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Small Space Style by Whitney Leigh Morris Review: A Practical, Inspiring Guide to Compact Living
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.
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 Morris4.6from 758 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
In This Review
- What Works & What Doesn't
- What the Book Is and What It Covers
- The Central Argument and Design Philosophy
- Scope and Depth of Practical Guidance
- Significance and Audience Fit
- Limitations Worth Noting
What Works & What Doesn't
What Works
- More than 200 specific, actionable tips organized around the core rooms of the home — a genuinely high-density practical resource
- Rooted in Morris's own daily life in a sub-400-square-foot cottage, grounding the advice in real household experience rather than staged concepts
- Structured chapters covering living, sleeping, eating, and bathing make it easy to navigate directly to the most relevant section
- Draws on home tours of diverse spaces — tiny houses, micro apartments, A-frames, and city dwellings — extending its usefulness beyond a single housing type
- Published by Weldon Owen in an illustrated edition, pairing written guidance with visual reference throughout
What Doesn't
- The book's focus is deliberately narrow — readers needing guidance on larger-scale or suburban interiors will find limited applicability
- The aesthetic and visual perspective draws heavily from Morris's own cottage and curated favorites, resulting in a relatively consistent point of view that may not suit all tastes
- Some DIY and custom built-in strategies assume the ability to make structural modifications, which may not be feasible for renters or those without relevant skills
A debut interior design guide rooted in real, lived small-space experience, Small Space Style makes a convincing case that square footage is no barrier to a beautiful home.
What the Book Is and What It Covers
Back cover featuring a family in a lush outdoor garden space with seating and greenery, illustrating small space design principles.
Small Space Style: Because You Don't Need to Live Large is Whitney Leigh Morris's debut book, published by Weldon Owen in November 2018. It is an illustrated interior design guide organized around the core domestic essentials — living, sleeping, eating, and bathing — that together form the backbone of any home, however compact. Morris, the consultant, stylist, and creative director behind the popular blog and Instagram account The Tiny Canal Cottage, brings her day-to-day experience raising a family in a 1920s Venice Beach, California bungalow of under 400 square feet — husband, baby, and two Beagles included — directly into its pages. The book draws not only on her own cottage but also on home tours of tiny houses, micro apartments, and other efficient small spaces, giving readers a breadth of real-world examples rather than purely aspirational set-dressing.
The Central Argument and Design Philosophy
At the heart of the book is a straightforward conviction: you don't need to live large to live beautifully. Morris channels that ethos into concrete strategies rather than abstract philosophy. The guide is structured around keeping clutter to a minimum, crafting double-duty layouts, personalizing chic storage solutions, going vertical when floor surfaces run out, DIYing clever custom built-ins, and even hosting a crowd within confined square footage. This framework reflects Morris's broader platform on flexible, sustainable, and community-focused home spaces. The result is a book designed to serve renters in studio apartments, owners of rustic A-frames, and anyone navigating the growing reality of urban micro-living — the advice is written to travel across settings rather than apply only to one aesthetic or housing type.
Contents page listing chapters organized under "Living" and "Eating" sections with design and decorating topics.
Scope and Depth of Practical Guidance
One of the book's most quantifiable assets is the sheer density of its actionable content: the publisher, Insight Editions, describes it as featuring more than 200 tips for making the most of a small home. The table of contents itself signals granular specificity — individual entries include guidance such as trading a coffee table for a shelf behind the sofa, filling corners all the way up, dangling décor, crafting a hanging magazine rack, and propagating plant clippings in a beaker. This tip-by-tip architecture means readers can open to virtually any section and find something immediately applicable, rather than wading through lengthy conceptual chapters before reaching usable direction. The illustrated edition format supports this approach, pairing written guidance with visual reference throughout.
Significance and Audience Fit
The book arrived at a moment of sustained cultural and economic interest in downsizing, urban density, and the tiny-home movement — and it approaches that conversation from a lived perspective rather than a theoretical one. Morris is not a design commentator writing about small spaces from the outside; she is documenting a household that actually operates within these constraints daily. That grounding distinguishes Small Space Style from purely aspirational shelter titles. The book is positioned as a resource for readers who are already living in small spaces or planning to, not just those who find the aesthetic romantically appealing. Readers drawn to practical, solutions-first interior design — particularly those in cities, starter homes, or intentionally minimized living situations — are the book's clearest audience.
