Netflix’s ‘Hack My Home’ Design Wizards Share Tips for Small Spaces (Exclusive)

From a queen-sized bed that descends dramatically from the ceiling, to a breakfast nook table that swings open, revealing a spiral staircase leading to a basement homeschool classroom, Hack My Home delivers some show-stopping solutions for tight living spaces. 

Some of the new Netflix home makeover show's best hacks are also its simplest, though. These are clever ideas that can be achieved by ordinary people without any engineering or carpentry skills — like putting a crib on casters, installing a desk that folds flush against the wall, or repurposing a closet to become a small but functional room.

"Those are the things that the everyday person could do," designer Mikel Welch, one of the show's four hosts and home reinvention wizards, told The Messenger.

In fact, they're the kind of space-saving solutions that Welch and his co-hosts apply in their own living spaces. 

"All four of us… have very small spaces in our own homes," co-host and general contractor Ati Williams told The Messenger. "I've got a little 900-square-foot California bungalow, which people think is a lot of space in New York, I'm sure, but—"

"Yes, girl, that's a lot of space," Welch cut in.

"—but I have a roommate who's 9 years old, and she's got a lot of stuff," Williams continued, laughing. "So you know, we're all trying to figure it out. We try to figure out how to make the space that we have work in our own homes."

Williams, Welch and their co-hosts Jessica Banks (who oversees engineering) and Brooks Atwood (whose area of expertise is innovation) share plenty of these accessible, relatively easy hacks throughout the eight half-hour episodes of Hack My Home, but you'd be forgiven if you were too awestruck by the collapsible staircase or the telescoping dining table to take note.

That's why The Messenger turned to Welch and Williams for tips that the rest of us can use to maximize small spaces in our homes. Here are four space-saving hacks from Hack My Home's design gurus.

1. Don't waste vertical space.

"As a New Yorker, we're always trying to take advantage of that vertical space, just because we don't have any space," Welch told The Messenger.

It's a tactic frequently deployed in Hack My Home. In one episode, parents of quadruplets are given changing tables that fold out from a vertical storage unit. In another episode, floor-to-ceiling shelving is installed in a father's tight basement office, while his kids' playspace gets a vertical activity wall. And in another, home-schooled kids get desks that attach to the wall and fold down to save space.

"People can do practical things," Welch said. "Simple things, like for instance, desks that we have attached to a wall could easily be a solution where instead of it being a desk, it could be a dining table for someone who lives in a smaller unit."

And while it might seem obvious, vertical closet storage systems abound throughout the series for good reason.

"Everybody can't put up, you know, a collapsible staircase," Welch said. "But at the same time, you can take a trip over to The Container Store and get like an Elfa unit and come up with a cohesive storage area around your twin bed. Maybe you can't afford a Murphy bed, but you can at least do some shelves and storage solutions that people can get at big box stores."

2. Use multifunctional furniture.

"We did show the big hacks, and that's what people think about, front of mind," said Williams. "But we also did little hacks, just in terms of using furniture pieces as storage spaces or multifunctional pieces."

In one episode, the designers gave four sisters a bathroom vanity with drawers that rolled out to become cushioned seats. In another, ottomans served as storage for stackable dining table stools. And in the homeschool episode, the teacher's desk folded up to become a school supply storage area with a chalkboard.

"If we were to get another season, I would love to do a lot more of the most accessible versions of this," Williams said.

3. Do more with your doors.

It might surprise you to learn that one of the biggest space sucks in tight quarters is the square footage that traditional doors demand to be able to open and close freely.

In Hack My Home, the designers turned to doors that don't swing out (like sliding closet doors, barn doors, or doors that slide into the wall), door alternatives (like screens or pull-down shades), and doors that also offer other functions (like storage, kids' activities, or decoration).

"One of the things that we showed a lot was actually that doors take up a lot of space in general," Williams said. "There's lots of different ways that regular folks can be able to substitute doors, whether it's with blinds or using the door as storage. You can build out the storage on the door or right above the door."

4. Copy high-end looks for less.

While Hack My Home footed the renovation bills for families featured on the show, the designers still had to adhere to a budget and find solutions without breaking the bank. "We had constraints," Welch said. 

Welch said the challenge was "worlds different" from his previous work creating VIP green rooms for the likes of Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Faith Hill and more, but he didn't let cost limitations stop him from creating spaces that look like a million bucks on the show.

The expensive-looking custom caning on the bookshelves in one family's dining room-turned-office took more elbow grease than money. In a different episode, a media room Welch created for a pair of exhausted parents relied on rich velvet curtains and other inviting textures to feel luxurious and cozy.

"What I try to do is draw inspiration from those high-end projects, and bring those pieces over," Welch said. "I can create that magazine look and do it at a fraction of the cost. … The fun part, which a lot of people don't know, is I started out as a set decorator. And so my job was always to make these spaces look expensive. So that has actually been a skill set that I try to take on every project."

For more design hacks and tips, you can watch all eight episodes of Hack My Home, streaming now on Netflix.