At a glance
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Renters, urban dwellers, and anyone already living in or actively planning for a compact space — studio apartments, micro apartments, tiny houses, or small city homes — who want a dense, room-by-room toolkit of immediately actionable ideas rather than a conceptual design philosophy.
Worth it if
You're navigating a genuinely small home and want more than 200 concrete, granular tips — organized by living, sleeping, eating, and bathing — grounded in the daily reality of a real family household, not staged editorial shoots.
Skip if
You're looking for guidance on larger-scale renovations, suburban or new-construction interiors, or a wide range of aesthetic styles — this guide is deliberately and unapologetically narrow in both scope and visual point of view, and some DIY storage solutions assume structural modification rights that renters may not have.
What readers & critics say
Elle Decor previewed the book ahead of its November 2018 release, highlighting Morris's skill at "revealing the beauty in living in less than 400 square feet" with a family in tow. The publisher Insight Editions positions it as "the must-have, incredibly inspirational guide for living large in compact quarters," emphasising its 200-plus actionable tips, while Morris's own platform (whitneyleighmorris.com) notes that admirers cite both her "envious eye for design" and her "brain for puzzle-like small-space solutions."
Sources: Elle Decor, Insight Editions, Whitney Leigh MorrisPreview the book





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- Is it worth reading?
- For readers living in or moving into compact spaces, Small Space Style offers genuine, solutions-first value: more than 200 specific, actionable tips organized for easy navigation, rooted in the lived experience of Morris's own under-400-square-foot Venice Beach cottage rather than staged aspirational concepts. The illustrated format adds practical visual reference throughout. The main caveat is that the book's tight focus — and its relatively consistent aesthetic rooted in Morris's own curated spaces — makes it less useful for readers with different stylistic tastes or those seeking guidance on larger-scale interiors.
- Similar books
- Readers who enjoy Small Space Style often turn to other practical home-living guides. Sarah Susanka's The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live makes a complementary philosophical case for quality over square footage. Maxwell Ryan's Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure offers a room-by-room framework for renters and apartment dwellers. Myquillyn Smith's Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff and The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful both share Morris's accessible, imperfection-friendly ethos. Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin's The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing tackles the clutter-reduction and storage side of small-space living.
- Who should read this?
- Small Space Style is most valuable for readers already living in compact spaces — renters in studios or micro apartments, residents of tiny houses or A-frames, and urban dwellers navigating the realities of micro-living. It also serves anyone intentionally downsizing or preparing to move into a smaller home. Readers seeking large-scale renovation guidance, suburban-scale interiors, or a wide visual range of design aesthetics will find it less applicable, given its deliberately narrow focus and consistent aesthetic rooted in Morris's Venice Beach cottage.
- How DIY-friendly is it?
- Small Space Style includes a meaningful DIY component — strategies for custom built-ins, clever storage solutions, and features like a hanging magazine rack or propagating plant clippings in a beaker appear throughout. However, some of the more advanced DIY and built-in sections presuppose hands-on capability and, in certain cases, the ability to make structural modifications, which may not be feasible for renters or readers without workshop access. Much of the book's advice, however, is actionable without any construction skills at all.
- What core strategies does it teach?
- The book's framework revolves around six core strategies: keeping clutter to a minimum, crafting double-duty layouts, personalizing chic storage solutions, going vertical when floor space runs out, DIYing clever custom built-ins, and hosting a crowd within confined square footage. These principles reflect Morris's broader platform on flexible, sustainable, and community-focused home spaces, and they are presented through more than 200 concrete, specific tips organized by room — living, sleeping, eating, and bathing.
- What is Whitney Leigh Morris's cottage like?
- Morris's home — the primary real-world anchor for the book — is a 1920s bungalow in Venice Beach, California, measuring under 400 square feet. She lives there with her husband, a baby, and two Beagles, and runs her blog and Instagram account, The Tiny Canal Cottage, from that base. The book draws directly on this daily household experience, grounding its advice in genuine constraint rather than aspirational staging. Morris's background as a consultant, stylist, and creative director informs the book's visual sensibility throughout.
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Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Adult
Reading level
Adult
Skip if you're looking for guidance on large-scale renovations, suburban interiors, or a wide range of design aesthetics beyond Morris's curated small-space perspective.
Editorial Review
Whitney Leigh Morris's debut interior design book, Small Space Style: Because You Don't Need to Live Large, published by Weldon Owen in November 2018, delivers more than 200 actionable tips for transforming tight quarters into efficient, stylish homes — drawing on Morris's own life in a sub-400-square-foot Venice Beach cottage alongside tours of tiny houses and micro apartments from around the country.
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