31 Creative Small-Space Furniture Ideas
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Don’t worry: You’re not stuck with dollhouse furniture simply because you have small rooms. When choosing furniture for small spaces, pick pieces that work harder and smarter. Look for pieces that can do double duty, like an ottoman that can be a table or seating or a sofa table that can also be used as a work-from-home desk when needed.
Selecting the right styles is important, too: Look for furniture that has clean lines and slender profiles that don’t occupy a lot of space in a room visually or physically. Try acrylic or glass tables, chairs with slender profiles, and open-sided bookcases that won’t make a petite room feel overstuffed with furniture. Put shelves on any wall you can fit them, use closets for unexpected purposes, and look at even the shortest bare walls as opportunities for furniture.
To help you make the most of your tight spaces, we’re sharing our best small-space furniture ideas for every room.
Clear Up Clutter
Helen Norman
Turn a small wall alongside stairs in an entryway into a lovely and functional drop zone with a Lucite foyer table, a dish for keys and wallets, and an umbrella stand. The clear table and open-sided umbrella stand take up no space visually, vanishing into the wall. The pair of ceramic garden stools tucked under the entry table can do double duty as additional seating or end tables for the living room.
Maximize Space with Slim Shelves
Nicole Pankopp
Turn a short wall into a storage space by adding skinny shelves with rails that keep items in place. Inspired by shelves in boat cabins that have rails to keep items in place in rough seas, those rails make it possible to have functioning floating shelves that are just a couple of inches deep. They don’t stick out in the room or take up floor space. Store books, utensils, and dishes on these narrow shelves so they’re within easy reach.
Squeeze in a Guest Bedroom
TRIA GIOVAN
Turn a tight attic room into a guest bedroom. To fit a bed into the sloped wall space, use a mattress on a frame with no headboard. A drift of pillows placed against the wall provides a comfortable and space-saving place to lean back. Midcentury modern chairs with low-slung backs and minimal lines provide seating that doesn’t overpower the space visually or physically. Paint walls and ceiling the same light color to brighten the space and draw the eyes upward.
Create a Closet Office
David A Land
Turn a closet in a spare bedroom into a spot where you can work from home. Put a desk in the closet that fits the space precisely and leave room for a chair. Maximize storage by filling the back wall of the closet with shelves for books and supplies, and put a bright task light overhead. When you log off for the day, close the closet doors, and your office and all that clutter that reminds you of work is hidden away. You have a peaceful room again.
Transform a Tight Corner
Edmund Barr
Turn a corner of a room into a reading nook with a chaise lounge and a floor lamp. The chaise lounge gives you room to put your feet up and relax without taking up as much wall or floor space as a sofa or daybed would. Add a pair of stackable storage baskets that can function as a side table while holding odds and ends. Hang art on the wall to make the corner feel cozy and look put together.
Use The Space Under the Stairs
Christopher Testani
Every wall is an opportunity to maximize space, even the wall under the stairs. Here, a built-in bench has turned a dead wall into a reading nook. A wall sconce provides task lighting and drawers beneath the bench add storage. Pillows, plants and a throw add a welcoming layer of hominess.
Utilize Bench Seating
Frances Janisch
Create a dedicated dining area in a small kitchen by adding a built-in bench next to cabinets. Add a four-top table and a pair of bistro chairs and you’ve got an eat-in kitchen packed into an efficiently planned space. Put drawers beneath the bench seat to provide storage, so your dining area does double the work.
Turn a Tiny Desk into Decor Space
Robert Brinson
A tiny desk can be upcycled into a space-efficient entry table when paired with an umbrella stand and a dish for keys and change. Placing framed art and nature-themed accessories on the table elevates the space, adding flash to the functionality.
Add Built-Ins
Keyanna Bowen
Make the most of the wall space with a big window by placing a built-in bench below the window. This bench runs the length of the window and the sidelights, creating a seating area washed in natural light. A bench takes up less floor space than a sofa or daybed would, while adding the same amount of comfy seating. Wall sconces double as reading lights.
