These 12 Things Will Make a Tiny Home Feel Much Bigger

The Stool 60 by Alvar Aalto isa classic designthat can be a stool, a side table, a bedside perch, or a plant stand. Fortuitously, if you don’t have the budgetfor the real deal, there are dupes on the market. A telling detail of the dupes is their four-legged construction — the original Stool 60 is three-legged — but if you’re really committed to the original’s look, I’ve met people who have removed the fourth leg and rejiggered the other three with the help of apower drill. Piled on top of one another, they take up the floor space of a single seat — and you can still rest a drink or a plant on top! This set of four from Home Depot is a great deal at just $16 per stool, but if you only need one or two, Bed Bath & Beyondsells themfor $22 apiece.

For years, I used clear plastic shower liners as my “shower curtain” because they made my smallbathroomslook bigger (I liked to think of them as a poor man’s glass shower door). But while space-opening, those alwayslookedlike cheap shower liners. So I was delighted when my friends Michael and Lisa Fine atQuiet Townstarted making these “sun shower” curtains, which are a fancy version of my budget solution with a little pop of color at the base. West Elm has them in afew more fun colorsif you don’t like the yellow. And if you do go the inexpensive-liner route, be sure to get onelabeled “crystal” clear— not a frosted liner, which will look cheap.

This genius sculptural stool is actually made of paper, and the material makes it reminiscent of a sculptural Noguchilamp. The stool has a felt seat, collapses down to flat, and weighs next to nothing. I first saw a stool like this in decorator Sally Breer’s apartment, when it wasfeatured inTmagazine.

While nobody will be squeezing in guests anytime soon, the time togather around a tablewill come again. Whether you’re dining with one, two, or more, a tulip table like the Odyssey from CB2 (a riff onEero Saarenin’s iconic mid-century table for Knoll) is an ideal small-space table because it takes up less floor space than a rectangular counterpart while offering just as much seating. Plus, its single pedestal makes it super-easy to add extra chairs when needed (no legs to get in the way). Tellingly, six out of the 12 homes featured inThe Little Book of Living Smallhad some variation on a tulip table.

While stools like the Aalto lookalikes and the folding-paper model are great for guests, you want something sturdier with a back for your daily meals (especially if it’s a chair that does double duty in yourwork-from-homesetup). Seats with a petite footprint can often feel really flimsy to sit upon, a fact I became acutely aware of when I waspregnant. Not so with these hardwood, spindle-style Salt Chairs manufactured by Ton Design Team for Design Within Reach, which are similar to some vintage chairs I have in my own home. DWR has been selling them for more than a decade; while not exactly cheap, at a retailer where other dining chairs can go for $1,000 or more apiece, they are kind of a bargain, especially considering the European-made quality.

See-through furniture made of glass, Lucite, or acrylic keeps things looking light and airy. While glass is less likely to show scratches than the plastics, it also poses the highest risk of chipping and is much heavier to move. Lucite is the highest-quality version of acrylic but will bepriced accordingly, which is why acrylic can be a better bet if you’re shopping on a budget. No matter the material, a transparent, waterfall-stylecoffee tablelike this acrylic one goes a long way in opening up a cramped living room (just know you’ll need to keep its surface tidy to maximize its space-opening potential). Another bonus of clear furniture: It (literally) blends in with most any style of décor.

For anyone (everyone?) trying to shoehorn awork-from-homesituation into an already-full home, a corner desk will work wonders. It makes an often underutilized part of any room instantly super-functional, and because of the triangular shape, you still have plenty of leg space. I have a vintage version in my living room that looks kind of like this unfinished one from Home Depot, which even has some storage in the form of a drawer. If you’d prefer something stained, thismid-century-inspired modelhas a more finished look (and is $11 cheaper).

I’ve often seen shelves mounted next to beds in teeny spaces, but I personally need a bit more space than a ledge to stash my stuff. That’s why I bought a pair of minimalist floating nightstands on Etsy (the seller, right now, is only taking requests for custom orders). This simple style, from Crate & Barrel, is spiritually similar and has a drawer for keeping anything you don’t want out on display. Another virtue of a floating nightstand: If you, like me, have drawers under your bed, wall-mounted furniture will never get in the way when you need to open them.

These wall-mounted ledges from Ikea are a cheap and practical way tostore books, magazines, or toys forkidsorpets. We’ve got three installed in my son’s room to hold his various books, and with a little styling, their colorful covers look like wall art. If you’re hanging them in a home with kids, a word of warning: Mount the shelving high enough that your little one can’t try to climb it like aladder!

Clip-onlampslike this are a dime a dozen at hardware stores: They’re dirt cheap and you can attach them (almost) anywhere you need a little extra illumination. We have one that I spray-painted red and clipped to a book ledge, but they can also latch onto bookcases or directly on abed frame.

Okay, technically this collapsible step stool can only support up to 300 pounds — but that’s still a lot of weight for something that can fold flat and be tucked away in such narrow nooks as the gap between a fridge and a wall. In your average city apartment, the Rhino can help you reach most things, making it great for maximizing vertical space. It comes in lots of fun colors, too; Amazon has it in green, white, and black in addition to the red shown, and Buy Buy Baby has it inpastel pinks and bluesas well as a pleasinglight gray(while it’s two bucks more at Amazon, it qualifies for either free or Prime shipping; at Buy Buy Baby, the price of the stool alone doesn’t qualify for free shipping).