I’ve spent some time exploring London this week and I wanted to share my thoughts. I couldn’t help but look at the city through my interior designer perspective. That is how people live, how they use their spaces, and how they navigate high-density housing. It confirmed for me the key universal small space living challenges.
London is a city famous for its history, its character, and—any renter or buyer (including myself) will tell you—its notoriously compact floor plans. From converted Georgian terraces to sleek modern builds along the Thames, Londoners have mastered the art of squeezing life into small footprints.
But as I walked the streets and looked at how spaces are utilised here, I had a major realisation. While the architecture might change, the key challenges of apartment and small-space living are entirely universal.
Whether you are living in a flat in North London or an apartment in North Melbourne, we are all fighting the exact same design battles. Here are my key findings from my time in London, and what they mean for your apartment home.
Finding 1: The Trap of Over-Filling Rooms
It doesn’t matter what hemisphere you are in; the temptation to force suburban-scale furniture into an apartment is a global epidemic. In London, where rooms often have beautiful high ceilings but very narrow footprints, oversized sofas and bulky coffee tables instantly swallow the floor plan.
When you over-fill a room, you compromise the flow of movement. It makes the space feel chaotic rather than restorative.
- The Lesson: Scale is everything. Good quality furniture means less is more, and less is more means less visual clutter. Choose pieces that are meticulously proportioned for your actual everyday footprint.
Finding 2: The Universal Battle for Storage
If there is one thing that unites apartment dwellers worldwide, it is the desperate cry for more storage. In older London flats, built-in wardrobes are a luxury, leading to clothes racks, boxes, and clutter spilling out into the open.
Without smart, intentional storage solutions, even the most beautifully styled room falls apart. Clutter ruins spatial cohesion and actively impacts your happiness at home.
- The Lesson: Look for furniture that earns its keep by pulling double duty. Think upholstered ottomans that act as hidden storage, or bed frames with seamless built-in drawers. If a piece doesn’t help you manage your storage, it might not deserve a spot in your layout.
Finding 3: The Danger of the Over-Multifunctional Apartment Rooms
With more people working from home, our rooms are being asked to do more than ever before. But my biggest finding in London was seeing what happens when a single zone is forced to do too much, resulting in completely compromised functionality.
I saw spaces where a single dining zone was being used simultaneously for dining, a laundry drying station, and a full-time home office. When a room tries to be everything, it ends up serving no one well. The visual noise of laundry drying next to your laptop makes it impossible to switch off and relax.
- The Lesson: Embrace ‘broken-plan’ living instead of forcing one zone to do it all. Use clever layouts, open shelving, or distinct lighting zones to create boundaries. If your dining table must double as a workspace, ensure everything can be packed away seamlessly at 5:00 PM so the room can return to being a place of rest.
The Verdict: Design Accidental vs. Design Intentional
My time in London completely solidified my design philosophy: great apartment living is never accidental—it is entirely intentional. The challenges of a small footprint are exactly the same no matter where you live in the world.
By shifting your mindset, refusing to buy temporary “fast furniture,” and choosing curated pieces that respect your layout, you can turn any compact apartment into a spacious, happy sanctuary.
