Thoughtfully designed small spaces can be wonderful, but there is a fine line between cozy and chaotic. The challenge is always to pack a ton of function, comfort, and personality into every square inch without making it feel crowded.

I’ve designed a number of small spaces for both clients and family over the years.  My kids have given me a lot of practice?! Between assorted dorm rooms, off campus apartments, and grad school apartments, I’ve designed many small spaces for temporary living on a tight budget!

They’ve all been different depending on the space and the occupant, but there are common principles to designing small spaces.  Currently I’m designing VERY long distance for my daughter (AKA The Diva) in Berlin, Germany.

She moved overseas a couple of months ago to pursue her career there, starting in an overpriced (at least for Berlin!) Air BnB while she looked for more permanent housing.

She opted to do a shared apartment situation called a WG (pronounced ‘Vay-gay’), not to be confused with WC!

WG is short for Wohnungsgemeinschaft, German for flat share.  You can tell it is German by the preponderance of consonants and the excessive number of letters in general.  German likes to attach all the relevant words together so there is no mistake as to the intended meaning. They may be onto something…

In any case, she found a perfect WG with a lovely flat-mate in an excellent location.

WG’s in the city are generally a series of two or three private rooms with a shared bathroom and kitchen. The shared ‘living/dining’ space is usually just a corner of the kitchen with a table and chairs, no separate living room.

So your private bedroom space functions as your living room/sitting space as well and, in terms of design, needs to be thought of more as a studio apartment.

The last studio I did a long distance emergency design for was a 200 sq ft apartment for my son in Montreal while he was in grad school there.  You can see that story HERE.

Existing Conditions

All design projects start with an assessment of existing conditions. In a new build, this is the plot. In an already built space this is the fixed finishes (wood/stone/paint etc), and in many instances also the furnishings that are being re-used.

Unlike my son’s apartment, the Diva’s room came furnished with the essentials;  A bed, a nightstand, a large armoire (built-in closets are rare, even in newer buildings, so this is a BIG plus), a couple of area rugs, a piece of artwork, woven wood window blinds, and a pair of dining chairs (their brethren are in the kitchen, these seem to be the two that didn’t fit?!)

The rugs will be replaced with a single larger rug, and the dining chairs will eventually be replaced as well, but they at least offer a perch until we can find something more suitable.

Here are a couple of pictures of the state of affairs when she arrived. The extra bed frame and extraneous mattress thing are leaving, as is the bedding, the hamper, and possibly the lamp.

Wish List

On the Diva’s wish list of other essentials were:

• a comfy chair to lounge in

• a desk/table to use for a vanity

Her preferred style is slightly vintage and her aesthetic is best described as ‘woodland nymph’.

You might remember her room here which was designed with a secret garden inspiration and included a garden wall mural with magnetic tree branch hooks to display her vintage hats.  The hats have yet to make it to Berlin, but I imagine they will eventually find their way there :)

Design Process

Every design for ANY space, large or small, begins with space planning to try out options and determine furniture sizes BEFORE making any purchases.

And Berlin, blessedly, has a nearby IKEA for well priced and practical home furnishings and essentials. Also dinner 🤣. And tasty snacks.

Space Planning

Here is the room layout process.  This was my first time designing in metric…honestly, probably a system we should adopt here. 100 cm to the meter is a much easier conversion than 12 inches to the foot.  Far fewer opportunities for math errors!

Jenna downloaded my favorite measuring app to draw the dimensions on the pictures and borrowed a tape measure and got to work sending me ALL the info.

The room is quite long and narrow, so the most logical wall for the bulkiest piece of furniture, the armoire, is on one of the short walls, opposite the windows - the wall it is already on (though I’d REALLY like to see it properly centered!)

The bed is a regular twin bed frame with a headboard, but the headboard is barely taller than the mattress, so turning it sideways against the wall to use as a daybed is definitely a possibility. This option makes the whole space feel more like a sitting room than a bedroom.

This also takes the best advantage of the space between the radiators  for a desk/vanity table.

Ultimately we chose the daybed option.  This makes a nice seating group with a daybed/sofa opposite a pair of chairs, and plenty of adjacent tables to set down a snack, book, or beverage!

The Diva would prefer to have her chair and ottoman face the windows and swapping the chairs still works, so she can try it both ways or change it around whenever she wants.

Decor and Furnishings

The decor phase and color scheme was dictated by three things

• The existing furniture finish (warm natural wood)

• The Diva’s vintage garden/woodland fairy aesthetic

• The limited number of options for bedding available at IKEA

One of the key ways to keep a small space from feeling overwhelming is to limit the color palette. Luckily, she found a duvet set she liked at IKEA in her favorite mossy greens with yellow and coral pink accents.  That was our starting point.

She found a bargain on an IKEA wing chair - the yellow color, serendipitously, was less expensive than any of the other upholstery. Some assembly required. At IKEA, those are terrifying words LOL, but she prevailed!

And a slim glass laptop desk that fit nicely between the radiators would serve as a vanity and not take up much visual or actual space in the room.

For the moment the erstwhile dining chairs will serve as the additional seating and vanity chair, but eventually those will be replaced with a wicker desk chair and another upholstered piece.

Case pieces in black/brown will provide nightstand/sofa tables and extra tall storage flanking the armoire.

The existing nightstand will serve as a side table for the chair.

New wicker pieces will repeat around the room adding texture and lending more natural material to further the garden theme.  These include a storage bench in front of the daybed to serve as a coffee table, a storage piece between the chairs, and storage baskets for the shelves.  Eventually, a new desk chair will join the wicker parade.

Assorted large pillows that match and coordinate with the duvet will prop against the wall to turn the bed into a sofa.

A new large area rug in soft greens will anchor the whole seating group - we are investigating some possibilities and I’ve found two I really like,  but online orders with city deliveries are a bit tenuous…

Plants, lamps, a large mirror over the vanity, and assorted throw pillows for the chairs and daybed will finish the space nicely.  Some vintage shopping is definitely in order to add some personality that isn’t standard IKEA stock!

Today, on her 4th trip to IKEA this week (!), Jenna procured some lamps. IKEA wisely has an unboxing station at the exit so you can divest yourself of extraneous packing material and make things easier to carry on public transit.

I’m itching to get to Berlin to see her and this apartment in person,  and to help her finish the decorating!  I’m sure I’ll also be taking extra suitcases full of stuff and perhaps some of the vintage hats 😁

UPDATE: click HERE for the finished apartment tour!

Viel Spaß beim Dekorieren!

(I’m hoping this says Have Fun Decorating🤣!

I’m sure the Diva will correct me if the googles are wrong)

Other posts you might enjoy:

Design Plans for a Tiny Studio Apartment

Before and After: Vintage Diva Glamour Den Room Reveal

Planning a renovation for a small kitchen