Some of you reading this will be stuck living in tiny studios, effectively units, paying way over the odds to live in the city. You might be embarrassed about your small living space, understandably, and fear it could cost you with the ladies. But don’t fear. It is possible to keep a tenuous foothold in the dating game if you work on the hallway.

The hallway is critical. Get that right, and it’s possible to create the illusion that you’re successful and that people are stepping into a big place. Hang some expensive looking pictures on the wall (read your tenancy contract first). Stick a bookshelf in there. Stock it up with a few travel guides. Back in my studio days, that always impressed women. You bring someone back, keep them in the hallway for as long as possible. They have no idea that beyond that door lays a disarmingly tiny living area. You steal that first kiss in the hallway, it has to be in the hallway, and you’ve snared them. By the time you take them into the living area, it’ll be too awkward for them to turn back.