Small Space Living Ideas: Stylish Solutions for Compact Homes

A smaller home might present challenges to fit in everything but with careful planning you won’t have to compromise on style.

Are all-white walls the only option, and can I find furniture to work in my new home that turned out to be smaller than it looked when I first viewed it?

Maximising small spaces might seem like fun when it’s just you, or you and a partner, but factor in a couple of kiddies and it might seem like an impossible task to maintain order and find furniture to fit to meet everyone’s needs. Social media doesn’t help either if you’ve been collating inspirational looks where everyone seems to be living in palatial, show-stopper homes.

Carving out a relationship with your new home can be challenging if the starting point is feeling it’s not big enough, but there’s help available so what you lack in square metres you can make up for with style.

Planning Furniture for Small Homes and Apartments

It’s not as hard as you think. There are so many furniture options and online tools to make shopping for your smaller space work for you, including the EZ Living Interiors online Room Designer feature allowing you to experiment with options in furniture and accessories to see how they’ll look together. It’s fun, too, and a confidence builder, making sure your choices are right for your space.

Down-sizing for empty-nesters and retirees can also prompt a furniture revision when you realise that none of your bigger items will work in your new two-bedroomed house or apartment.

Think of this stage of life as a reset and a chance to assess all your belongings. Take the advice of Marie Kondo and examine every single item you own to see if it sparks joy. If it doesn’t, it might be time to despatch it to the charity shop.

Room Designer Tool

Multi-Functional Furniture for Small Living Spaces

If your new home is a one-bedroom apartment, think multi-function and invest in a sofa bed to accommodate a friend staying over.

The Sebastian sofa bed is a modern and super comfy option, but if your living space is seriously space-strapped, opt for beige over grey as lighter colours will help with the feeling of spaciousness.

Watch out for details like slimmer arms on sofas and chairs. Just a few centimetres saved could mean the difference between slotting in a compact occasional table or not, like the Camden with its additional shelf for storage, or the round Ellipse with its super-slim profile.

Sebastian Beige Fabric 2 Seater Sofa Bed

Space-Saving Tables for Compact Living Rooms

As much as we all love a coffee table near the sofa, they might clutter up valuable living room real estate and impede paths of travel to other rooms, so consider a nest of tables which can live beside the sofa and come out when friends are over. The groovy ‘60s style Osaka duo stacks together. The compact Isla pair is even more space-saving with its metal frame base.

Isla Nest of Tables

Extendable Dining Tables and Benches for Small Homes

One of the most under-rated pieces of furniture must be extendable dining tables. These come into their own in smaller homes, allowing the table to grow when seating extra diners.

The rectangular Kona is compact in a light wood tone in a simple space-saving design, while the Malone round extending table is a similar design but with a circular surface which always allows for an extra diner on a stool.

Benches, too, come into their own in smaller homes as they multi-function as dining table seating, a seat across the foot of a bed, and as a coffee table. The Ruben tan leather is a handsome, robust option; the Malone matches its dining table namesake, and the Argento offers a shorter length.

Malone Round Extending Dining Table

Bedroom Furniture Solutions for Small Spaces

If you’re gutted to find that a 5ft king bed will overwhelm your bedroom, consider a streamlined frame without a foot board. The Darwin with its simple wooden frame can be styled with sumptuous bed linen for a luxury touch. The Russell also has sleek lines with a comfortable upholstered headboard, but if you have your heart set on an all-fabric frame and headboard, the Alice comes in a choice of colours.

Go full multi-functional and maximise storage with the Kaymed divan, its drawers set into the base for spare bed linen and out-of-season clothes. But how do you fit in a wardrobe when the doors are hitting the bed every time you try to open them? Opt for something like the Miami sliding door wardrobe with the bonus of mirrored doors to give the illusion of more space and reflect light in your compact bedroom.