Small Spaces

One of the biggest downsides to studio living is feeling like you live — and entertain — in your bedroom. But even though that might physically/technically be true, it doesn’t mean you can’t use design to make it feel like it’s more than just a studio. These smart and stylish studios — all under 500 square feet — employ three of the most successful ways to make a studio apartment feel bigger than it is.

Teeny tiny bedroom got you down? Fear not. We're here to help.

While the thought of dividing a small studio into even smaller compartments may strike fear into the hearts of many apartment dwellers, there may come a time when the need for privacy and the longing for a “grownup” home wins out. If you’re caught between a studio in a city you love and the kind of multi-bedroom house suburban dreams are made of, these simple room dividers could be all the compromise you need. Hey, backyards are overrated anyway. Above: This hip loft in L.A.

Project by: Farr North Interiors Location: Boston, Massachusetts A previous renovation in 2010 gave a perfectly lovely cosmetic upgrade to a once-dated 710-square-foot condo in Boston. Though the modernization created a significant aesthetic improvement, layout and flow issues remained in the 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment originally built in the 1800s. To reconfigure the home, the homeowners brought in Kerry Farr of Farr North Interiors to tackle the small space challenges.

Living in a tiny apartment? Short on closet space? Here’s a clever way to make a walk-in (yes, walk-in!) closet in your small apartment, and create a cozy spot for sleeping at the same time. You’ve probably guessed from the photo above that the solution is lofting your bed. If your ceilings are tall enough, you’ll wind up with plenty of space below for a closet and plenty of space for sleeping above.

I love tiny apartments and Paris apartments, so a tiny Paris apartment is the best of both worlds. Designer Marianne Evennou has a history of bringing a moody, stylish look to even the smallest of spaces, and this little pied-à-terre in Le Marais is no exception. Lofting the bed is a time-honored trick for saving valuable square footage in small spaces, but Marianne takes it one step further by turning the access stair for the loft into a design feature.

The Swedes certainly know how to do small spaces. Case in point: this small but stylish apartment, whose living room cupboard conceals a clever surprise. This little apartment has two cupboards in the living room, one of which opens up to reveal the world’s coziest little bedroom. It’s private, tucked away, and, I would imagine, very warm and snug on a Nordic winter night.

Your windowsills are just the beginning.

Do you want to invite friends over — maybe even have a dinner party — but you’ve been hesitating because you live in a studio apartment and your living room is also your dining room, kitchen, office and bedroom? Though it might feel a bit strange to have guests (good friends or acquaintances) milling about in your sleep space, I don’t think having a small home should be a road block for entertaining.

Convertible tables have been a small space staple for decades, but what they offer in functionality, they often lack in style. Paris-based Boulon Blanc wants to change that with their new transformable table. While traditional convertible tables use an X-shaped mechanism that’s reminiscent of an ironing board, Boulon Blanc has a patented rotating hinge instead. The result is an organic-inspired, transformative shape whether it’s used as a coffee table or a dining table.

We’re all about small space living here at Apartment Therapy, but even we admit that it can be difficult to find privacy in a tiny home. But whether it’s from the other people in your household, occasional guests, your neighbors or even just your own work, separation can be achieved. Read on for some ideas on how to carve a bit of “me space” in your place.

When decorating a small space, the conventional wisdom is to use light colors to make the space seem as large as possible. But when your small space has high ceilings and great lighting, sometimes you can get away with breaking a few rules — and create a studio apartment with all the style of a much larger home. This Swedish — of course it’s Swedish — studio has a separate kitchen, and a rather large, high-ceilinged space that serves as both the living room and bedroom.

I know you guys love books. In past posts about tiny houses, I’ve definitely heard some of you say that you could never imagine living in such a small space, because you could never, ever give up your books. Fortunately, you don’t have to. April Anson lived in a tiny house for three years while a student at the University of Oregon, and while living in 114 square feet definitely involved some sacrifices, parting with her books wasn’t one of them.

Even though I now have the tiny, perfect apartment of my dreams, I haven’t stopped being fascinated with other people’s tiny, perfect apartments. And I’m particularly drawn to this apartment in Stockholm, which despite measuring only 193 square feet manages to be everything you want an apartment to be: airy, stylish, cozy, comfortable.

400 square feet may not seem like a lot — but that’s reckoning without the ingenuity of Swedish design. Thanks to a simple but very smart floor plan, this diminutive Swedish apartment makes living small look positively luxurious. It’s located in Stockholm, and was once available for sale (but sadly is no longer) from brokerage firm Husman Hagberg.

