Home » Furnishing a small house: 3 solutions to optimise your spaces

Furnishing a small house: 3 solutions to optimise your spaces

furnish a small house

Nowadays we very often find ourselves dealing with homes that have very limited spaces, especially in large cities. For this reason, learning how to furnish a small home by making the most of every available inch becomes essential in order to combine comfort, convenience and style.

If you live in a house that is between 40 and 60 m2, remember that details have an important role in defining the mood and layout of your home. So let’s see how to transform a small house into a welcoming and modern place by optimising every available square meter.

Mistakes to avoid when furnishing a small house

Before analyzing, step by step, what you will have to do to optimise the furnishing of a mini-apartment or a small house, let’s see what mistakes to avoid in order to have enough space to enjoy your home to the fullest .
Here are some of the most frequent mistakes that are made when organising space:

  • If you don’t have much space available, arranging the furniture in your living area horizontally without taking advantage of wall space is certainly the least suitable way to organise the space;
  • You always have to think about how to get a designated space to store your clothes and accessories, as well as towels and blankets. Even the mere lack of a hanger behind the bedroom door leads to leaving your clothes in the wrong places, increasing clutter and taking away space;
  • Plants reduce stress and make the environment more relaxing and livable. So don’t make the mistake of thinking that they only take up space: it’s important to find the right spot to place some flower vases in the living room or kitchen;
  • Having the right workspace to carry out our daily activities is also essential, so
    the space that you have designated for these purposes must not be sacrificed;
  • If the available space is scarce, avoid using floor lamps, prefer instead beautiful
    chandeliers or, perhaps, discreet and very bright spotlights.


Now that we know what to keep in mind to best furnish a small house, let’s see how to transform a small house of less than 60 square meters into a comfortable home where you can also welcome your guests.

small house living room
Olivia Round Mirror, 64 cm diameter, Ashwood White (Manuela_guidi)

How to organise spaces to furnish a small house

The best solution to the problems listed above is certainly a good division and organisation of space. Inside a small house we often find the kitchen area and the living room that form one space. In some cases even the sleeping area is not clearly recognisable if not by the presence of a bed.

All this creates confusion in terms of organisation, uniting areas of the house with different functions which, therefore, must be well delimited.

The bookcase as a partition wall

To divide and organise space inside a small house, you could also use a double-sided bookcase as a partition wall.

The use of a bookcase combines aesthetics with functionality. In fact, in addition to delimiting the rooms, it will be possible for you to use the bookcase as a storage unit if it has closed compartments, or to display your knick-knacks and perhaps some plants that bring a touch of green to the surrounding environment.

Discover our bookcases that can be used as partition walls, with closed or open compartments. They are functional and stylish, perfect for furnishing a small house.

bookcase partition wall
Iacopo S Bookcase (160.8 x 158.2 cm), Rustic Oak (estdecora)

Use different floorings

Another way to better organise and furnish a small house is to use different floorings depending on the area of the house.

You could also simply change the flooring layout without necessarily opting for a different material or pattern. However, it will be clear, at first first glance, that you are in another area of your small home.

The use of colour

A final trick to visually delimit the different areas of the house is the use of different shades of colour on the walls depending on the area.
Furthermore, if you like the idea of living in an open space, the use of colour will allow you to delimit your spaces without using dividers inside the room.

Remember that dark colours tend to narrow the space, while lighter colours make it appear wider. This doesn’t mean that you can’t dare using brighter colours: for example, you could choose a more intense colour if you want to define a space or delimit an area by adopting the colour blocking technique.

In any case, we recommend using the same colour palette for the walls of your small house, so as not to strain the eye too much.

colour wall
Olivia Round Mirror, 82 cm diameter, Rustic Oak (lybou_home)

How to light up a small house

When we have a limited amount of space, it is really important to follow some precautions to make the environment bright, making it appear larger.

First of all, choosing a light colour palette to paint the walls of our small house will certainly help us make the space brighter and therefore make it appear less gloomy and cramped. Choosing a darker colour palette could instead make the space appear darker and more cramped, especially if the house is not exposed to much sunlight.

Even adopting a light finish for furnishing a small house will give a modern imprint and bring light and style to your home. So green light for finishes such as concrete white and high gloss white or light wood tones such as ashwood white and oak.

As for artificial lighting, prefer high lighting given by chandeliers, ceiling lights and spotlights, rather than floor lamps that take up precious space. How to choose the right chandelier? If you have a high enough ceiling, you can opt for a chandelier with pendant elements that help visually expand the actual room size.
If your ceiling is not very high, prefer a ceiling light or spotlights instead.

light up small house
Evolution Extra Large Desk Shelf 90x40, Rustic Oak (laalegriademicasa) & Iacopo XS Bookcase (160.8 x 80 cm), Ashwood White (lacasademaite)

Space-saving furniture to furnish your small house

Now let’s see some space-saving furniture that can certainly be right for you when furnishing a small house.

Extendable table and wall table

An extendable table is the perfect choice for your kitchen. It can easily accommodate 6 people and in the blink of an eye it can comfortably seat up to 10 guests.
Among our extendable tables, the Emma table with its industrial style is one of the most popular. It is highly customisable and will beautifully fit into your living area.

If, on the other hand, you find yourself dealing with a really small space, opt for a wall-mounted solution. The Evolution peninsula table allows you to fix one side of the table top directly to the wall, eliminating a leg and saving space. You could otherwise choose a wall mounted bar table to be fixed at your desired height; by doing so you would completely eliminate the table legs, making it easier to clean the surrounding space.

tavolo allungabile emma
Tavolo Allungabile Emma 160, Rovere Rustico con Gambe Incrociate Bianche ( thewhitehoneyhome)

Extendable console

Another space-saving piece of furniture is certainly the extendable console.
A closed extendable console is only 45 cm long, but once extended it can accommodate up to 13 people. It can be placed at the entrance of the house to be used as a convenient pocket emptier, but it could also be a good alternative to a dining table and is a truly multifunctional piece of furniture when it comes to furnishing a small house.

An excellent space-saving idea is the Easy extendable console that features an integrated extension leaf holder so as not to have to store the extension leaves in another room.

Tavolo Consolle Allungabile con porta prolunghe Easy, Nero Frassino (athomeinourmidford)

Take advantage of your walls

In small spaces it is not possible to arrange the furniture horizontally, therefore it becomes necessary to organise the space vertically, making the most of the surface offered by the walls.

There are several solutions starting from the wall cube units that will allow you to create personalised combinations, making the decor of your small house and your spaces unique. If, on the other hand, you need storage furniture, the wall units with door panels are the perfect solution, allowing you to always keep your rooms tidy.

small house furnish
Iacopo cube wall unit with door, Rustic Oak (deborah_sweethome) & Set of 3 Rectangular Cube Shelves, Giuditta, Rustic Oak (decosor)

Use a mirror

Furnishing a small house not only means choosing space-saving furniture, but also trying to give depth to our rooms.

The mirror trick can be used to deceive the eye by making the room brighter and more spacious than it actually is.
By reflecting the light, the mirror makes the room brighter, as well as being very useful for that last check before leaving the house.

specchiera
Specchio rotondo Olivia, diametro 64, Rovere Rustico (hedonism.bohome)

If you need more ideas and guidance on how to furnish a small house, find out how to optimise space in a small bathroom.