DESIGN RULES
Sarah Peake, founder of Studio Peake, tells us her tricks for enhancing a compact space
FEATURE JESSICA SALTER
OFTEN people don’t know what to do with a small space. It can feel harder to transform than a large room, but it just takes planning. Some of my favourite spaces are small rooms – when done well they feel really tailored to the owner and the house.
■ The smaller the room is, the more you need to work out in advance. I draw everything on floor plans, taking every elevation into account, to maximise every bit of space.
■ For areas where you don’t have full standing height, a loft space for example, you can put a piece of furniture such as a chest of drawers or a bath under the eaves – something that you don’t need to stand up to use.
■ Fitted furniture works really well in smaller spaces because it can be more efficient than freestanding pieces that have gaps around them and it also looks more unified. In a tiny bedroom you might want to box in the bed with a fitted wardrobe.
■ I love bespoke joinery in a small space, but I think it looks really smart if you keep all the colours the same so it’s not broken up.
■ Smaller rooms offer a good chance to go bolder than you would in the rest of the house. I often opt for a stronger colour or use more pattern on the walls, so the space has its own special character. You can use it to show off your extroverted side.
■ It doesn’t have to be a crazy wallpaper – this seems to be the default option for a cloakroom. But I always try to think of other ways to add interest, such as an usual floor or painting the ceiling and the cornice a darker colour to feel atmospheric.
■ Saying that, sometimes a small space needs to be stripped back. In one tiny kitchen project we worked on we removed the door, architrave and mouldings to simplify it.
■ Little details can really make a difference in a small space as they stand out more. In one small bedroom, we had plain floorto-ceiling built-in wardrobes and added little leather tassel handles that tied in with other leather detailing in the scheme.
■ In the same bedroom, we aligned the height of the curtain pole with the top cupboards and ran it from over the French doors all along the cabinetry, so it doubled as a rail for hanging clothes – and it looked really smart.
■ Incorporating elements that can serve two roles is especially practical. For example, you can use a day bed as a sofa that can also be use
