Why It Works: A Truly Tiny But Incredibly Stylish West Village Home

Every so often, there comes along a home that just has it all figured out. This is one of those homes.

Lee Lenox’s “Diamond in the Sky” rental is just 350 square feet but somehow it manages to make me want to give up my three-bedroom ranch home because it’s a testament that you don’t need a lot of space to have an utterly gorgeous home.

Every inch is impeccably styled, but I’m pulling out five specific takeaways here to consider for your own home, no matter the size.

Working with tight space constraints, Lee was smart to keep his color palette simple. By no means does that mean making everything neutral; here he went with a California casual blue, white and black scheme (a combination that was inspired by his great grandmother’s Delft collectibles), but had he gone overboard with colors on top of colors, he never would have been able to achieve this calm cohesive look.

When you’re living small, you don’t have a ton of room (unless you get creative) to house a bunch of tchotchkes. Lee’s super edited collection of family heirlooms are just enough to make it look like a real person lives in a space without it looking cluttered and crazy. Keep it simple, and your small home will feel like it breathes.

White frames, a white painted brick fireplace, white walls, a white bookshelf, a white mirror: everything in the perimeter of Lee’s tiny apartment was kept monotone, which was super smart to create a feeling of openness (instead of feeling like the walls are caving in on you).

In what might feel like the opposite of what you’d want to do in a petite residence, Lee’s use of a rug nearly the entire size of his apartment pared with large-scale art and a mirror actually fakes the eye into believing the room is larger than it really is. This is a great trick to try yourself if you’re having issues with a studio space feeling overly tight or cluttered, but remember, keep it simple! The larger pieces prevent you from adding in smaller things (which reduces visual clutter).

This last “success” takeaway from Lee’s home is one for everyone and every home: plants add life, character, color and texture to even the tiniest of vignettes, and are so worth the space. Here, Lee showed off his voluminous ceilings with some taller varieties, but also filled whatever nooks he has with shorter greenery, as well.

→ A Tiny Rooftop Studio Apartment in the West Village