to a light and neutral color palette and lots of clever storage ideas.
Heather and Michael used vertical space wisely to free up floor space. First, the living room features wall-mounted shelving, and the primary bedroom is home to a wall-mounted work space. The couple is a fan of storage carts from Yamazaki and stackable crates from Hay, which marry style and function. These pieces also prevent the space from feeling cluttered.
“We’re constantly editing our things since even bringing in a couple of new things can affect how the space feels. Minimalism in this sense has been key for us to not feel like we’re bursting at the seams!” Heather wrote at the time of their house tour.
Explore more of this home’s clever solutions in the full House Tour.
8. A Murphy Bed Turns the Living Room into the Primary Bedroom at Night
Crystal Nielsen, her husband, and their two kids all fit into a 700-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment in New York, but it’s not at all a squeeze. The biggest challenge that the family faced was figuring out if they should go for a Murphy bed or split the kids’ room in half. The family opted for a Murphy bed in the living room as a primary bedroom. “First thing in the morning we just fold it up and it is tucked out of the way,” she wrote at the time of the house tour. “It is nice to have the extra floor space for the kids to play.”
The kids share the apartment’s only bedroom, and it hasn’t been an issue for the couple at all. “We are so happy we went with the Murphy bed! We have loved it,” Crystal wrote.
Check out the rest of this creative family’s solutions in the full House Tour.
9. They Turned the Hallway into a Playroom for Three Kids
Tyler Moore’s apartment, which he shares with his wife and three daughters, is railroad style: one room connecting to another in a line, like a train car. “When we originally moved into the apartment, we set up the first bedroom (roughly 7 feet by 9 feet) as a sitting room and then when our first daughter arrived, we turned it into her nursery,” Tyler explained at the time of their tour. “My wife and I slept in the second bedroom, which is also the largest (roughly 10 feet by 10 feet), for several years.”
After the birth of their third daughter and some rearranging, they settled on the two eldest girls sharing the largest bedroom, and the couple sharing the smaller bedroom with the youngest daughter. To make the entire arrangement really work, they turned a “glorified hallway” between the living room and bedrooms into a playroom for the kids. “We’ve designed it to be a space where imaginative play reigns!”
See even more in the full House Tour.
10. A Unique Murphy Bed Makes a Primary Bedroom in a 450-Square-Foot Space
While this 450-square-foot space was only a temporary home for Sofie Hepworth, Rob Hepworth, and their two kids, it’s still full of so much brilliant, small-space inspiration. The family of four shared the space when they were renovating their main house, but it wasn’t a tough task considering how stylish the space looked … and how well it functioned.
The key was complete flexibility. “We have achieved this by making all the furniture multi-functional and extendable and by putting wheels on our sofa so we can move it to transform the space depending on what ‘room’ we need it to function as,” Sofie wrote at the time of the house tour. The kids slept in a mini-room with custom bunk beds, and Sofie and Rob slept in a Murphy bed with a door that swings open, acting as a privacy wall space.
Visit the full House Tour to see more of this colorful apartment.
11. The Kid’s Bedroom Is Tiny But Mighty in This Converted School Bus
Talia and Andy not only have a small home to make work for their family, which includes their son and dog, but their 280-square-foot home happens to also be on wheels. The couple converted an old school bus, a 40-foot Thomas HDX, all on their own, and they were able to customize it to fit their family’s needs.
In their son’s tiny bedroom, there’s a DIY pull-out table and a fun round bed opening. And they built upwards wherever possible to really maximize every inch. “Build in storage where you can and keep a catch-all bin around a small space so that at the end of the day you can just put it away and empty it rather than let it sit everywhere cluttering your small space!” Talia explained in their house tour.
See more of this small home on wheels in the full House Tour.
12. Beautiful Storage Keeps This Family of Four’s Home on Wheels Tidy
Talia and Andy’s family aren’t the only family making a tiny home on wheels work. Chris and Tina and their two kids share a 234-square-foot 2005 school bus. Stacked bunks for the kids, a roomy parents’ bedroom, and many storage solutions make this small home work for the family.
When they designed the bus, the couple made sure the kids had multiple seating areas for homework and room to be able to work in their bunks. Tina says the key is to invest in storage pieces that are functional but also beautiful.
See more of this home’s sleek solutions in their full House Tour.