How to make the most of a skinny house

Interior designer Dorothy Weise at Chapter Renovation has tackled tricky floor plans, but skinny homes as narrow as 10 feet are a whole different puzzle. Here’s how she makes these homes feel spacious and even nicer than wider layouts.

Q: What’s the skinniest home you’ve worked on? “In New York City, it’s common to work on apartments with narrow footprints. Railroad-style apartments can be just 10 feet wide; for townhouses, 13 to 15 feet is not unusual.”

Q: Are skinny homes hard to love? “A skinny home can be easy to dismiss if it hasn’t been renovated thoughtfully. Empty or poorly laid-out narrow rooms can feel awkward, dark, or difficult to furnish, so people tend to focus on what they’re giving up. But a well-designed skinny home can completely change that perception. Once the layout is working, the spaces can feel intimate and connected, and the constraints often lead to creative design decisions. When every inch has a purpose, a skinny home can feel incredibly efficient and comfortable, and you start appreciating what makes it distinctive.”

Q: What are the biggest challenges of renovating a skinny house? “Every inch really matters, so the layout needed to be incredibly intentional. With one townhouse, we had to think carefully about how people move through the space and keep those pathways as clear as possible. Keeping sightlines open and allowing natural light to travel through the house can also make a narrow space feel much larger than its footprint.”

Q: What advice do you have to make a narrow room feel spacious? “One mistake is lining every wall with furniture or storage. It can be tempting because you want to maximize every inch, but that can exaggerate the narrowness and make a house feel like a corridor. Giving the eye and the walls a little breathing room is important. Embrace the proportions instead of fighting them. Built-ins, custom storage, pocket or sliding doors, and furniture with a smaller footprint can make a difference. It’s also important to think vertically. When you don’t have a lot of width, height for storage, shelving, and cabinetry become valuable while creating a dramatic architectural statement.”