Living Large in Tiny Shoeboxes

Now that I have moved into yet another spanking new shoebox apartment, decorating and fixing stuff up from scratch, let me share some tips on living up the space to the fullest.

1. Go multi-purpose, multi-function

Where space comes at a premium, every inch counts. You want to buy stuff that can perform dual, triple or more roles. Ikea has a lot of ready to use examples.

Daybed - sofa, bed, storage rolled into one.

Side table with storage. 
Removable cover is also a serving tray.

Pot holder, doubles up as table cloth.

Chopping board, doubles up as placemats.

Multi-cooker, steam, boil, cook rice at one go.
Available in qoo10.

Multi-function scissor -
knife, scissors, can opener

2. Make use of vertical space

Hangs over doors

Fix a drop leaf table to the wall.
Mount two heavy duty hooks onto the wall
on either side of the table to hang up both
folding chairs when not in use.

3. Foldable, stackable, nestable pieces save lots of space

4. Movable pieces make for easy placement/rearrangement

Easily movable, slim depth, supports up to 20kg.
Typical 46" LED TVs are around 12-15kg.
Anything larger will exceed the length of
the table anyway.

5. Improvise!

The following must be my best low cost instant curtain-in-minutes. Buy rails and curtains from Ikea. 3M hooks (each hook can support up to as much as 2kg). Mount the hooks onto wall (you may need a ladder or a sturdy table to get up there), wait for an hour, place the rods through the curtain tabs and then mount it on the hooks. Voila!