Controversial Opinion? Stop Designing Your Small Home Just Around Storage — You Shouldn’t Make Your Decisions Because You've Got Too Much ‘Stuff’
Giving every inch of space to storage is an interior design no-no that does nothing for the look, feel, or function of a compact home
Speaking from experience, I know there’s an instinct to maximize every square inch available when you live in a home with a tight footprint. If you’re not utilizing one spot or another to its full potential, you feel like you’re losing out on a much-needed place to store, display, or organize belongings. Here’s the truth, though: the most gorgeous small spaces aren’t designed simply around storage — and they look, feel, and function a whole lot better for it.
I’m not denying that storage ideas are important in small homes (in fact, I think they’re essential), but what I do know is that planning around them reduces your space to mere function. When you design an apartment or small home around bookcases, cabinets, and shelving units, you’re neither accounting for aesthetics nor leaving room for real life. “When storage becomes the primary driver of a home’s layout, it stops being about how you live and more about where things fit,” agrees interior designer James Huniford.
Nobody wants to live in a storage locker, but many small home dwellers still end up designing solely around their ‘stuff’. Interior designers are, as ever, leading the change — and here’s why this is great news for those of us who live in compact spaces.
Article continues belowWhy Designing Around Storage Isn't Effective
Designing around everyday living, rather than purely storage and organization, is key.
As someone who thinks minimalism in interior design is not the answer to small space living, it won’t come as a surprise that I’ve got a fair few personal belongings floating around my own apartment. I’ve gone for curated, rather than cluttered, but collectables are still dotted around, and plenty of art lines the walls. The odd highlight even has some breathing space to really show it off.
The eye can take in and appreciate these things because they’re not competing against the storage apparatus that would otherwise house them. There's a sense of personality in my little rooms that wouldn’t exist if they were stacked, Jenga-like, with shelves and cupboards.
“If storage becomes the main focus of your space, you inevitably lose the character and interest of your belongings,” explains Caroline Milns, head of interior design at Zulufish.
With over 25 years of design experience, Caroline leads a studio that brings flair to residential projects in London and beyond. She's as likely to work on small apartments and petite offices as she is sprawling developments.
Storage elements should be discreet rather than a defining feature within your space.
In small spaces, you’re already juggling a variety of pieces that need to fit on your floor plan. Designing a dimensionally-challenged space around how it is actually used, rather than what you’re keeping inside it, is key. A beautiful sofa design, for example, should always be the cornerstone of a small living room layout, not an enormous bookcase or other space-swallowing unit.
“Storage should never be the starting point for your design,” agrees London-based interior designer Juliette Byrne. “When it is, there’s a danger that it becomes dominated by cabinetry and freestanding pieces that end up preventing a sense of openness. You really need to think about flow to make smaller spaces feel more generous.”
How to Make Storage More Subtle
In this open-plan kitchen, storage is tucked away as a supporting element rather than a star.
The reality, of course, is that you still need to actually store your belongings. The key for small homes is to approach this organization discreetly — it’s less about removing storage entirely and more about positioning it strategically.
You either want the focus to be on the pieces you’re storing (and not the furniture you’re storing them in) or on keeping things hidden away without drawing any attention whatsoever.
“Storage should support a room rather than define it,” explains New York-based interior designer James Huniford, who created the dining space pictured above. In it, the banquette seating takes center stage and allows food, drink, and socializing to become 'the moment' in this compact kitchen.
A bookcase is tucked in a corner to provide functional storage without disrupting the experience. “Storage has to be present in a smaller city apartment, but here it blends into the background and becomes part of the overall composition,” says James.
Design restraint allows built-in storage furniture to whisper rather than shout.
I know the idea of building storage into a space can seem like a shortcut to it completely taking over, but it doesn’t have to. Responding to your home’s architecture, rather than battling it, helps solutions blend in. “Supportive storage actually lets a space breathe,” explains Smac Studio’s Shona McElroy. “You open yourself up to more possibilities by building bespoke, and end up really enhancing a small room’s liveability.”
Positioning units below eye level makes them more discreet, while placing them on a single wall (rather than wrapping them around all four) keeps rooms feeling open. A word of caution, though — don’t simply default to standardized joinery measurements. “Having less depth and shallower storage will mean you’re more brutal in your editing process,” says Shona. “Being organized is a much more pleasurable way to live than not remembering what you own.”
Based in New South Wales, Shona's award-winning interior architecture studio combines technical expertise with creative authority. She leads a hands-on team developing, building, and designing both residential and commerical properties.
What Should a Space Focus on Instead?
In this compact living room, the fireplace is given pride of place.
Go back to basics and think about how your room should actually be used — a bedroom needs to be about, well... sleeping, so work with the bed as your focus, while a living room is about relaxing and socializing, which, as previously mentioned, depends on a comfortable sofa. You don’t want these elements to feel crammed in.
“The starting point should always be the function and what actually happens in the room, and how your design serves that,” agrees interior designer Regan Baker. “Storage is there to support that, not compete with it.”
If your needs dictate built-in shelving above eye level, flip the orientation of your space to stop that from becoming its primary feature. Rather than the bespoke cabinetry in the room pictured above becoming a focal point, a sofa slots into the shelving and allows the fireplace to occupy center stage instead. “Storage should be part of the architecture rather than an additional piece competing for attention,” says Regan.
From a visual perspective, drawing the eye away from storage and toward practically anything else is a win. A piece of artwork on either side of slimline shelves, for example, draws attention toward your personal taste rather than practicalities, while an oversized mirror (like this one from M&S) can instantly disguise more functional hallway storage ideas.
In this kitchen, the view toward outside is a key design feature, not the storage.
Smaller rooms often have fewer windows. Making a feature of them not only maximizes natural light (which, in turn, makes a space feel bigger) but also anchors the room to the vista beyond. Who’d want to prepare breakfast looking at a shelf when they could be enjoying a good view? “Choose a light color palette and use reflective materials to reflect the light and tempt the eye,” says Caroline Milns.
Personally, I think having just a little negative space here and there makes my small rooms feel a little bigger. The eye takes in ‘space’ for a second, rather than just ‘stuff’. Hidden storage ideas and multifunctional pieces of furniture, like my footstool with a built-in compartment, create visual breathing room and help achieve a better sense of flow that distracts from the dimensions. It’s not about having less stuff, per se, but making efficient use of the pieces you deem worthy of your floor plan.
Storage might be key to how small spaces function, but it shouldn’t be the primary factor in how they’re designed. While it might seem like perfect sense to utilize all available space in a compact room to house your belongings, letting wardrobes, bookcases, and other pieces of storage furniture dominate your floor plan does nothing to make it feel any bigger. Give more beautiful, visually interesting pieces priority instead.
Looking for more inspiration? Take note of our rules for decorating small spaces and learn why top interior designers agree the time has finally come to stop painting small rooms white.
