How to Get Smaller

Getting the Most From the Space You Have

Moving to Asia can make some westerners feel a little claustrophobic. Everything is smaller. Average sized folks from places like America or Europe may end up feeling they are “supersized”.
The space allotted for living is a good illustration. The average home in the US is 225 square meters. In Germany the average home size is 184 square meters. In Thailand developers will jam two bedrooms and two bathrooms into a 60 square meter space and offer a 26 square meter studio with a straight face.
From a Thai person’s perspective, the rooms aren’t too small. We are too big, so we may have to get a little smaller to be comfortable. Here are some ideas on how you can make the most of smaller spaces here in the Land of Smiles.

Less is More

The best tool I’ve ever found for maximizing space has been a book someone loaned me on yacht interiors. Even in the most luxurious mega yacht, efficient use of space is still a priority. This “less is more” mentality can be very helpful when buying, designing, and styling a small condo or apartment.
Think to yourself, “What can I take away or leave out of this place without missing it?” The biggest “space eater” in any building is doors. Traditional doors are 80 to 100 centimeters wide. That’s an entire meter of floor space multiplied by how many doors you have. If you count wardrobe and shower doors, you could easily increase your living space by eliminating the door space required.
One way is to do away with the door altogether. It’s not as impractical as it sounds. Most showers can be configured to eliminate the door by installing a small barrier about two meters high and wide enough to keep water from splashing out. Many shower enclosures don’t really need a door, but we are so conditioned to putting one in for “privacy” or to control splashing, we automatically accept them. Almost all shower doors are glass, so there really is no privacy gained by installing a door and most bathrooms in Thailand are ceiling to floor tiles, so a few errant drops of water aren’t a serious issue. An added bonus is you won’t have to clean that glass door.

Alternatives

We can also gain space by replacing doors with a “non-door alternative”. Wardrobe doors can be replaced with a strategically installed roll-up blind. The roll-up blind is a good solution for many interior doors, like those that lead to en-suite bathrooms. When you want a modicum of privacy or simply a visual break between rooms, decorative fabric or beaded curtains can be a good choice.

If a door can’t be eliminated altogether, then we can mitigate how much space it takes up. Sliding doors are a great solution; and they come in a variety of styles. Using large aluminum and glass doors in interiors is quite in vogue right now and using different colors and frosted or etched glass can turn the whole thing into a light fixture. If your style isn’t so modern, and you like the look of a wooden door but want to save space, there are many other options. Sliding wooden doors with eye catching laser carved designs and ornate hardware can turn your space saving efforts into a work of art.

Once you’ve decided to replace a traditional door with a space friendly alternative, you can maximize other advantages from it. Replacing a single bedroom door with a double pocket door opens the room twice as much and still eliminates the wasted space. It’s a win-win situation, and pocket doors are available in dramatically stylish designs. In a small space, a strategically placed pocket door with a cool design can be the focal point of the whole apartment.

Multitasking

Another way to save space is installing furniture that can multitask. We are conditioned to think a kitchen is for cooking, a dining room for eating and a study or office is for working. Why not combine some of these elements? One popular technique is extending the kitchen countertop into a dining area. Think outside the box and consider how you might use the space allotted for the kitchen area for other activities.
In the picture shown, this oblong galley style kitchen has been extended to include a dining area, a wine-rack and bar and a functional work top suitable for a laptop computer. The space you save in one spot you gain in another. The multitasking countertop gives the living room another couple meters of space.
Another space-eating element in any small apartment is a dining table. The problem isn’t the table itself, as you can get them in all shapes and sizes to fit the room. The issue is with chairs and the space required to properly operate them.
We are conditioned to see the dining table out in clear space with room to pull out all the chairs. One nice trick to save some space in the dining area is to push a table up next to a wall and eliminate a chair or two. Many modern condos have built-in restaurant style booths cutting down on the number of chairs that need to be pulled out and gaining precious square meters.

Over Furnished

Look around your small space and imagine ways you might create more room just by changing the furniture. Small bedrooms can be dominated by beds too big for the room. Do you really need a King Size bed in that room? Could you get away with a Queen or a Double? Better yet, what if you turned that bed sideways and disguised it as a deep sofa or what we in Thailand refer to as a “dragon bed”? Suddenly the entire configuration of the room has changed. This is a great technique in the new “micro studios” where the bed is usually conspicuously located in the middle of the room.

Many living rooms are over furnished with sofas and coffee tables that seem perfect in the showroom, but way too big for the living space. Get familiar with the actual measurements of the rooms you intend to furnish before you start shopping.
Never buy anything on the first visit to a furniture shop. Get the measurements, come home and satisfy yourself that it will fit. Tape off the shape of the furniture on the floor. Walk around as if the furniture is placed and see if your selection is ergonomically feasible.
Furniture shopping should be done with a “people first” mindset. Before you start picking out and placing furniture, ask yourself how many and what kind of people you want it to serve. Avoid buying furniture all at once. When you add a piece at a time you can avoid clutter and only buy things that you’ll actually use. A chair nobody sits in takes up precious floor space. Furniture does not relate to a room, it relates to people.

A Good Box

All of these tips and hacks are solutions to space problems after the fact. You should have your space saving mindset engaged in the beginning when shopping for a house or condo.
Not all small spaces are created equal. Condos with more than one natural light source will always seem bigger. The “shotgun” style studios we see so many of in Thailand that are twice as long as they are wide and only have one window or sliding glass doors can seem like little dungeons. The more square the floorplan, the more options you have. Corner units will always seem much larger than others simply because they usually have more than one source of natural light.
Higher ceilings and tray ceilings also add volume to any space. Flat floors with no elevation changes make a place seem larger. Large floor tiles create the illusion of space as well. Starting out with a “good box” to begin with will go a long way towards maximizing your living space.

A Necessary Adjustment

It appears the trend towards smaller living spaces in Thailand is here to stay. If you’re considering a property purchase and living here, getting smaller may be a necessary adjustment. It’s not so difficult. Just remember, less is more; less walls, less doors, less furniture… less stuff.
You won’t really be any smaller, but you’ll be living much larger.