Limitations Worth Noting
The book's tight focus is also its primary constraint. Readers seeking expansive treatment of large-scale renovations, new construction, or suburban-scale interiors will find little applicable here; the guide is deliberately and unapologetically oriented toward compact and micro living. Additionally, because so much of the visual and editorial content draws from Morris's own Venice Beach cottage and from a curated selection of her favorite spaces, the aesthetic point of view is relatively consistent — which suits readers aligned with her style but may offer less variety for those whose tastes run in a different direction. The DIY built-in and custom storage sections also presuppose a degree of hands-on capability and, in some cases, the ability to make structural modifications — something renters or those without workshop access may find limits their options.
Frequently Asked Questions
is Small Space Style: Because You Don't Need to Live Large by Whitney Leigh Morris worth reading for renters in small apartments
It's a strong pick for renters in studios or micro apartments, but with one real caveat: some of the DIY built-in and custom storage sections assume hands-on capability and the ability to make structural modifications, which renters or those without workshop access may find limits what they can actually use. The rest of the book — tips on vertical space, double-duty layouts, and clutter-free living — travels well across renting situations. If you're fine skipping a chapter or two, the 200-plus actionable tips give you plenty to work with.
what is Small Space Style: Because You Don't Need to Live Large by Whitney Leigh Morris actually about
It's an illustrated interior design guide organized around the core domestic essentials — living, sleeping, eating, and bathing — with a focus on making compact homes beautiful and functional rather than just tolerable. Whitney Leigh Morris draws on her own life in a sub-400-square-foot Venice Beach, California bungalow — husband, baby, and two Beagles included — as well as home tours of tiny houses and micro apartments from around the country. The book is built around concrete strategies like going vertical, crafting double-duty layouts, DIY built-ins, and even hosting a crowd in confined square footage.
should i read Small Space Style: Because You Don't Need to Live Large by Whitney Leigh Morris if i'm into the tiny home movement
Yes — it's squarely aimed at readers already living in or planning for small spaces, and Morris approaches the tiny-home conversation from a lived perspective rather than a theoretical one, since she actually operates her household daily within these constraints. The book includes tours of tiny houses alongside micro apartments, so it speaks directly to that world. If you're looking for purely romantic, aspirational shelter content rather than practical solutions, this may be more utilitarian than you want — but for actionable guidance, it delivers.
does Small Space Style: Because You Don't Need to Live Large by Whitney Leigh Morris have tips you can actually use or is it just pretty pictures
The publisher describes it as featuring more than 200 tips, and the table of contents gets granularly specific — individual entries include things like trading a coffee table for a shelf behind the sofa, dangling décor, crafting a hanging magazine rack, and propagating plant clippings in a beaker. The reviewer notes you can open to virtually any section and find something immediately applicable, rather than wading through lengthy conceptual chapters before reaching usable direction. The illustrated format pairs visual reference with written guidance throughout, so it's both practical and visual.
is Small Space Style: Because You Don't Need to Live Large by Whitney Leigh Morris good if my taste in home decor is different from whitney leigh morris's style
That's a legitimate concern — because so much of the visual and editorial content draws from Morris's own Venice Beach cottage and a curated selection of her favorite spaces, the aesthetic point of view is relatively consistent throughout. The reviewer flags this directly: it suits readers aligned with her style but may offer less variety for those whose tastes run in a different direction. The functional strategies (storage, vertical space, layouts) are broadly applicable, but the visual inspiration skews toward one particular look.
is Small Space Style: Because You Don't Need to Live Large by Whitney Leigh Morris useful for people dealing with large homes or renovations
No — the reviewer is clear that this is the book's primary constraint: readers seeking expansive treatment of large-scale renovations, new construction, or suburban-scale interiors will find little applicable here. The guide is deliberately and unapologetically oriented toward compact and micro living. If your project is a bigger home, you'd be better served by a different title entirely.
how is Small Space Style: Because You Don't Need to Live Large by Whitney Leigh Morris different from other interior design books
The key differentiator is that Morris isn't a design commentator writing about small spaces from the outside — she's documenting a household that actually operates within these constraints daily in a 1920s Venice Beach bungalow under 400 square feet. The reviewer contrasts this with "purely aspirational shelter titles," noting that the lived grounding sets it apart. That real-world foundation, combined with the density of 200-plus concrete tips rather than abstract philosophy, gives it a more practical, solutions-first character than much of the genre.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
tinycanalcottage.com
- 2
insighteditions.com
- 3
- Further reading
- 4
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