Selling a house that you've owned for dozens of years isn't easy though. Not only is it hard to let go of the memories that have built up over the years, it's tough to deal with the possessions that have accumulated over all that time. The mere mention of "downsizing" can induce headaches.

Moving to an apartment may mean sacrificing some belongings, and parting with lifetime possessions can be difficult. There's no avoiding the inevitable reduction of furniture, but the process need not be painful.

"I have a lot of clients who are scaling down now and are taking their older homes and selling them and moving into apartments," says Pamela Bayer of Pamela Bayer Interiors in Hudson. "What I find I'm doing is taking the select pieces that they love, and I'm re-covering them. For the larger pieces, first they ask everybody in their family if they want them, and if nobody wants them, we've been putting them on eBay, and rolling over those dollars onto new pieces."

"Reupholstering is a wonderful idea because a lot of the older people truly love their pieces and don't want to part with them, and to reupholster them gives them new life."

One of the most common mistakes in designing the interior of an apartment is trying to squeeze in too much, which happens "especially with people that have moved from four-bedroom, three-bathroom homes with a family room and a den," Ms. Bayer says. "You have to look at your living space, because a lot of these places do not offer a den."

It is important to take a positive approach and consider the possibilities of new living quarters, "and say to yourself, 'I have to scale down, but I can still make it comfortable and very inviting,' " Ms. Bayer says.

More and more furniture is multi-functional and versatile, such as the computer armoire, which has a retractable desk, filing cabinets, and shelves. "It really is an all-inclusive work space," Ms. Bayer says, "You don't have to have a messy desk look in the interior of the apartment."

Another idea that adds versatility and saves space is a multi-functioning table - "tables that can be used as a workspace and then become a dining room table," Ms. Bayer says. "If you have a little bit of a home office in your small apartment, you can pull a chair up to that, but if you need to, you can pull it into the center of your room and put four chairs around it. They're putting them on casters, which is terrific."

Some people might have bad memories about pullout couches, but Ms. Bayer says that creaky, uncomfortable ones are a thing of the past. Some parents keep a guest room available for friends, children, or grandchildren, but those who don't have an extra room can still offer comfortable accommodations for overnight stays.

"Absolutely, maximize your space with a pullout," she says. "They're wonderful. A lot of times with smaller apartments I recommend a pullout couch. Mattresses are thick, mechanisms are well-placed so that you don't get that crick in your back when you get up. You don't have that old-world rod that goes into the middle of the mattress that everybody complains about."

"I think that also lends people to feel more comfortable to visit and stay one or two days if you do not have, per se, a guest room."