Extra space is over rated. How many cats can one person swing, anyway? I'd take any of those London or Rome ones, too.

There's a special camera that apartment rental sites use that I bet could make any of those look palatial. Padded with closeups of flower vase or knickknacks, and several shots of say the Eiffel Tower, Coliseum, or pigeons in Hyde Park.

Just shows how one can transform a small space with clever design. Not sure how livable it is on a day-to-day basis. I would not be able to close the door to sleep (too claustrophobic)... but then, I'd be afraid I would roll out and off the bed in my sleep! I'd need a bar across like on the top of a bunk bed!

Clever, but dreary, like a gray ski with no movement, and terribly claustrophobic. The bath is really nice. The rest is like a prison cell dressed up with laminate. It also looks as if it would feel lonely and isolated. Everything is closed off. It is not a room anymore, simply a closet with built ins. If you could even sit by the window, that might help. They could have done a closet above a pull out bed/sofa with a drawer underneath, book shelves under the window, etc. Overall, I find it wretched.

Sassafrass, here's one for you in Hong Kong, enormous at 330 square feet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQM7a5Yjp9g

Longer, more detailed video of Hong Kong apartment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB2-2j9e4co

I think this flat is really cool.

Me, too. Gary Chang is a domestic architecture hero.

Wow. Gary Chang is like the Chinese David Blaine. A lot of stuff in that small space but very organized.

This is the company we are using for next June/July. Regis is very easy to work with. specialapartments.com

When I was a mother's helper/au pair in Westchester County, my "apartment" was the TV room, where I shooed the kids out and unfolded the couch for the night. My own uninvadable apartment, however austere, would have been oh so nice. (Not even to mention having Paris outside my door instead of miles of suburban roads lined with rich folks' houses.)

OMG, I love the Gary Chang space. He used the windows so well, love that you could lay in bed and look out. You could actually cook in the kitchen, and a real tub! The color was warm and inviting - nothing like the laminate cell in Paris. This guy is a creative genius. Love it. Think what he could have done with the Paris space. Fabulous, just fabulous!

This one in Paris is a bit more "livable' I think than the one posted above.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/a-ti...g-style-212595

Isabel, that one is nice. Upbeat, spacious feeling, hip and charming. Quite livable. A big change from the laminate cell!

Isabel's apartment is 3 times the size. A townhouse by comparison.

I think there could be things done to "comfy" up the original "apartment" but I agree, it would be difficult to make that your home.

Since an au pair lives in it, the assumption is that she is in the main home of her employer the majority of the day.

It's been interesting to see all the tiny spaces.

DebitNM, You are Right. I see the first one in Sq feet is only about 85, so roughly 8x10. Isabel's is 270sq feet, so something roughly like 15 x18 or 12 x 22, a lot more to work with, but it was the closing up of everything in separate gray storage boxes and turning it into a built in closet with a sleeping box that was so bad.

I liked the small apartments in London.. I could survive if I had to in a few of those.. but anywhere I have to climb a ladder to get in and out of bed is just a no.. I would hate to break my neck going to the bathroom at 4 am all groggy.. yikes
The apartment in Hong Kong was very well done.. but I find it abit cold too.. and really.. where do people put their clothes.. ?

The tiny apartment in London.. well hey.. its better hen being homeless and I know people who would love their own space..even that small , as opposed to having to rent rooms here with shared kitchens and bathroom. Very common here. My sons first place was converted space in someones basement. Four bedrooms.. all shared one bathroom and a small kitchen. No common room , so if you wanted to have folks over they sat on your bed or maybe easy chair you could fit in your bedroom . Rooms for students basically. .but now a days all ages are having to rent such small places because of price. My sons rent was 550 dollars a month . To get your own bachelor apartment here runs about 800 a month and that would not include your utilities.
To put that in perspective... my younger sons is on a disability pension of 800 dollars a month.
A person on welfare gets about 500 dollars a month.

People need more small living choices.

May be horrible to you and me ( lets face it .. many of us have closets not much smaller then some of those apartments) but if its a choice between being homeless and having a clean safe place to sleep each night.. small living is great.