We’ve always believed that no matter the size of your space, your home should reflect your style—and yes, that goes for 400-square-feet apartments too! We teamed up with the One Kings Lane Interior Design team to answer all the questions that come up in small-space living and designing. Check out all their advice below.

Studio Apartments

Studio apartments are a design-lover’s ultimate challenge. With only a few hundred square feet (if you’re lucky) to transform, every choice you make must be perfect. Intimated? Don’t be.

Our Best Advice

Keep it simple. Marie Kondo said it best: Your possessions should spark joy. If they don’t, it’s time to toss. “Dispense with unnecessary clutter,” says One Kings Lane designer Jordan Schehr. This is the first (and least fun) step of any small-space design scheme. (The maximalist in us hates the idea of getting rid of anything, which is why we wrote a whole guide on artful minimalism.) Instead of focusing on what you can’t display, focus instead on what you can. “Showcase the items that mean the most to you,” says designer Shannon Frappied. Being the curator of your own life is one of the most fun and challenging things about living in a studio.

Use workhorse pieces. Even the most spacious studios require a bit of creative thinking when it comes to storage. “Make your furniture work for you,” says One Kings Lane designer Jess Hutchinson. “Maybe it’s a couple of storage ottomans as a coffee table or a dining chair that doubles as your desk chair. You should try to make the most of each piece of furniture you bring into the space.”

Always Avoid

Insufficient illumination. City living means that sunshine can be scarce. “Never block the source of natural light,” says Shannon. “Light is key in helping make a space feel open and bright.” If your studio has little or no natural light, bring it in artificially. Use sconces and picture lights to save on valuable surface real estate. If you have room for lamps, bring in all that you can. They’ll provide the most flattering and comfortable lighting of all your options. You can also get smart with your furnishings and choose metallic finishes to bounce light around the room. For more on lighting, check out our complete lighting guide here.

Tipping the scale. “Be sure to keep your furniture in scale with the size of the room,” says Jordan. Go too small and you’ll feel like you’re living in a doll house. Go too big and you’ll hardly be able to move around. “Steer away from large, overstuffed furniture like sectionals,” he adds. At the same time, Shannon suggests going big (or biggish) with wall decor: “Style walls with midsize to large-scale art to maximize depth and perspective.”

Every vignette presents another opportunity for clutter in a small apartment, so opt for a curated collection of goods, as this renter did.

Organize and Optimize

Every square inch of a studio should be optimized (and organized) for easy living. Studio apartments face a duality not found in many other spaces, something we’ve dubbed the Renter’s Paradox: You need to fill—but not cram—the small room with furniture to make it appear bigger. “Just because a space is small doesn’t mean you can’t have all the pieces that make up a great space,” says Jess.

Optimization efforts. The best plan of attack begins with optimization efforts. As mentioned above, choose multitasking furniture. “Opt for upholstered side chairs that can double as dining chairs, and find an entry console that can double as a desk,” says Shannon. Jess suggests going with a classic sleeper sofa so that you can host overnight guests. “I also find benches can make great coffee tables,” she says.

Organize creatively. Studio-dwellers learn quickly that the best solutions to their design dilemmas are creative ones. Think of your apartment as a stage. From the outside, it will look beautifully put together. But as actors and stagehands know, the necessary props are always hidden within arm’s reach. Beyond hardworking pieces like storage ottomans, add baskets, boxes, and catchalls for everything from mail to chargers to keys. Clutter can’t overtake your studio if everything has a place. The more organized your home is, the more relaxed it will feel.

Embrace the Space

In a studio, the living room is the bedroom is the kitchen is the dining space. Yet the apartment doesn’t have to feel like one big room. Our team suggests thinking outside the box to create zones. One option is to physically separate spaces. “I love a room screen or some curtains to help separate spaces in a studio,” says Jess. Another is to let color and pattern do the job for you. “You can always use paint or wallpaper to define one space from another,” says Shannon. If you aren’t down for painting half your apartment (or can’t because of your lease), lighting can also help play up that visual separation. “Different light sources, like table and floor lamps versus overhead lighting, help create different zones of space and function,” says Jordan. Plus, switching flush mounts is quick, easy, and renter-friendly!

