How Do People Live in Tiny Apartments? A Woman Showed Her 215-Square-Foot Home

lunaregina

There are living rooms in some houses that are bigger than this.
In small apartments, creativity is king! When space is limited, smart solutions are necessary. If you have a spacious three-bedroom apartment or a house, you don’t have to worry about where to place your wardrobe, which sofa or bed to choose, how to hide your refrigerator, or how many chairs to fit in your dining area.
But in a tiny apartment, every decision requires careful thought. The owner of this one-room apartment is a 32-year-old dental assistant in Stockholm who had to make compromises. She bought the apartment with a mortgage and saved up the down payment on her own.
The apartment is located on the top floor of a building constructed in the 1930s. One unique feature of this building is that there are no private balconies—only shared ones in the stairwells (which are quite cool, as you’ll see below).

Inside, the apartment is rather minimalist: the owner doesn’t like to host guests, so instead of a sofa, she chose a bed.

In this small space, the windowsill doubles as an extra workspace. When needed, a pull-out shelf can be used (see it?), where you can place a coffee cup while reading or a laptop.

Storage is optimized: the bed has pull-out drawers underneath for bedding. Notice that in this area, there are hardly any bright colors. Even the bed linens and blankets are in muted shades. Dark textiles would make the space feel even smaller.

This old, built-in pull-out table in the windowsill has been here for over half a century.

But looking at the courtyard more closely, my envy fades. Despite being in a prestigious neighborhood, this building mainly consists of small apartments—mostly 215–323-square-foot studios and one-bedroom units.

Across from the bed, there’s a nook that serves as a kitchen.

This kitchen is much smaller than a typical panel apartment kitchen, but it includes everything necessary: a stove, a sink, and even a mini-fridge (not shown in the photo).

The small shelf filled with books and candles complements the wooden floor and doesn’t look out of place in this setting.

Behind the modest door in the corner is a tiny closet (but if you don’t need to dress for all four seasons, it’s more than enough).

In the bathroom (or rather, the shower area), I liked how the blue floor harmonizes with the small cabinet.

Here’s the entryway (let’s forgive the owner for the dirty sneakers, shall we?).

Bonus! I’d love to show you the shared balcony (I’m still amazed by it). The neighbors decorated this balcony (and the one below it) themselves.

Someone brought a flowerpot from home, another shared their blanket, someone else added dried flowers from their garden, and they all pitched in to buy the table and chairs.

The result is stunning. When it rains, they simply pull the furniture inside the stairwell and close the door. Some may find this arrangement artificial, but I like to believe in a world where people appreciate such things.

Clearly, someone has already relaxed here—just look at the used candle.

Finally, here’s the inner courtyard. Not far from it, there’s another seating area. Strangers definitely don’t wander in here: the courtyard can only be accessed from the stairwells. However, picnics and gatherings require approval from the neighbors (during the day, a simple notification on social media groups or a note on the bulletin board is enough).