This lovely loft renovation has caught my eye. A smallish space, only 624 square feet, was made to appear spacious, thanks to the continuous neutral color scheme (aside from the bold splashes of orange) and clever zoning. The apartment includes all that is necessary for comfortable existence – living room, kitchen, dining room, bathroom with a shower and a small sleeping area upstairs. The spiral staircase is an especially nice touch, for it suggests a much bigger space than there is in reality and makes a beautiful visual statement. The wall art and lighting fixtures take full advantage of the ceiling height. Carefully selected furniture pieces are scaled perfectly for each zone. What a clever and well thought-out use of space.

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This inventive space-saving layout is a work of architect Kyu Sung Woo, hired by his son, Wonbo, to help with remodeling his newly purchased New York loft. The apartment was located in a former hat factory, which entailed a lot of drastic planning decisions. The place was narrow and dark, with kitchen and bathroom awkwardly cramped in one corner. “That’s typical in Manhattan loft construction, where you don’t have quite enough for two full floors,”-  the architect says. – “They line up all the elements side by side against one wall, and block off the spaces above and below.” To change all that, the layout was changed completely. The kitchen has been made a focal point with the bedroom loft, placed above it. The kitchen ceiling was elevated, giving the bed a familiar two feet height. The area, separating kitchen from the hallway is used as a massive closet – a luxury in any NY pad. To make the space appear bigger, all horizontal surfaces are covered with light wood, and the remaining vertical surfaces are painted white. Natural light bounces off the light shelves over the windows to wash the vaulted ceiling in a soft glow.

(via dwell)

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This film, shot by the great Kirsten Dirksen of Fair Companies, lets us into a very unusual tiny home. The owner, Barcelona-based architect Valentina Maini, bought an extremely small space in a historic walk-up. The apartment is only 25 square meter (269 square feet) big, yet it contains all the necessities and even a few luxuries (check out how she managed to incorporate a bathtub into her limited living space!). This housetour offers a lot of great space-saving ideas, shows how to recycle old office furniture and choose new one. I specifically loved how the traditional Japanese tatami chairs were used in various ways. Enjoy!

This small apartment in Barcelona, redesigned by its owners Monica Potvin and Markel Otaola, uses an interesting approach to space-saving. Instead of creating a separate bathroom, laundry room and kitchen, they built a cube in the center of their home to house all of the utilitarian stuff. Even the floor space under the hallways around the cube is used for extra storage; this was inspired by the tuck-away elements on sailboats (Markel is a sailor). Watch the beautiful home tour, shot by Fair Companies, to get Monica’s take on living small and a lot of great space-saving ideas.

Fair Companies never disappoint. One of the recent home tours they have posted simply made me gasp, that’s how brilliant it is. The 40 square meter (430 square foot) apartment is comprised of a bedroom, living room, fully equipped kitchen (even the wine cooler is there), dining room, dressing room and a shower. Inspired by traditional Japanese architecture, the author of the project, Miguel Angel, used sliding doors to divide the place into zones and create privacy when it’s needed. These doors move in multiple directions, allowing for softer closings of one large space. How clever. But my favorite detail of the apartment is the indoor/outdoor shower. Located in the center of the apartment, it features a hole in the ceiling. From above the hole appears to be a simple planter on the roof deck with the ivy plants disguising the depth of the descent (though the wood of the planter is the same wood of the shower). From inside, the hole turns an otherwise windowless bathroom into a magical place. During a storm it allows showering in the rain, provides cool air during summer and creates an illusion of a tropical retreat during chilly winter days… Check out the video to see the comprehensive tour of this rare urban gem.

Kane Chan, the owner of this sleek NY loft, moved to Big Apple from London in 2009. He found this 520 square feed one bedroom apartment in an old industrial building in East Village. The 1929 landmark has been converted to co-ops in the seventies. What in real estate agents’ jargon sounded like “charming prewar details” (pardon the bitterness – I’m apartment hunting) in reality amounted to scary-looking dingy surfaces, narrow rooms and an unlivable loft, occupied by the AC system. Only his photos (see the thumbnails after the break) can speak to the level of transformation.

But the apartment had good bones, not to mention – great light coming from a huge window. With the help of the designer Sergio Mercado, the full benefit of these qualities emerged. “The space was bisected by the bedroom wall,” Mercado says. Once that came down, the full beauty and light from the windows was revealed. The mezzanine loft is now a bedroom. Though only 227 square feet, it is elegant and efficient, with storage area for books in the oak shelf. Thoughtful color accents throughout the apartment, expertly played against shades of gray, break the monochrome scheme, diving the sense of completeness to the space.

(via hvhinteriors and nymag)

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This small  (approximately 409 square feet) apartment in Sidney, Australia, initially had an open loft-like floor plan. Which posed an obvious problem for the owners, a family of three, – privacy was desperately needed. The solution, suggested by Anthony Gill Architects, was ingenius. They’ve built a partition from book shelves and closed storage, and divided the place in four sections – living room, child’s bedroom, dining room and kitchen. To accomodate parents’ bed, the clever sliding compartment was invented. Thus the bed is hiding underneath the child’s room when not in use and rolled out when needed. Designers elaborate: “The aim was to create a space that would suit a couple with a young child. The existing joinery (not original) was demolished leaving only the masonry walls to the bathroom which remains untouched. A new joinery element was inserted to re-configure the space, addressing the issues of privacy, storage and a lack of living space inherent in an apartment of this size.”

Photography by Peter Bennetts

(via design-milk)

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This small but cozy apartment in Gothenburg’s Lorensberg district, found through Stadshem, demonstrates a great use of space. The place in its entirety is only 38 square meters (little more than 400 square feet). Yet it includes all essential components without looking cramped. The sleeping loft (my personal favorite detail) is connected to the floor-to-ceiling bookcase. The space under the staircase is used for storage, uncluttering other areas of the apartment. Unified surfaces and unobstructed sunlight make the place appear bigger. Beautiful design, seriously flares up my real estate envy…

(via freshome)

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This minimalist apartment has been designed by St. Petersburg based architect Oleg Trofimov. The 59 m² (approximately 640 square feet) residence includes a living room, dining room, galley kitchen with an island, bedroom and even a tiny workspace. Most elements of this small dwelling are interchangeable, allowing for creative use of space.

The apartment is a gem of space-saving creativity. The custom built unit in the living room, in addition to providing storage, hides a dining table and four dining chairs. In order to visually open up a tiny bedroom space, designer created a see-through shower and a free standing sink (with more storage!). Only the toilet and bidet are secluded. When privacy (or noise control) is needed, the closet door in the bedroom slides to cover the threshold. The small fold-away desk completes the bedroom suite.

Envisioned as a retreat for an avid art collector, the place works as a backdrop for the art pieces, displayed on the walls. Clean lines and neutral color scheme add to this gallery-like aesthetic, which in itself is quite an achievement in a space of this size.

(via homedit)

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