Modest Size Apartments That Make The Most Of White

White decor isn’t just about getting back to basics, or avoiding the minefield of dodgy colour choices to be made despite painting half a room with tiny paint pot samples. White decor can be used to make small spaces feel comfortably larger and less crowded. Pure white paint can be used against a darker colour as a device for dramatically diving an open plan living space. White finishes can gently connect the dots between much brighter coloured accent pieces, or be used to create a calm and restful environment. These four small apartment interiors use all of these techniques and more to make the most of white decor, without appearing at all stale or standard.

Visualizer: Julia Sultanova

Blue accents flavour this cosy white flat in Stuttgart. The cool combo makes the small living room feel airy and fresh.

The blue wall art and area rug defines the lounge area from the neutral coloured kitchen diner behind it. The lounge chair and sofa have their backs turned on the kitchen to solidly section the space. A chrome floor lamp arcs over the walkway between them.

Pushed up behind the living room sofa, a modern desk and pouf make a neat home workspace. To the side of the desk there is an ingenious space saving bit of kit, which supports a mirror on its broadest face, conceals a coat hanging nook next to the entry door, and provides a thin bookcase to the lounge.

A white gloss TV stand and upper cabinets blend gently with the white wall decor, keeping the small space feeling spacious and light.

Two different types of chair design encircle a round dining table, giving the set a unique and upbeat aesthetic.

A black modern fruit bowl matches the black dining chairs in the arrangement.

White dining room pendant lights bunch above the white dining table.

A white marble kitchen backsplash matches the dining tabletop. Light wooden wall units top of the marble slab with more texture, whilst pure white cabinets quietly line the base.

A beautiful grey and white bedroom design is topped with a gleaming chrome pendant light. See more bedroom pendant lights.

Designer: Rina Lovko

Our next apartment, a 70 square metre home, was designed for a young product designer in Kiev. Pure white TV wall decor grows from a white media unit and shelves mounted against a crisp white wall. A white desk runs directly off the TV wall, equipped with a matching swivel chair. A piece of bright art adds the first splash of colour. A round coffee table, which is a Muuto table, matches the green plant life.

A grey sofa sits heavily in the centre of the white minimalist living room, with a small grey floor lamp peeking over it.

The white kitchen island extends a breakfast bar in a similar style to the desk opposite, and is the only white element in a completely grey kitchen. The solid grey cabinet installation and the all white living room decor is clashed to divide the open space into two definitive living areas.

Green HAY stools strike a lively note in the grey kitchen, and carry the colour thread from the Muuto table in the lounge area.

Solid grey bleeds from the kitchen into the home entryway. Vivid orange stools squeeze in a juicy colour clash. Multicoloured wall art amps up the fun factor.

More orange art splashes into a white minimalist bedroom design. The art provides the only colour in the room, which makes the white wall paint and white furniture finishes look even more clean and pure.

There is a little natural colour in the form of an indoor plant by the window, but the leaves are almost eclipsed in the bright daylight. The white platform bed has a floating illusion, echoed by a floating white media cabinet on the opposite wall.

Grey bedclothes match a run of grey closets.

The line of wardrobes connect the bedroom into the bathroom, which in turn leads to the main living space.

A glass sliding door gives access to the bathroom/closet/bedroom from the living room.

Green Mutina ceramics colour the shower, along with a baby pink small side table.

Visualizer: Line Design Studio

Red, white and blue make a punchy combo in this 36 square metre apartment for rent in Kaliningrad, Russian Federation.

White track lights shine from a white ceiling, a slender floor lamp wraps the end of the sofa. A chunky wood block coffee table completes the simple arrangement.

Directly adjacent to the sofa, a floor bed lays open to the room but tucked from plain sight by a small partition. A light wood panel door colours the sleeping area like a separate zone in the open sided setup.

The sliding wood door is drawn across the kitchen diner once two of the dining chairs have been stacked away, to make a cosier lounge and bedroom.

Four white modern dining chairs surround an ultramarine dining table.

A perfectly matching blue pendant light dangles above the set.

The surplus dining chairs stack when the partition doors are shut.

Blue grout criss-crosses between white kitchen tiles.

White kitchen cabinets retreat into colour-free walls to expand the sense of space.

The sliding partition doors allow the option of a larger living space.

Large windows increase the sense of space; the white decor bounces natural light further into the apartment.

Red grout replaces blue in the bathroom scheme…

… Though blue fragments in a terrazzo floor carry the colour theme through. Light wood edges trim a white modern bathroom vanity.

Visualizer: Andrey Barinov

Green accents dot this white 41.48 square meter apartment in Moscow, Russia.

The bed stands aligned with the sofa in full view, though its sleek platform design makes it appear like another seating option. A white portiere goes almost unnoticed against the white walls and ceiling.