Big Furniture Ideas for Small Space Interiors

We look to Europe in search of big ideas for today's smaller city housing because let's face it, they've been dealing with much smaller spaces than us in the US and their furniture product design has followed suit. Of course New Yorkers are used to small apartment living, but in the US it is no longer simply a Big Apple problem.

How Small Is the New American Apartment, Really?

We pulled the latest data from RentCafe and Yardi Matrix, which tracks apartment size across the country's largest rental markets, to see how new construction in a few key U.S. cities compares to the rest of the country. The pattern isn't a simple story of apartments shrinking everywhere. It's more specific than that, and more useful.

In San Francisco, new apartments built over the last decade average 717 square feet, making it one of the five smallest markets in the nation, even though that figure is actually up 35 square feet from the decade before. Manhattan tells a similar story: new units average around 737 square feet, also a modest increase over older construction. Neither city's housing units are shrinking, but both have remained on average some of the smallest in the US, consistently, and for a very long time.

What are the 5 US cities with the smallest housing units on average?

1. Seattle, WA — 645 sq ft 
2. Portland, OR — 665 sq ft
3. Tacoma, WA — 684 sq ft
4. Brooklyn, NY — 714 sq ft
5. San Francisco, CA — 717 sq ft

Austin, Texas is the clearest example of shrinking housing units, even though some claim they have solved the housing affordability crisis! The average new apartment there now runs 871 square feet, down 45 square feet, or about 5 percent, over the past ten years, as more studios and one-bedrooms enter the pipeline to keep up with the city's growth.

Florida tells a tale of two cities as Miami one-bedrooms average around 730 square feet, in the same range as San Francisco and Manhattan, but several other Florida cities, like Tallahassee, Gainesville, and St. Petersburg, actually rank among the largest and fastest-growing apartment markets in the country.

Put together, the throughline isn't that a new housing unit in an American city is shrinking. It's that a meaningful share of new U.S. construction, especially in dense coastal and fast-growing metros, now clusters in the same 700 to 900 square foot range that European apartments have occupied for decades. European furniture makers have been designing for exactly this footprint since long before "small space living" became an American talking point, which is why so many of their smartest ideas translate directly to a new build in San Francisco, Austin, Miami, or Manhattan.

The smartest way to furnish a space like that isn't to buy less furniture. It's to buy furniture that does two jobs instead of one. A console that becomes a full dining table. A coffee table that lifts to desk height. A sofa with built-in trays instead of side tables. Every piece below solves a real problem in a tight footprint, and none of them ask you to sacrifice the polish of European design to do it.

Let's look at some of our favorite 2-in-1 furniture designs:

One of our favorite ways to design a versatile and functional living space is with the Innovation Living sofa bed collection. Innovation Living's Vilander sofa bed with wide arms solves two problems at once. The obvious one is the fold-out queen bed underneath a genuinely comfortable sofa, built on a no-sag suspension system and a pocket spring core wrapped in high-resilience OEKO-TEX foam. The less obvious one is the pair of wide walnut-topped arms, which double as side tables, so you can set down a drink or a lamp without finding room for extra furniture. It ships quick, in four fabrics, with White Glove Delivery included. Starting at $3,995.

If you don't plan to entertain so much, but still prefer a versatile sitting area with the possibility of stretching out, the Playground sofa is the perfect space-saving solution.  The Playground sofa has movable backrests where you can either sit like a normal sofa, move the headrest to the end as a daybed, or remove them altogether for a 45" wide sleeping surface.  If you double back to the layout within which we are working, you can alternate the backrests to have one face the living room, while the other faces the kitchen.

Bontempi's Mago console table was designed by the brand's in-house R&D team around one idea: a slender, lightweight silhouette that can expand into a full dining surface without ever looking like it's hiding a second life. Tucked against a wall, it reads as a simple entry console. Extended, it seats a proper dinner party. The glass top comes in six finishes, from glossy white and black to matte anti-scratch warm grey, so it can slot into nearly any entryway or living room palette. Starting at $1,587.

Shop several versions of this Console to Desk or Dining Table furniture concept.

Designed by Marco Pozzoli and made in Italy, Ozzio Italia's Bellagio lift-top coffee table rises from a standard 12.5 inch coffee table height to a full 25.5 inches with a self-braking gas lift, turning your living room into a dining spot, a card table, or a laptop-friendly work surface in seconds. The top is available in walnut, several oak finishes, or marble glass, with a metal structure and crystal legs underneath. It's the rare multifunctional piece that looks just as considered in its low, casual position as it does raised for company. Starting at $2,916.

Connubia's CB5041-A Magic-J is built for exactly this kind of dual duty. A smooth mechanical lift takes it from an 18 inch coffee table height to a 29 inch dining height, while the top expands from 29 to 59 inches wide to seat real guests instead of just holding drinks. Available in white metal with clay melamine or black metal with a dark melamine top, it's a compact, considered answer for anyone who wants a proper dining table without giving up a coffee table, or the square footage for both. Starting at $1,778.

Last but not least, mount some modular wall shelves to stack your books and other objects in an interesting way while not taking up floor space.

Small spaces don't have to mean small ideas. These pieces prove that European design can flex to fit real apartment life without looking like a compromise. Our team offers expert, one-on-one customer service to help you figure out which multifunctional pieces make sense for your specific layout, and every order ships with free, nationwide delivery. Have a floor plan and a furniture dilemma to solve? Reach out and show us what you're working with.

With so many directions to go in, we've just outlined a straightforward and simplistic plan to get started. Have your own specific design dilemma?  Reach out and show us what you're working with!  email us to learn more.  Ciao for now.