Make a WFH Sofa Table
Marty Baldwin
Not all of us have a spare room to dedicate to an office. If you’re in that club, turn a sofa table into a work-from-home desk. The key to making this work is choosing furniture that can do two jobs. Get a light fixture with a couple of brightness settings so it can double as desktop task lighting or mood lighting, and a sofa table with slim measurements and clean, minimal lines that don’t take up too much space in the room physically or visually. The key to making this work is picking an office chair you can roll over into the living room and use a side chair when you’ve logged off for the day. Look for one that goes with the rest of the furniture in the room and either has casters or is light enough to pick up and move.
Use Slim Rolling Shelves
Kritsada Panichgul
Shelves on casters make the most of the space in a tiny bathroom. Roll it against the wall, clutter side facing in, to make the space look roomier and tidier. These shelves fit in the space between the toilet and the wall, so you can roll them out when you need access to supplies or the facilities, and roll it back when you leave.
Use a Dormer Nook for Decor
David Land
Turn a dormer window nook into an indoor garden by hanging potted plants from the walls of the dormer nook and a vertical garden on the overhead wall of the nook, then placing a pouf so you can sit among your plants, in the healing rays of natural light. Think of this as a small space sunroom.
Create Functional Entry
Edmund Barr
Create a drop zone that doubles as seating and extra storage space. A built-in bench tucked beneath overhead cabinets in a mudroom provides a comfy place to sit and put on or remove shoes. Hooks on the wall hold hats, coats and purses, and drawers under the bench hold shoes. This area collects all your family’s clutter as they come and go, it does so with style and efficiency.
Make an Attic Bathroom
Stacy Zarin Goldberg
Make a half bath in an attic room work at peak efficiency by tucking a small, slim vanity beneath the sloped ceiling. To make everything fit, hang a small mirror and wall sconces on the wall instead of an overhead light. Stash towels and supplies behind the vanity’s cabinet doors.
Find Room for Shelves
Kim Cornelison
There’s always room for more shelves, and floating shelves can make a small space work harder, since bare walls are a waste of space. Here, shelves have been tucked on the end wall of a pantry and cut to fit the sloped wall. Wallpaper keeps the space from feeling like a slapdash afterthought, and built-in cabinets use every inch of available space, including the bins with baskets for hand towels. Bonus points for that bin in the triangular space on the top shelf.
Turn a Closet into a Home Bar
Michael Partenio
Make a dining room closet work harder by putting a built-in wet bar inside it. A closet adjacent to the kitchen, like this one, is a good spot to transform into cocktails central. Shelves on the upper third of the wall hold glasses and mixers, the counter holds a sink, and cabinets provide storage for liquor and other bartending supplies. Close the doors on the clutter when not in use. There’s something charmingly Prohibition Era about a bar that can be hidden when the party’s over.
Make the Most of Your Entryway
Jared Kuzia
A bench, shelf, and row of hooks turn a bare wall into a welcoming drop zone. Your family can hang up their coats, keys, backpacks, and headphones, put their hats and purses on the bench, and tuck their shoes under. Putting functional fixtures in one area turns the space into hard-working square footage.
Maximize a Chest of Drawers
Carson Downing
A chest of drawers is a hard-working piece of furniture that makes small spaces super-functional. This narrow piece fits on a short wall between the door and the sloped walls of an attic room, providing five drawers of storage along with a countertop. Tuck a chest of drawers into a closet to make the space more efficient.
Optimize an Attic Space
Joyelle West Photography
Make attic rooms work hard by turning them into usable space with small, multifunction furniture. A modern desk tucked into the space below this sloped wall delivers an efficient work area. The key to making attic rooms work is keeping the furniture to scale with the intimate space and choosing pieces that fit beneath the sloping walls. This accent chair can double as seating elsewhere in the room, so it’s a smarter pick than an office chair.
