Awesome furniture and a tiny apartment don’t usually go together. And if bachelor houses conjure up images of a cheap plastic chair, a checkered uncovered mattress and footwear lobbed on top of cardboard cartons in the living room, I don’t blame you!
But to me, great furniture is 50% of what a great house is all about. The rest is decor, organisation, theme and so on.
In a small house, every piece has to be thought through. Every inch needs to be measured, and every piece visualised in the space before you buy it. That’s when you stop hunting for the “best piece” money can buy and start looking for furniture that doesn’t just save space but optimises it, looks great, and makes a small space come alive.
Here’s how to pick stylish, space-efficient furniture for a studio or 1BHK, based on the pieces that powered my own small house makeover.
1) Run one sleek and slim sofa along the entire length of the wall
Pick a sofa with straight arms, no fussy trims or patterns, and a few inches of clearance off the floor, so it doesn’t eat the room with its bulk. Mine seats 3 adults and sits 3 inches off the ground, and opens out into a queen-sized bed with a push from behind. That fold-out is the real prize in a studio: one piece doing the job of two.
Choose a neutral like my melange grey and you can play with colour everywhere else. This Urban Ladder sofa was the most expensive piece I bought for the house, and also the best.
2) Go big on vertical storage, not horizontal
The site sold this narrow cabinet as a bookshelf, but I repurposed it as a bar shelf. It’s only about 1.5 feet wide and 7 feet tall, so it takes vertical space rather than floor space, which is a must in a small home. The glass-window section displays my glassware, and the closed cabinets hide the alco-bev bottles (and random crockery).
Don’t buy furniture only for its label. A bookshelf can be a bar, and a bar can be a pantry.
3. Choose sleek, no frills chairs over bulky ones
These metallic chairs may not be exactly Eames, but I love how sleek they are without looking flimsy or cheap. Additionally, after getting their generic upholstery replaced by a custom Ikat fabric, they look something out of a fancy furniture store. They fit under the table and work perfectly for the small dining space in the kitchen. Slim legs let the eye see the floor underneath, which makes a small room feel larger.
5) Get a high-low study table that lines along the wall
I like to work standing every now and then, but instead of a bulky hydraulic standing desk, I bought a high-low table. It’s a normal study table, a storage shelf and a standing desk all rolled into one. It has straight edges and no frills, and the black steel frame adds so much character to my room. In a small home, one piece that does three jobs beats three pieces.
6) Use sleek bar stools for utility
I originally bought these to let a house mate eat on the bed (much to my chagrin), but they turned into a space-adding saviour. The legs slide under the sofa, and the just-big-enough tabletops let me work or eat while sprawled in front of the TV. The second table in the set holds my dish tub, with the trash bins underneath.
Look for furniture that disappears when you’re not using it.
7) Get taller, cubical and open furniture that doesn’t waste space on unnecesssary doors
I found this 3-tier storage rack on a second-hand group on Facebook, and it was just what the doctor ordered for my small kitchen. I wanted to store onions and potatoes in the open without tacky plastic baskets in horrendous colours. This 2×2 ft rack has two slide-out baskets for exactly that. Its tiled top doubles as an extension of my kitchen platform, and a small drawer underneath hides dish-scrubs, wipes and other knick-knacks.
Second-hand groups are a goldmine for pieces like this, so check them before you buy new.
8) Get a statement piece to tie all the sleeker furniture together
I know this chair goes against the advice of going for monotone furniture, but you don’t want your house to end up looking like an IKEA catalogue. So to balance the simple, minimalistic furniture, have a statement piece or two like this colourful chair. It’s quirky, it’s fun and it kinda draws away the attention from the smallness of the living room.
9) Get corner shelving units
Repeat after me: when you live in a small house, LEVERAGE those corners. Every room has four. Make sure at least one of them has a piece of corner furniture. I have four!
This one is my favourite of them all. Its top is just one foot wide and it takes hardly 2 feet of corner space, yet it stores books, lamps and planters, hides the tangle of TV and cable wires, and frames the wall perfectly. A corner piece that earns its footprint three ways is exactly what a small room needs.
10) Repurpose planter shelves for kitchen appliances
The latest entrant in my furniture family is a “Hegg rack” from IKEA Hyderabad. It was on sale, and you’d be surprised how little it cost: a grand SIX HUNDRED rupees, and worth every penny. It’s the perfect grey neighbour to my white bar cabinet, and its tapering shape holds the toaster, the sandwich maker and the mixer-grinder on separate racks, each sized to the width and height it needs.
Yes, I lugged it across cities and spent a couple of hours assembling it. It gave back far more than the effort it took.
Let me know in the comments about which furniture you liked the best, and if you have any questions re: how to optimize a small space with the right furniture or ideas on furniture to buy.
Small spaces don’t forgive bad furniture, but they reward smart furniture.
One comment
Truly thoughtful