In tiny homes where a single room often serves multiple functions, color can separate a space into zones with different functions. If your bedroom is also your office and your living room is also your dining room, try using paint as a visual divider to section off areas—without sacrificing an inch of livable space. Warning/workspace/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/atmedia-cloudinary-image-block/atmedia-cloudinary-image-block.

In Hong Kong, one of the most densely packed cities in the world, a young couple presented their architects with a seemingly impossible challenge: designing an apartment that would include a large kitchen, a home theater, a bathroom with a tub, and sleeping spaces for the couple and their overnight guests. The space also had to acommodate the couple’s three cats — and all this in 309 square feet.

Every home has something to teach and each small home in the Small Cool contest holds lessons and tricks for living well while living small. Here’s some wisdom from today’s entries → (above) A lofted bed with tons of storage makes Helene Louise’s small apartment work. And, it was a DIY project so she could customize it to her exact needs. A bench makes so much sense in a small home because you can move it around to suit your needs. Extra dinner guests?

It’s almost unbelievable that this studio apartment is only 300 square feet; it looks so much bigger. You can tell this is a home that feels airy—not cluttered in the slightest. Even more impressive? Two people live here. Here’s the scoop on why this small space does such a good job of looking spacious… First of all, Joe and Keith’s Oakland apartment has tall ceilings and massive windows that let lots of natural light in.

We often talk about tiny houses and small space living as if they’re a new thing, but the truth is that little houses have been around for years (and were, in fact, once the norm for a majority of Americans). Case in point: this 85-year-old home, built by one of his disciples in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright, whose compact 552 square foot floorplan provides plenty of inspiration for the small houses of today.

Warning/workspace/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/atmedia-cloudinary-image-block/atmedia-cloudinary-image-block.php82 We’ve featured quite a few places by A+B Kasha before: this Paris-based real estate and design firm excels at creating meticulously detailed apartments where just the walls and floors themselves are a work of art.

Project by: Julia Mack Design Location: Brooklyn Heights, New York Studio apartments are tough for lots of reasons. Like, you know, having to fit everything you own in one room and having to eat in the same room you sleep in. Though the photo above of a 640 square foot studio apartment in New York City is far from unlivable, it does feel a bit busy, and the big, heavy, full bookcase as a divider is a little imposing.

much Above: We spend a lot of time decorating the space and we’re really proud of our new home. Our place reflects our personalities and passions. See more → Ana and Fabiano’s Cozy Canadian Home Despite our place being small, we love having friends over. We love grilling lakeside at the complex’s pool and then ending the night in our unit. We’ve squeezed as many as 15 friends in, piled on our sectional sofa and gathering around our small dining room table.

Though there are some downsides to living in a studio apartment — not having as much space for your stuff, feeling like you’re living in your bedroom — it can be a cozy and fun living experience, too. Stick to these design tricks when decorating a studio apartment and you’ll love studio living. Don’t have a bedroom but do have a closet you can fit a bed into? Or is there a way to drape curtains around your bed to create a private bed nook?

As the tiny house movement grows, so does the need for storage. The trick to getting the most out of your space when there’s little to begin with is getting creative and rethinking the purpose of the everyday elements of your home. Here are a few clever tips from Julie that work whether you live on a bus or not! Originally we had planned on doing an IKEA hack from one of their bookcases, but it didn’t feel big enough to store things, or for people to sit or sleep on.

You might think that entertaining — especially during the holidays — is out of the question in your small space. These dining areas can blow that myth out of the water. Look at how these folks make room for cozy and compact dining areas and see if any of these ideas can work for your home. Don’t be afraid to use your sofa on one side and a small table in the middle to carve out a dining space. Floor pillows and stools can always be pulled over for extra seating.

Living in one room can have its challenges — especially when you’re not much of a minimalist. When Nor Toma moved into this Stockholm apartment, which measures less than 25 square meters (269 square feet), she had lofty visions of an all-white, uber-minimal space. But then things turned out a little differently. Nor’s last apartment, in Gothenburg, was five times this size, but she was eager to experiment with living small.

When you live life in only a few hundred square feet, a home must become a very fluid thing. Tiny apartments actually exist in four dimensions, and without capturing “time,” it’s impossible to truly reveal what it’s like to live small. Thankfully for all of us, the internet has adopted GIFs as a form of animated photo currency, and we can all see how real people make small homes work.

Name: Ricky & McCary Location: Carroll Gardens/Gowanus; Brooklyn, New York Size: 800 square feet Years lived in: 6 years; Rented What do you get when two people with great taste move in together? A beautiful apartment like this one, where two design sensibilities (she loves prints and patterns, while he’s a bit more minimal) merge seamlessly to create a new, completely unique style. Ricky and McCary are also the stars of the sixth episode of Apartment Therapy’s A Line video series.