Capsule home? Get smart...

is a line between cosy and cluttered. If you’re struggling with a shoe-box apartment, fit more for a hobbit than a human, here are a few hacks to help make your paltry pad feel positively palatial...

Think vertically

Just as blocks of flats economise by stretching skywards, so too can almost any aspect of your interior. Bunks are a good bedroom option: not the sort with your sibling sleeping below, but a single raised bunk that leaves space beneath for a sofa or work station. Consider a drying rack elevated above the sink, rather than using up valuable space next to it, or a set of bathroom shelves that prop neatly atop the cistern.

Use walls wisely

Cups, racks, hooks and boxes can be fixed to almost any surface cheaply. For those in the advanced class, check out MADE’S fold-out, wall-mounted desk (£199, made.com) – a retractable table that flips up into the wall, masquerading as a small cupboard.

Furniture efficiency

Consider two main tactics: reducing the size of a piece of furniture, and making one piece of furniture perform multiple and different tasks.

The sofa-bed is a space-saving staple, but sleek modern models are taking its transformative powers to new heights. The Utaker Stackable Bed (£150, ikea.com) consists of two separate mattresses, fusing to form a single bed, double bed, twin beds, a single sofa, or a long reclining couch. Coffee tables, counters, and cupboards can all come complete with extra pullouts. In its trimmest form, Marmell Furniture’s multifunctional dining table (£420, marmell.co.uk) measures a mere 20cm in length, but three large inserts more than quadruple this to 240cm.

Corners are your friends

Corners are notoriously tricky, and, assuming you’re not living in a lighthouse, each room probably has three or four of them. The good news is that, naughty children aside, no-one is going to want to stand in the corner, so it’s effectively free space. Though angular and faintly awkward to install, you can cover your corners with specially designed wraparound corner shelves (again, Ikea is a good bet). Conventionally visual items like televisions and floor lamps can fit well, or try out a so-called ‘corner-armchair’ or rightangle settee.

Store smart

Under-the-bed storage is a time honoured space-saver, and with good reason. Pull-out drawers allow you to stow items still in daily use, while rubber ‘bed risers’ will hoist your mattress further from the ground, making room for another seven inches of stuff.

Fill these with Argos’ vacuum storage bags (£9.99, argos.co.uk), making your space-saving strategy almost literally airtight.

The spacious aesthetic

Now that your home is feeling a little more spacious, you can set about making it look even more so.

A light, textured colour scheme lends any room an airy, open feel (just think how claustrophobic black paint feels), while mirrors help build the illusion of depth.