Interior Design of a Contemporary 18-sqm Micro Living Apartment

As Indonesia's urban population continues to grow, compact apartments have become an increasingly practical housing solution for young professionals and first-time homeowners. While micro living often raises questions about comfort and functionality, thoughtful interior design can transform even the smallest footprint into a highly livable home.

In 2019, INSADA was commissioned to design two micro apartment show units in Tangerang, Indonesia. For a practice whose portfolio primarily consists of luxury residences, hospitality projects, and corporate interiors, this presented an entirely different design challenge. Rather than designing generous spaces, the question became remarkably simple:

Can an apartment measuring only 18 square meters genuinely support everyday living—cooking, dining, working, relaxing, sleeping, ironing, and bathing—without compromising comfort or aesthetics?

The answer lies not in reducing lifestyle expectations, but in elevating every centimeter through intelligent spatial planning, multifunctional furniture, and carefully considered material selections.

Designing an 18 sqm Apartment for Modern Urban Living

The first show unit is an 18 sqm studio apartment, developed specifically for young professionals living and working around Tangerang and the greater Jakarta metropolitan area. Instead of treating the limited floor area as a constraint, the project embraces compact living as an opportunity to demonstrate how contemporary interior design can improve everyday life.

The overall interior adopts an Urban Modernist design language, characterized by clean geometries, restrained detailing, and a sophisticated palette of grey tones accented with crisp black lines. The aesthetic feels youthful yet professional—perfectly aligned with the aspirations of urban residents seeking practical homes without sacrificing design quality.

More importantly, every design decision serves a functional purpose. Throughout the apartment, no square meter is left unused.

A Fully Functional Kitchen Within Only 1.6 Meters

Upon entering the apartment, visitors immediately encounter one of the project's greatest design achievements—a complete kitchen compressed into only 1.6 meters of wall length.

Despite its compact footprint, the kitchen accommodates:

• A two-burner induction cooktop

• Sink

• Refrigerator

• Washing machine concealed within cabinetry above the refrigerator

• Pull-out cutting board

• Integrated wine storage

• Concealed spice rack

• Shoe storage at the entrance

Rather than overcrowding the space, each element is carefully positioned to maintain clear circulation while ensuring every daily activity remains possible.

The cabinetry utilizes high-gloss white lacquer finishes paired with white solid-surface countertops and dark grey back-painted glass backsplashes. These reflective materials help bounce natural and artificial light throughout the room, making the kitchen feel visually larger than its actual dimensions.

Homogeneous floor tiles were selected for durability and ease of maintenance, while concealed wallpaper-clad cabinet doors disguise the shoe and spice storage, allowing the entrance to remain visually clean and uncluttered.

Creating Openness Through Lightweight Storage

Transitioning from the kitchen into the sleeping area, occupants pass a 1.4-meter-wide wardrobe fitted with glass doors.

Instead of using conventional solid cabinetry, transparent glass reduces visual mass, allowing the built-in furniture to appear lighter within the confined volume. This simple material decision significantly improves the perception of spaciousness—one of the most effective strategies when designing micro apartments.

Compact Bathroom Design Without Compromising Comfort

Behind the kitchen sits the bathroom, accessed directly from the main living area.

Rather than relying on conventional swing doors, INSADA introduced a sliding glass partition combining clear and patterned glass framed with slim black steel profiles. This solution accomplishes several objectives simultaneously:

• Eliminates door swing clearance

• Enhances visual depth

• Introduces natural light into adjacent spaces

• Maintains sufficient privacy

Although highly compact, the bathroom still complies with comfortable ergonomic standards. The toilet area maintains a minimum width of approximately 800 mm, while the enclosed shower measures 900 × 950 mm.

Additional space-saving solutions include:

• Semi-mounted lavatory

• Off-center faucet positioning

• Marble vanity surface

• Grey mirrored wall panels

• Circular clear mirror integrated into the vanity composition

• Slim bent-steel shelving beside the toilet

Together, these interventions create a bathroom that feels refined rather than constrained, proving that luxury is often achieved through precision rather than size.

A Bedroom That Demonstrates Genuine Livability

One of the project's strongest design statements is the decision to place a full queen-sized bed at the center of the room.

Many micro apartments resort to sofa beds or folding furniture to maximize floor area. Instead, this project intentionally demonstrates that an 18 sqm apartment can still accommodate a proper bedroom without sacrificing everyday comfort.

