My apartment is 42 square meters. For a long time it felt like 32. Not because of the furniture exactly, but because of the way the furniture organised the anxiety of the space — too many things competing for attention, nothing anchoring the eye anywhere in particular.
The three things I removed
The first was a second bookshelf I'd added because the first one was full. The books moved to a single, deeper shelf from Muji that runs along one wall. Lower centre of gravity, no visual competition with the ceiling. The second was a rug that was slightly too small — it made the seating area look apologetic. I removed it entirely and the floor looks larger. The third was a side table that existed to hold things I didn't need within arm's reach.
“A room feels bigger when every object has earned its place.
The two things I kept
A single large sofa rather than a sofa-and-armchair combination. One large piece reads as intentional; two smaller pieces fighting for space read as cramped. And the IKEA Kallax unit, which does the work of three pieces of furniture — storage, surface, and visual room divider — without taking up more than 77cm of depth.
The one I didn't expect to matter
Curtains to the ceiling. My original curtains hung from just above the window frame, which visually compressed the room by drawing the eye to where the wall ended. I rehung them at ceiling height using a Ferm Living rod. The windows didn't change. The sense of vertical space doubled. It cost less than forty euros and an afternoon.
Elena Marchetti
Writer, slow-living enthusiast, and perpetual re-arranger of couch cushions. I share honest reviews of the things I actually live with.
