Small Apartment, Large Life: Planning Tricks From 600 Square Feet

The most spacious apartment we ever designed was 640 square feet. The least spacious was 6,000. Square footage is the least interesting number in a floor plan.

Sightlines first: if you can see nine metres in any single direction — even through a doorway, even into a mirror — the apartment reads as generous. We will move a kitchen for a sightline.

One material, wall to wall: a single floor finish running uninterrupted from entry to bedroom adds more perceived area than any demolition. Thresholds are where small homes go to feel small.

Finally, scale up, not down. One large sofa outperforms two small ones; one 2.4-metre artwork beats a gallery wall of postcards. Small rooms furnished timidly become smaller. Furnish like you mean it.