Small Space Living: My Living/Dining Room

About four years ago I moved with my boyfriend to this loft in the heart of Los Angeles. We lived in San Francisco for five years before that, so we were pretty accustomed to small space living. The biggest rule of thumb – everything is multipurpose. That couch you see there, yup that also lays out like a bed, and it’s just high enough off the ground that I can store blankets and linens underneath. My new favorite item though, is this beautiful cocktail table from Lamps Plus. It is our coffee table, dining room table, storage for camera supplies, library, and the surface where our new pet (Melvin the fish) resides.

As soon as I took the table out of the box I was sold. The first word that comes to mind, besides amazing, is solid. Even before I assembled it I could tell it was going to last a very long time. I’m obsessed with the wood finish and industrial accents. It is set on casters, which makes it insanely easy to move around. There is also a shelf and two drawers below that are a must-have for our tiny space. Here is a peek at how we easily turn it into our dining table for dinner…

You can see more photos after the jump, plus I’ll share some helpful tips on small space living…

Tip #1: The Multipurpose Table: This daily transformation from coffee table to dining room table is pretty easy, especially with the lower shelf and drawers. We are able to fill one drawer with cloth napkins and silverware, and put two clean plates on the bottom shelf. When we are no longer using it as a coffee table, we can move the set of books to the lower shelf, and bring the plates and silverware to the top.  The fish and Greta’s bouquets are usually a staple whether it’s a coffee table or dining room table.

Tip #2: Use Every Surface: When you are living in a small space it’s important to notice the potential of every surface, especially if you like stuff (guilty). The bottom shelf of this table is also where we store books, coasters, and even our computers. Did I mention that it also doubles as my work station when I’m working from home?

Tip #3: On the Move: As I said before, one of my favorite things about this table is that it’s on casters. In small space living you are usually moving things around all the time. When guests stay the night we have to move the table to turn the couch into a bed. Look for furniture pieces that are either light enough to move, or on wheels. Our wardrobe also doubles as a room divider, but I think if we didn’t have it we would be looking for foldable dividers that we could also store in a closet when we wanted to open the space up.

Disclosure: We were invited to select our favorite Lamps Plus products for publication in our upcoming book Pretty Prudent Home and here on PrettyPrudent.com. Thank you Lamps Plus for your support and for providing customers with beautifully designed, high quality products at reasonable prices. You are awesome.

by Pretty Prudent