Setting up home in a small apartment poses all sorts of challenges.

First, there’s the floorplan: With small rooms come issues like storage, and where to put the bed.

Then there’s the furniture: Will it fit up the stairs, and will you need a toolbox and an engineering degree to put it together?

Retailers and design services have answers. Design-your-space websites can give you accurate floor plans and helpful decor suggestions. Cleverly designed furniture is scaled for smaller footprints, and might come to the door in easy-to-assemble formats, or with assembly service as part of the package. There are now more options than ever for the diminutive nest.

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THE FLOORPLAN

US websites like Modsy and Havenly give you a thorough questionnaire to pinpoint your style preferences. You can choose or attach pictures of favorite spaces, as well.

Then designers will come up with a few plans from which you can choose. At Modsy, for example, you can get a 3-D rendering based on your photos and measurements. Click on furnishings throughout the layout to see if you want to buy them or switch them out for other options. You can also include pieces you already own or are thinking of getting, and your designer will position them in the plan for you.

Interior designer Fiona Byrne says one way to tackle the challenging, long but shallow living rooms so common in the city is with space-saving furniture.

“Look for narrower pieces such as console tables instead of deep credenzas, and instead of a coffee table, get end tables for either side of the sofa,” she advises. “Dual-purpose pieces are great — side tables that can double as stools when guests come over, a console table that doubles as a desk, etc. Plug-in wall sconces eliminate the need for additional side tables and don’t require any wiring. All you need is a screwdriver.”

She also likes wall-mounted televisions: “People can install the cable box vertically slotted behind the TV so there’s no need for a piece of furniture under the TV.”

THE FURNISHINGS

“Small spaces are tricky,” says designer Alison Pickart, who has done several apartment projects. “When I want a small space to feel larger, I keep the colour palette monochromatic. The eye is less ‘distracted’ and the space feels more seamless.”

“Mid-century pieces work well in tight spaces because their scale is more petite,” she says.

If you’re not quite ready to invest in furniture, consider renting it. There are places where you can rent for three months or longer couches, chairs, tables and other furnishings from name-brand furniture partners. You can renew the lease, or buy something if you fall in love with it.

Developments in memory foam technology have been a boon to the home shipping market. Instead of big, bulky mattresses that might not fit through apartment doorways, some companies are sending mattresses and pillows tightly rolled in compact boxes.

In Detroit, furniture company Floyd founders Alex O’Dell and Kyle Hoff noticed that millennials were mobile and less inclined to acquire major pieces of furniture. Their firm offers just a few basic, easy-to-assemble pieces — a sofa, platform bed, some tables — and ships them free to select cities in the US. They’ve also got a kit of four white or black metal legs and a roll of sturdy strapping material, so you can turn whatever you like into a bespoke table.

If you need help putting something together, there are several businesses out there, in both NZ and the rest of the world, that excell at tasks like assembly or breakdown of furniture, or pickup, delivery and moving, and repair/install jobs.

- AP