Opposite the bed sits a 2.9-meter multifunctional feature wall, integrating:

• Wall-mounted television

• Pull-up dining table

• Vanity drawer

• Concealed storage

• Pull-out ironing board

This single architectural element performs multiple daily functions while maintaining an uncluttered appearance.

Throughout the bedroom, furniture was deliberately designed to appear visually lightweight. Instead of a traditional platform bed, the bed is elevated on slender metal legs, allowing uninterrupted views of the floor beneath. Matching floating bedside tables reinforce this visual openness, while suspended pendant lamps replace bulky table lamps, freeing valuable surface space.

Reading lights are integrated directly into the slim headboard, and lightweight lounge furniture can easily be rearranged depending on whether the resident is dining, working, entertaining, or relaxing.

The result is a highly adaptable living environment that responds to changing daily routines rather than locking occupants into a single furniture configuration.

Material Selection That Makes Small Spaces Feel Larger

Materiality plays an equally important role in shaping spatial perception.

While the kitchen and bathroom utilize practical homogeneous tiles, the bedroom transitions into engineered timber flooring, introducing warmth and tactile comfort beneathfoot. Wood textures continue onto selected feature walls, balanced by subtle wallpaper finishes to avoid visual monotony.

Artwork, soft furnishings, and carefully curated accessories complete the interior, adding personality without overwhelming the restrained architectural language.

The restrained material palette allows natural textures to become the focal point, reinforcing the apartment's calm and timeless atmosphere.

Expanding the Concept: A Contemporary 22.5 sqm One-Bedroom Apartment

Alongside the studio, INSADA also designed a 22.5 sqm one-bedroom apartment. Although only approximately 4 square meters larger, this additional area introduced a significantly more complex design challenge: incorporating a dedicated living room while maintaining generous bedroom proportions.

Rather than repeating the previous concept, the second unit adopts a Timeless Contemporary design approach.

Soft furniture silhouettes, warm timber finishes, textured fabrics, and richer natural colours establish a more mature interior character intended to remain relevant well beyond current design trends. Black detailing continues throughout the apartment, providing visual continuity with the studio while introducing stronger architectural definition.

Efficient Planning from Entry to Living Space

Like the studio, the apartment opens directly into the kitchen corridor.

Within a single 2.2-meter linear kitchen, the design successfully integrates:

• Full kitchen cabinetry

• Refrigerator

• Washing machine

• Shoe storage

Consolidating these functions along one wall frees the opposite side for uninterrupted circulation toward the bathroom.

The bathroom continues many of the successful strategies developed in the studio, including a semi-recessed vanity, oversized mirror, off-center faucet, and sliding glass partition, all designed to maximize perceived spaciousness while maintaining practical ergonomics.

Flexible Living for Everyday Urban Life

Beyond the kitchen, the apartment opens into a combined living and sleeping zone separated by a decorative vertical partition.

Despite the apartment's modest footprint, the living room accommodates a genuine residential furniture arrangement featuring:

• Full-size two-seat sofa

• Coffee table

• Lounge chair

Rather than merely fitting furniture into the room, the objective was to demonstrate how compact apartments can support real lifestyles rather than temporary accommodation.

One of the most innovative features is the apartment's multifunctional media wall.

A television mounted on a sliding panel travels between the living room and bedroom, allowing occupants to enjoy entertainment from either space. Hidden ceiling tracks and carefully managed cable routing ensure the system operates seamlessly while preserving the clean architectural composition.

Behind the movable TV wall lies another multifunctional workspace incorporating:

• 1.8-meter work desk

• Pull-up dining table

• Concealed vanity

• Integrated storage

• Pull-out ironing board

Meanwhile, the bedroom side accommodates a generous 1.5-meter wardrobe, completing the apartment's storage requirements without overwhelming the space.

Contemporary Micro Living Designed Around Everyday Experience

These two apartments demonstrate that successful micro apartment interior design is not about making small spaces merely acceptable—it is about making them genuinely enjoyable to inhabit.

By combining efficient space planning, multifunctional furniture, integrated storage, carefully selected materials, and a disciplined contemporary aesthetic, INSADA transformed compact floor plans into complete homes capable of supporting modern urban lifestyles.

As Indonesian cities continue to embrace higher-density living, projects like these illustrate how thoughtful interior architecture can redefine expectations of compact housing. Rather than measuring quality of life by square meters alone, the success of a home increasingly depends on how intelligently every square meter performs.

For architects, developers, and homeowners alike, these Tangerang micro apartments demonstrate that exceptional design is never defined by size—but by the experience it creates.

Find more about the detail of this project on our Youtube channel: