You walk into your living room and the walls feel closer than they did yesterday. The floor plan is tight, maybe eight by ten meters, and every piece of furniture you bring home demands a sacrifice elsewhere. I have been there, staring at a bare wall while my guests sleep on a camping mat because I had no space for proper bedding. The secret is not to fight the square meters, but to trick them. Start with the largest object in the room. If that object can do two jobs, you are already winning. That is where your interior design inspiration should begin, not with magazine spreads of cavernous lofts, but with honest problem solving. A single well chosen piece can transform a cramped room into a place that breathes.

Consider the sofa. It dominates your living area, yet for most of the day it only holds one person. That is wasted volume. I swapped my old three seater for a pull-out sofa with a real slatted frame underneath.