When my nephew Luukas moved into his third apartment in seven years, I took one look at the photos and wondered if there was even enough room for a sofa.

The kitchen is enormous. It genuinely belongs in a house. But that left only a relatively small area in front of the kitchen to function as his living room, dining room and office. And because he rents, I wasn’t interested in filling the apartment with big, heavy furniture he’ll eventually have to move again.

So this makeover became a very good lesson in small-space decorating: you don’t necessarily need less furniture. You need the right furniture, at the right scale, doing the right job.
And because this is the third apartment I’ve decorated for Lucas, I’m also taking you back through his previous two homes. You’ll see the same art, the same IKEA pieces and even the same $20 botanical poster reappear in completely different ways.
Because a new home does not mean you have to start over.
Sometimes you need $400 worth of finishing touches. Sometimes you need a new sofa and a big area rug. The magic is knowing what stays, what goes, what moves, and what you need to add to make the new space work.

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