Furniture for Small Spaces

Last week I was invited to see the new Loft range of furniture by Marks and Spencer and I was impressed so I’m sharing it with you. The press office had taken over an apartment in Marylebone and furnished so that visitors could really get a sense of the range rather than just seeing it in a showroom or looking at press release.

We were invited to spend the evening lounging on the sofas, sitting in the chairs and even sleeping in the beds. Quite the Goldilocks we were but fortunately the three bears (the owners of the flat) had been persuaded to stay elsewhere for a few days. Even more fortunately for me there was no porridge in sight.

Now obviously the apartment they found was amazing and, in the same way that Kate Moss would look good in a bin bag, so anything would look great in this apartment.However, while it may have been pretty (check that parquet) it wasn’t huge. And that’s the point of this furniture. It’s what M and S call compact. We would say: just a little bit smaller than average, which means it fits perfectly into small flats for first time buyers, tiny spaces for city dwellers as well as student bedsits. It’s also good for young professionals in houseshares who might want to create more of a personal living space from a bedroom.

With a survey, which came out this week, by The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) finding that 57 per cent of us don’t feel we have enough space for all our possessions, and the average one bedroom new build home in Britain amounting to just 46sqm, this new range is not only well-timed but clearly necessary.

My favourite piece was the Benni armchair below, which costs £259, but then you know I love anything black and white. That pink knitted throw was another great piece. Don’t forget, of course, that even if you live in a large house, this furniture is still worth looking at; teenagers often want to move on from a single bed they associate with childhood or to bring in an armchair or sofa bed, all of which are included in this range. I quite fancy Benni in the corner of my bedroom.

Annoyingly I don’t have a floor plan of this apartment but this sitting area can’t have been more than about ten foot (behind the yellow sofa below) below by 12 ft and on the opposite wall was a large modular sofa which would have happily seated three and could have fitted four. Add that to the two seater, the armchair and a footstool and you can happily seat six people and probably squeeze in 10 for a movie night.

You can just see the edge of the modular sofa in this picture. No I don’t know why I didn’t move that gigantic vase of flowers either. The wall at the end hides a tv by the way – you just slide the door back to reveal it. Another good trick if you don’t want your living room dominated by the silver screen.

So, given the time of year, if you’re taking children to back to university and they need some furniture, then the M&S Loft range be a good place to start looking. If nothing else you’ll like the accessories. Just look at those cushions.