Want to know what to do if your apartment is just 8 sq m? Watch this

This is what the room looked like before the make-over

I wouldn’t have believed what could be done with an 86 sq ft living space had I not watched this video.

Click here to see 4 minutes 53 seconds on great design, cleverly executed in a tiny room high up in a beautiful Haussmann building in Paris.

Titled ‘maid’s room project’, it shows the woman who owns the apartment entering her tiny living space, one wall of which is lined with white cupboard doors on which are painted simple grey wands of flowers.

In those cupboards, lies the secret of how she’s able to live. The first door conceals a pull-out staircase, which also doubles as a multiple bookshelves.

She climbs the stairs to her bed, which is hidden from view by sliding doors.

The second cupboard has a pull-out wardrobe, the third a table long enough for two people, complete with two suspended chairs. The fourth cupboard has shelving for everyday items, the fifth, more bookshelves and a boiler for hot water. The kitchenette has a microwave and a removable cooktop under the counter. The sink is covered with a folding shelf, which extends the work surface.

A door aligned with the wall of cupboards opens into a fully-equipped bathroom, complete with shower, basin and toilet.

It’s all in impeccable taste, highly liveable and probably the way to go in all megapolises and cramped urban spaces. But it must take  iron self-control, in that you can never ever, on a whim, buy two jars of anything or that extra dress.