Our Must-Haves for a Studio

We love the way designer Lilse McKenna played with the scale of the lamp in the small West Village apartment of publicist and blogger Nan Philip. Lilse definitely knows a thing or two about designing for small spaces. Check out the makeover she did in her own West Village apartment just a few years ago! Photo by Read McKendree/JBSA.

Full windows bring loads of natural light into this studio, allowing the One Kings Lane Interior Design team to have a bit more fun with color. Tour the entire studio makeover here.

One-Bedroom Apartments

When it comes to design, one-bedroom apartments typically follow the same rules as studios. Organize and optimize should still be your guiding principles, along with the added importance of storage so that your rooms are clutter-free. And while having a separate bedroom can be wonderful if you’re used to living in a studio, the bedroom is apt to be fairly small. Here are a few of the best ways to maximize it, according to our team.

Lots of layers. “Soft layers are a great way to make a small bedroom feel bigger,” Shannon says. “Opt for simple white bedding layered with a patterned throw blanket and soft, neutral pillows.”

Paint high. “Paint can do wonders for enhancing the feeling of space in a room,” says Jordan. “Consider painting the baseboard, molding, and walls the same color to add height. Also, paint smaller rooms a darker color to give the feeling of disappearing borders.”

Trick the eye. “Mirrors will always make a room feel bigger,” says Jess. She also suggests hanging curtains higher than the window frame: “It draws the eye up.”

This New York blogger stacked her collection of books next to her bed. Instead of trying to hide them, she opted to place a lamp on the stack and call it a bedside table. Tour her tiny pad here.

Layout Lowdown

Optimal bed placement is key in a smaller bedroom. No adult should have a bed placed up against the corner of a room if at all avoidable. “Try to center the bed on the wall if you can,” says Jess. If space is really tight, Jordan suggests downsizing the bed size if possible. “You want to be able to approach from either side,” he says.

Shannon suggests going for swing-arm sconces instead of table lamps to keep the room feeling open: “If space allows, install a small shelf below each sconce since a nightstand may not be an option.” You can also save space in the bedroom by leaving most of your furniture pieces for the living room. “Use a dresser or sideboard as a media unit in the living room to provide extra storage for sheets or your wardrobe,” says Shannon. This way, you get extra space in the bedroom and a solid piece of furniture in the living room. If that’s not an option, Jordan advises installing a few extra shelves inside your closet to store things you don’t regularly access. “This is a great place to hide your holiday decor or seasonal wear.”

Our Must-Haves for One-Bedroom Living

A sideboard that doubles as a dresser
Floor mirrors
Simple bedding
Rugs, correctly sized! (Check out our guide here)
Perfectly scaled art

Kitchen Compendium

We could write ad nauseam about our favorite ways to organize and style a kitchen. (In fact, we have. Check out our kitchen design guides here and here.) Apartment living typically means a small kitchen usually open to the living area. Depending on how new your appliances or cabinetry is, your kitchen can be a stylish addition or an annoying eyesore. If your kitchen doesn’t spark joy, check out a few of our renter-friendly kitchen hacks here and here. To get us rolling on organization, we asked our team to give us their best advice.

Jess: “Invest in pretty kitchenware that you can keep out on the counters,” she says. “I also like to hang my wooden cutting boards on the wall to free up cabinet space.”

Jordan: “Consider multiuse appliances like an immersion blender with multiple attachments to free up space,” he says. To cut down on clutter, Jordan also suggests editing down your kitchenware collection.

Shannon: “One of the best purchases I’ve ever made was a magnetic wall knife holder,” says Shannon. “You can also apply sturdy hooks along a wall for holding your pots and pans.”

This renter employed a genius kitchen hack to make their small space feel bigger. Check out the full tour to get the scoop!

Want more expert advice? Book a consultation with our interior design team here →

Small-Space Living

The One Kings Lane Guide to Small-Space Design