Interior Design for Small Homes with Large Livability

There are numerous reasons why downsizing to a smaller home or ADU might make sense for you. From empty nesters who feel that 2,000+ square feet is just too much space without the kids around, to folks who want to travel without a large mortgage and housing footprint to worry about, every reason to explore this change is completely valid. However, when making this shift,  there are often fears or misconceptions about what it will be like to live in a smaller home.  Most commonly, when sharing the footprint of our small homes – which average between 500 to 900 square feet – we are met with someone saying,  “I could never live in a home that small.” 

Well, if you design it right, a small home can improve your life in many ways. Here are a few interior design tips to make the most of a small space.

Building Small Homes with Large Livability

When building small backyard and stand-alone homes, designing them with livability should be highest on your builder’s priority list. Each home needs to be designed with the homeowner’s unique storage, furniture, and functional space needs in mind. 

Here are some considerations you should keep in mind as you work with a professional to design your new small home. 

Prioritize Multifunctional Spaces and Design Features

Just because your home is small doesn’t mean you need to give up space to do the things you love. When looking at a space, consider the variety of purposes it could serve. Here are a few examples of intelligent interior design choices that take the term “multifunctional” literally:

A kitchen island on wheels: See how this kitchen island is actually on wheels? This design allows the homeowner to move the island so that the kitchen table can extend when hosting larger parties, while still having plenty of kitchen prep space and a spot for their toddler to get involved. Win win.

A full size laundry room within an existing bathroom: While many small homes have stackable waser and dryers, instead of sacrificing their dream of having a laundry room in their smaller home, these homeowners worked with our construction design team to incorporate it into their existing bathroom layout. By using space that may have been wasted behind the bathroom door, this design allows for added storage cabinet space, side-by-side laundry appliances and a counter top for folding, all while still having room for a bathtub.

Creating a galley kitchen that looks like a large island: The owner of this home wanted a full kitchen in their open living space while still having a spot for her grandchildren to help her cook, do homework or art projects. Instead of a traditional floating island, this open galley kitchen creates a lot of extra prep space, has full cabinets below the counters, and allows enough room for her microwave. Plus, with how large the counter space is, she has additional seating and plenty of room for the kiddos to sit and chat with her when they visit.

Purchase Multipurpose Furniture

While the right furniture piece always ties together a room, this is even more true in a small home. Each piece of furniture you choose should not only have a primary purpose, but prerably, it would serve another function as well. For example, perhaps you have a trunk that holds blankets and is also used as a coffee table. Getting creative in your furniture choices will only add to your home experience and functionality.

Consider Alternative Door Options

Rather than choosing traditional doors that swing open, pocket doors are a more compact choice that reduce visual clutter and make your home feel open. They are an especially great choice for couples or a single person who may not need to shut interior doors that often, but still want to have the option for privacy, as needed.

Another option for door selection that makes spaces feel bigger are sliding glass exterior doors. These style doors provide a nice view to the outdoors and create the illusion of vastness, especially when facing a large backyard or natural space.

Let the Light In

If you have the opportunity to design in a way that lets the light in, do it! We have had homeowners choose to put windows in their showers to let more natural light into their bathrooms or they may prioritize furniture that can be designed around windows (e.g., window seats) so that the furniture piece isn’t blocking valuable sunshine in their living space. You can consider how windows are used in the design stage of your build – for example, in the bedroom below, these windows were installed around a bed’s size that we knew ahead of times. Because this design was incorporated during the planning stages, we were able to put in the largest windows possible without concern for blocking them with furniture.

Pro Tip: Use a lot of shiny surfaces in a space (e.g., stainless steel appliances, glossy countertops, sparkly tile, etc.) so that light can reflect and make a space seem bigger.

Do Not Ignore the Nooks and Crannies

When designing the interior of a small home, be sure to look at all the areas that may not normally be used and consider how to use them in a way that adds to the space. Ask yourself: Do you have a small nook that could be a closet? Is there a stairwell that could have storage beneath it? Can you shorten an entryway to fit a coat closet? Is there a spot that would normally just sit empty? When we say consider how every inch is used, we mean it.

This little nook was turned into bench seating for the homeowner’s daughter to use as a reading nook and has two deep drawers for blankets underneath. This same space could also be used for a built in desk for those who need a place to work or could be used as toy storage.

The space underneath stairs all too often goes unused – but this home design created a gorgeous built in library and still had room for cabinets on the bottom, making a great spot to store items used often, but that they may not want on display.

Go Up

Curious how to make it seem like your space is far more expansive than it actually is? Go up! Higher ceilings allow for more windows. Plus, a mono pitched roof is modern looking, allowing for vaulted ceilings indoors and remaining solar panel friendly outdoors.

Above Photo: Vaulted ceilings in a traditional gable roof home with our modified Square design path. It’s easy to see how even a small number of square feet can seem massive with a ceiling that tall.

Another way to take advantage of height is with kitchen cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling. Not only can you fit more inside of them, but they actually give the illusion of taller kitchen ceilings by vertically elongating the walls to the naked eye.

Put These Small Design Tips Into Action

We have only just begun to scratch the surface when it comes to tips for smart small home interior design – but we hope this got your wheels turning. As you consider a construction and design partner for your small home or ADU, consider the thoughtful details and creativity they’ll bring to your build as that will be key to maximizing the use of your new space and ensuring you’re using every square foot of your new home. 

For more design tips, head on over to our YouTube page and subscribe to see homes we’ve built for our clients (like this home in Florence, MA). 

If you’re ready to start your build and are looking for a construction design partner who will collaborate with you from start to finish, we’re here to help – get in touch.