Make a Small Space Spa
Werner Straube
A small, single-sink vanity and a built-in shower with glass walls pack a lot of beauty and functionality into a small bathroom. A pair of sconces and a tiny ceiling fixture tuck lots of light into a tight space. The glass wall shower is a good pick for a small space where a shower curtain would make the room feel closed-off and cluttered. And that little shower seat adds a touch of big fat luxury.
Create a Functional Drop Zone
Christina Schmidhofer
Create an entryway drop zone and sitting area by tucking a small bench with storage baskets beneath it by a door. This bench doubles as a nice place to sit and look outdoors thanks to a Dutch door that lets you get fresh air while keeping kids and pets inside. Put shoes, dog leashes and other clutter in those baskets to keep them within reach when you leave but out of sight.
Use Every Available Space
Robert Brinson
When working with a small space, don’t leave any walls bare. Here, a short, narrow chest of drawers has been turned into an entry table with a high storage space to countertop ratio. There are dishes placed atop it to catch keys and pocket change, a lamp to provide warm light to the entry, and a decorative wall mirror to throw around the light and make the space feel bigger.
Look for Slim Pieces
Emily Followill
When space is small, think narrow furniture and fixtures. Here, a skinny vanity that’s around 14 inches deep puts a lot of functionality into a small bathroom. It’s packed with cabinets beneath the counter so there’s a lot of storage space per square inch. A slim bench tucked against the wall adds seating without taking up much floor space.
Discover Corner Chairs
David A Land
Corner chairs are a great way to tuck seating into a tiny space. This antique corner chair fits perfectly into a nook next to the fireplace, turning a spot from wasted space into a warm, cozy place to relax.
Consider Non-Traditional Uses
John Bessler
Just because a furniture item is considered a dining room piece doesn’t mean it can’t perform and look nice in other rooms of your home. Using a handy sideboard in the living room, for example, gives you cupboard storage as well as surfaces to display books and collectibles. A garden bench can be extra seating at the dinner table, and a vanity table makes a compact laptop desk.
Maximize Floor Space
Brie Williams
Whenever possible, tuck furniture around the perimeter of the room to avoid taking up precious floor space. Attach bookshelves to the wall, build a bench under the window, and mount the television. Some pieces even hover off the ground (or appear to), which creates open space that visually expands a room.
Keep It Small
Jean Allsopp
Furniture that is trim and fit will suit your small spaces best. In choosing a sofa, for example, one with fat rolled arms and a multi-cushion back will seem too inflated. Pick one with skinny arms and a tight, upholstered back instead. Elsewhere, look for slender legs on dining tables, and stick to beds with simple headboards.
Add an All-Purpose Piece
David Tsay
Invest in a small, light piece that can be easily moved wherever you need it. A small double-decker cart, for example, acts as an extra kitchen prep area that can be moved into the living room to serve as a bar cart or appetizer station when company comes.
Add a Room Divider
Adam Albright
Although it might seem counterproductive, segmenting a space helps to make the whole room seem larger. If you live in a studio apartment, fake extra rooms with the help of curtains or a fold-up panel. Place a divider adjacent to a corner to create a makeshift office, or in the kitchen for an impromptu dining room.
Add Secondary Storage
Kritsada Panichgul
Typically, small homes are short on places to stash things. That’s why it’s so valuable to find furniture with storage included. Look for tables with drawers or shelves and ottomans with hidden compartments. Trunks make excellent coffee tables. And you can tuck a lot of stuff—even luggage—under extra-tall beds.
Use Multi-Purpose Furniture
James Carriere
Find furniture that does double duty. This daybed is a cozy couch during the day but turns into a pull-out bed when company comes. Look for other ways to swap in hardworking furniture, like using a dresser as a nightstand or a storage cart as a kitchen island.
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