These 12 Things Will Make a Tiny Home Feel Much Bigger – New York Magazine

A tulip table, one of the authors favorite pieces for small homes, anchors a dining room featured in her new book. Photo: Weston Wells fromThe Little Book of Living Smallby Laura Fenton. Reprinted by permission of Gibbs Smith.

I have been living in (relatively) small spaces since I moved to New York City 22 years ago, so Ive learned firsthand how to make the most use of limited square feet. As a journalist whose career has focused on home design and dcor, Ive also had the luxury of snooping around other peoples homes to find out what works for them. Last year, while writing my first book, The Little Book of Living Small (which came out in April), I got to see how all kinds of people were living in their own small spaces. While those homes had custom solutions and DIY fixes, they were also filled with a lot of affordable, off-the-shelf products their owners bought to maximize their spaces. Below, Ive listed the best 13 of those products, some of which serve very specific functions, while others are more versatile. All, however, work hard to make a tiny home feel (and sometimes even look) much grander than it is.

Photo: retailer

The Stool 60 by Alvar Aalto is a classic design that can be a stool, a side table, a bedside perch, or a plant stand. Fortuitously, if you dont have the budget for the real deal, there are dupes on the market. A telling detail of the dupes is their four-legged construction the original Stool 60 is three-legged but if youre really committed to the originals look, Ive met people who have removed the fourth leg and rejiggered the other three with the help of a power drill. Piled on top of one another, they take up the floor space of a single seat and you can still rest a drink or a plant on top! This set of four from Home Depot is a great deal at just $16 per stool, but if you only need one or two, Bed Bath & Beyond sells them for $22 apiece.

Photo: retailer

For years, I used clear plastic shower liners as my shower curtain because they made my small bathrooms look bigger (I liked to think of them as a poor mans glass shower door). But while space-opening, those always looked like cheap shower liners. So I was delighted when my friends Michael and Lisa Fine at Quiet Town started making these sun shower curtains, which are a fancy version of my budget solution with a little pop of color at the base. West Elm has them in a few more fun colors if you dont like the yellow. And if you do go the inexpensive-liner route, be sure to get one labeled crystal clear not a frosted liner, which will look cheap.

Photo: retailer

This genius sculptural stool is actually made of paper, and the material makes it reminiscent of a sculptural Noguchi lamp. The stool has a felt seat, collapses down to flat, and weighs next to nothing. I first saw a stool like this in decorator Sally Breers apartment, when it was featured in T magazine.

While nobody will be squeezing in guests anytime soon, the time to gather around a table will come again. Whether youre dining with one, two, or more, a tulip table like the Odyssey from CB2 (a riff on Eero Saarenins iconic mid-century table for Knoll) is an ideal small-space table because it takes up less floor space than a rectangular counterpart while offering just as much seating. Plus, its single pedestal makes it super-easy to add extra chairs when needed (no legs to get in the way). Tellingly, six out of the 12 homes featured in The Little Book of Living Small had some variation on a tulip table.

Photo: retailer

While stools like the Aalto lookalikes and the folding-paper model are great for guests, you want something sturdier with a back for your daily meals (especially if its a chair that does double duty in your work-from-home setup). Seats with a petite footprint can often feel really flimsy to sit upon, a fact I became acutely aware of when I was pregnant. Not so with these hardwood, spindle-style Salt Chairs manufactured by Ton Design Team for Design Within Reach, which are similar to some vintage chairs I have in my own home. DWR has been selling them for more than a decade; while not exactly cheap, at a retailer where other dining chairs can go for $1,000 or more apiece, they are kind of a bargain, especially considering the European-made quality.

Photo: Amazon

See-through furniture made of glass, Lucite, or acrylic keeps things looking light and airy. While glass is less likely to show scratches than the plastics, it also poses the highest risk of chipping and is much heavier to move. Lucite is the highest-quality version of acrylic but will be priced accordingly, which is why acrylic can be a better bet if youre shopping on a budget. No matter the material, a transparent, waterfall-style coffee table like this acrylic one goes a long way in opening up a cramped living room (just know youll need to keep its surface tidy to maximize its space-opening potential). Another bonus of clear furniture: It (literally) blends in with most any style of dcor.

Photo: retailer

For anyone (everyone?) trying to shoehorn a work-from-home situation into an already-full home, a corner desk will work wonders. It makes an often underutilized part of any room instantly super-functional, and because of the triangular shape, you still have plenty of leg space. I have a vintage version in my living room that looks kind of like this unfinished one from Home Depot, which even has some storage in the form of a drawer. If youd prefer something stained, this mid-century-inspired model has a more finished look (and is $11 cheaper).

Photo: retailer

Ive often seen shelves mounted next to beds in teeny spaces, but I personally need a bit more space than a ledge to stash my stuff. Thats why I bought a pair of minimalist floating nightstands on Etsy (the seller, right now, is only taking requests for custom orders). This simple style, from Crate & Barrel, is spiritually similar and has a drawer for keeping anything you dont want out on display. Another virtue of a floating nightstand: If you, like me, have drawers under your bed, wall-mounted furniture will never get in the way when you need to open them.

Theres a reason mini-cribs are the choice of small-space power bloggers like Erin Boyle of Reading My Tea Leaves and Alison Mazurek of 600sqft: They have wheels and fold up so you can have a mobile or tuck-away nursery. Ive used and recommend the Babyletto Origami mini-crib, which is bigger than some mini-cribs on the market; it feels plenty sturdy even though it folds. That said, experience taught me that its a good idea to buy Babylettos mini-crib mattress, too, because the one included with the crib is pretty skimpy (and finding another mini mattress that fits is a lot harder than youd think).

Photo: retailer

These wall-mounted ledges from Ikea are a cheap and practical way to store books, magazines, or toys for kids or pets. Weve got three installed in my sons room to hold his various books, and with a little styling, their colorful covers look like wall art. If youre hanging them in a home with kids, a word of warning: Mount the shelving high enough that your little one cant try to climb it like a ladder!

Photo: retailer

Clip-on lamps like this are a dime a dozen at hardware stores: Theyre dirt cheap and you can attach them (almost) anywhere you need a little extra illumination. We have one that I spray-painted red and clipped to a book ledge, but they can also latch onto bookcases or directly on a bed frame.

Photo: retailer

Okay, technically this collapsible step stool can only support up to 300 pounds but thats still a lot of weight for something that can fold flat and be tucked away in such narrow nooks as the gap between a fridge and a wall. In your average city apartment, the Rhino can help you reach most things, making it great for maximizing vertical space. It comes in lots of fun colors, too; Amazon has it in green, white, and black in addition to the red shown, and Buy Buy Baby has it in pastel pinks and blues as well as a pleasing light gray (while its two bucks more at Amazon, it qualifies for either free or Prime shipping; at Buy Buy Baby, the price of the stool alone doesnt qualify for free shipping).

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These 12 Things Will Make a Tiny Home Feel Much Bigger - New York Magazine