15 Clever Design Ideas For Small City Apartments

Swedish furniture giant Ikea never stops producing great ideas for compact spaces and its new Sunnersta mini kitchen is perfect for tiny studio apartments – it’s freestanding, ultra cheap and easy to fit. Designer Henrik Preutz says the concept allows homeowners to “create an open and welcoming kitchen, even if your living space is small, or it offers a practical solution when renovating.” The kitchen has a single, moveable cooktop that can be stowed away, a small fridge, sink and storage. The cost is a pretty incredible £99 starting price for the kitchen unit.

Many of us have been in this predicament: friends come for dinner at your small city pad but the table is tiny and there aren’t enough seats for everyone. Enter Swedish brand Dackelid-Form, brainchild of young furniture maker Nathalie Dackelid. As well as her ‘Wooden Cloth‘ table that acts like a caterpillar track so it can be extended or rolled back down, she’s made the ‘Accordion Stool‘, which, much like the instrument, can contract or expand to make a handy bench.

Wooden Cloth by Nathalie Dackelid from Nathalie Dackelid on Vimeo.

The key to the success of open-plan living is to clearly define the different living areas. This bespoke joinery design by TDO Architects allows for parts of the room to be closed off. The sliding glass door can cover the bookshelf or conceal the kitchen area so it is hidden from view when entertaining, while the door on the far left of the image can also be moved across to shut off the hallway, creating a cosier feel.

While there’s a temptation to paint all your walls white, believe it or not, deep hues can actually enhance a small space, too. Dark colours are recessive and because of their depth and complex shadows, richer tones actually blur the boundaries of the room. Try to choose those with a warmer tone, however, such as an ochre-based grey, a petrol blue, a rich red or even a charcoal black.

This design concept is a saviour for ‘generation rent’ – with hikes in rental prices, many of us often need to move from property to property, so a design that is easy to disassemble and take away is a perfect solution. Inspired by her own nomadic lifestyle Argentinian architect and designer Natalia Geci created the ‘Lynko System’, which is made up of different sized metal frames and wooden hinges that can be configured multiple ways. You can add mirrors, hooks, hangers, trays, shelves and pockets, so it can be transformed into a dividing screen, wardrobe or even an office storage solution.

This project by INT2 Architecture just proves that even in a minuscule studio apartment like this 14-square-metre one in Moscow, you can still have ample space for a bedroom area. The multifunctional box holds a wardrobe, deep storage drawers, shelves and the bed itself. Opposite there’s a sliding door that functions as a the screen for a projector, and when opened, reveals a full mirror that visually enlarges the tight space.

If you’re blessed with a high ceiling, constructing a mezzanine level with a void that can be filled with floor-to-ceiling shelving could be a way of not only creating an extra level in between floors, but also a solution to your storage problems. MW Architects commissioned Uncommon Projects to manufacture this clever climbing wall of colourful bespoke plywood units that become storage for the study above.

Just because you’ve got a small space, it doesn’t mean that practicality has to override aesthetics. Choosing carefully considered materials and a limited, calm colour palette will ensure a successful scheme. This micro apartment in London is only 330 square foot in total, but Play Associates have added character through the bespoke marble kitchen top by Max Lamb, whitewashed parquet flooring sourced from The Main Company and bespoke cabinetry with fun oversized handles.

The best trick for a small space is to distract the eye – give it a point of visual interest so that the focus is not on how tiny the room is, but on a bold or interesting design. Large horizontal stripes on the wall, for example, will lead the eye down a hallway, but also make a space feel wider; similarly, creating a busy feature wall of different-sized picture frames and artwork with throw the perception of space and proportion off kilter so it’s harder for the eye to register the room as simply a small space.
A photo posted by Emily Henderson (@em_henderson) on Sep 20, 2016 at 5:43pm PDT

If there was a furniture-based Transformers robot this would be it. While it looks like a pretty ordinary piece of furniture, it has a few tricks up its sleeve. Designed by Italian brand Ozzio, the Smart Living Project, available from Go Modern, is an all-in-one modular furniture concept for open-plan living. What is especially clever about this storage solution is that it houses a pull-out dining table, hidden in a lower cupboard, that seats up to eight people, plus the space behind the TV reveals storage for up to six dining chairs. The icing on the cake is that the dining table can actually be converted into a coffee table, as it is height adjustable with sliding wheels.

Getting as much light into the home as possible is a must for small spaces, so they feel as open and airy as possible. North-facing rooms and those at the back of a house or ground-floor apartment need special attention – floor-to-ceiling glazing is ideal, even if it’s a narrow strip, or a clerestory window. Compact rooms will definitely benefit from roof lights where you can include them, creating a connection with the outside as well as letting in plenty of natural daylight.

A mirror is a cheat’s way of easily make a room feel much bigger. Mirrors can help expand spaces, reflect much-needed daylight and break up visual clutter. Use one to mimic a window by putting a mirror opposite so it reflects the view; put a floor-to-ceiling mirror behind a piece of furniture, or place it behind a carefully placed light source.

A jib (hidden) door is not only a playful way to create a hidden entrance into another room, it’s also a clever use of what is potentially wasted space. DeForest Architects designed this smart recessed bookshelf set within the door to a media room.

University graduate Sam Wrigley knows the pain of putting together flat-pack furniture for his student digs all too well, so he decided to come up with a quick and simple solution. Designed ‘for room arrangers and city changers’, his Crisscross collection can be easily assembled with a peg-board style design so you can easily slot hinges and feet into the pre-made holes.

Lastly, we couldn’t resist sharing Christian Schallert’s incredible yet minuscule 24-square-metre fold-up apartment in Barcelona. When he isn’t cooking, dressing, sleeping or eating, his flat looks like an empty cube. To use a piece of furniture, he has to build it. See how he does it…