Living in a big city is great. There's always something new going on, always someone fun to hang around with, a huge number of services that will deliver you pizza at 4am with two taps of your phone...
One thing you do compromise on though is space. Most people's flats are about the size of an A4 piece of paper. And most people are sharing that space with at least one other person – and that other person's stuff.
It's hard to get yourself a Pinterest-worthy living room with obstacles like this standing in your way but persevere you must, because there's nothing better than relaxing in a living room you're aesthetically pleased with.
Ahead, we've pulled together a few tips on how to do just this. Click through to find out how to get yourself a practical, but pretty, tiny living room.
Look for half-size furniture
Easier said than done, right? A lot of furniture places don't realise that most of us live in a shoebox-size flat with a living room that's smaller than the doormat most people use to wipe their feet on.
So where to go for tiny sofas and armchairs? Well, luckily, there are a few places that get it. My Small Space scours the net for items suitable for tiny homes and brings them all together in one place. Urban Size is a new company that's making furniture specifically for small spaces and Made do nearly all their sofas in half sizes – which means you can get the look, but it costs less and actually fits through your front door.
Fill the room with lights
If you're lucky enough to have lots of natural light in the room then make sure you don't cover up half of it with heavy curtains. Choose translucent fabrics which allow light through the parts that normally block the edges of the window when they're pulled back.
Get creative with the lights inside, too. While installing ceiling lights might not be A Thing if you're living in rented accommodation, there's nothing to say you can't get a plethora of floor and table lamps to brighten the place up. Just make sure they don't take up huge amounts of floor or airspace.
Get double the light from this slim and elegant floor lamp (Habitat, £65), or this touch lamp from IKEA (£27).
Look out for dual function items
As space is in such small supply in your living room, it's important for you to double up on dual function objects where you can. Why have a lamp and a table when you can have a lamp that is a table?
This footstool (£70) doubles up as a storage pod, this side table (£23.75) is also a magazine rack and this mirror (quote available on request) is actually a fold-down table. Magic.
Look for storage everywhere
Remember that opportunities for storage do not just come vertically; there's plenty of unused dead space horizontally, too.
Take this side table for instance – a normal side table has a surface, and then a waste of space all the way down to the floor. This Swoon side table (£199) however creates storage all the way down to the floor, meaning you can fit more of your stuff.
Another underused area of potential storage are the walls – if you have high ceilings, even more so. Just because you can't fit any other standing storage on the floor, nothing is stopping you hanging floating shelves as far up the walls as you want. These Urban Outfitters ones are cute, and cheap (£15).
Get a massive mirror
Getting a huge mirror for one wall isn't going to fool anyone into thinking the room's actually twice the size that it is, but it will help with the illusion. Put it opposite the window to capture more light streaming in.
This extra large leaning mirror (£206) will look great on the floor or propped up on a side table (just make sure you secure the bottom properly!). If you're looking for something smaller, this super stylish terrazzo mirror (£28) will make for a great mantelpiece addition. If you're looking for something in-between, size-wise, this asymmetric mirror from H&M (£79.99) is great.
Opt for lighter pieces
The more space you can see around an object and the more floor space you can see underneath it, the better, when it comes to creating the illusion of space. So steer clear of heavy, maximalist bits of furniture and instead go for bits supported by thin legs.
Things like this brass chair (£65), these shelves (£68) or this table (£150) – the more of your eye-line a product takes up, the more space there will seem to be.
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