How do you make a small flat feel larger, a cheap kitchen look expensive or a radiator disappear? The designer of this bijou flat has the answers. By Anne-Celine Jaeger

Hallway/landing

Tip Hide your radiators. "Paint them the same colour as the wall so they're unobtrusive – if it's a colour other than white, it's more striking," says interior designer Gill Richardson. This deep wine is Pelt by Farrow & Ball, £25.50/2.5 litres.
Tip "Keep the same flooring throughout a space to make the area seem larger," Richardson says. This carpet is Sisal Panama in blue/silver, £37.50/sq m, from Tailored Flooring. The wallpaper is Woods 69/12148, £38/roll, from Cole & Son.

Living space

Tip Create zones. "The best way to enlarge a small space is to decide what activity will go on in the room and allocate separate space for it," says Richardson, who designed this two-bed, top-floor Georgian flat in Bristol. She has created a dining area at the end of the living room, with a built-in bench and display shelves, painted in Dulux's Hebridean Mist 4, £19.49 for 2.5 litres (from dulux.co.uk). "Built-in furniture takes up less room because it's made to fit." Tip Look for replicas. This Danish-style 4/3 Pendant light is £65 from bluesuntree.co.uk, a quarter of the price of an original Louis Poulsen design. "Don't be afraid to mix styles: this mid-20th-century piece works well in a Georgian setting," Richardson says.

Kitchen

Tip Stick to one colour in different shades. "Use tones of the same colour to make some things stand out and others disappear," says Richardson. "This will trick the eye into thinking there's more depth than there really is." And remember, dark colours look posher. This strong blue (Dulux Venetian Crystal 1, £19.49 for 2.5 litres, from Dulux) on the kitchen units – which are cheap, plain carcasses from a trade shop – makes them appear solid and heavy, and therefore more expensive." Tip Think storage. "It's key to staying on top of a small space," Richardson says.

Bathroom

Tip Show as much floor as possible. "Fit a wall-hung toilet with a hidden cistern to make a small bathroom feel uncluttered." Tip Think vintage. "It warms up what is usually a boring clinical-looking room," says Richardson. Here, a decorative reclaimed piano upright is transformed into a bath panel. Tip Try something other than white. The brown-and-gold-flecked mosaic glass tiles behind the tub are Smokey Ridge, £55 per sq m, from Tiles Of Stow, and the turquoise paint is Dulux Velvet Touch 1 from Dulux.

Photographs by Holly Jolliffe