New York–based designer Rahul Ghera knew that every design decision had to be precise

AD’ s Small Spaces series is a celebration of small homes—1,000-square-feet or fewer!—with big design ideas. From Manhattan apartments to Milanese micro-homes, each one is proof that you don’t need a sprawling space to show off your personal style.

When a Los Angeles –based startup consultant decided to establish a more permanent foothold in New York, he searched for a place that felt different from his bright Southern California home. For him, being bicoastal meant embracing the best of each, and so, when in the Big Apple, he wanted the apartment to feel unmistakably like New York. That, he said, meant something “moodier, masculine, and more dramatic.” He landed on a Chelsea studio with sweeping views of the Empire State Building and Hudson Yards.

The 540-square-foot apartment, however, didn’t yet fit the bill.…