Have you heard the one about living in a place so small that you have to step outside to change your mind? Well Janet Lee has. She is the author of a new book, Living in a Nutshell: Posh and Portable Decorating Ideas for Small Spaces. Lee is an expert at finding or developing unusual DIY projects that make the most of little homes.

“In a nutshell, my mantra for small space design is to delight, dazzle and divert,” says Lee who describes herself as a serial small space nester. Her concept is to turn the quirky demands of small space living into appealing decorative features.

Got a refrigerator that lives in the hallway because there’s not enough room in the kitchen? Cover it with a pattern of vintage bottle caps and clover decals and drape a bold curtain that can make it disappear completely.

She wraps a file cabinet with adhesive plastic that mimics the pattern of expensive designer luggage. A folding screen wears a graphic stripe on one side and is hung with shoe bags on the other; it becomes an instant closet. Snappy orange industrial C-clamps are mounted on the edge of a shelf to hold coats, bags and umbrellas. A refurbished chair stores books; the ends of its legs are painted bright red to dance on top of a boldly patterned rug.

Where colour ends, whimsy begins. The heads of stuffed animals are mounted to make “faux taxidermy” and poetry peeks from mirrors.

These fun-filled projects are sure to bring joie de vivre to tiny rooms.

- Jane