How to...create space
The “pied de terre” I was working on during my quick trip back to Europe was typically Parisian! A studio apartment of...(not may M2) with a tiny shower/toilet room (cabin), a built in “coin cuisine” (kitchen corner) and one room that multi-tasked for the living, dining and sleeping space.
But it was light, airy and well situated for quick trips into Paris, as well as having close proximitie to the river banks of the Seine (believe me, a walk along the river bank and you're instantly de-stressed!).
The downside? it was cramped and impersonal, definately not the functional, elegant space this busy business man deserved...
My initial brief was to add a little warmth to this white box that held the bare minimum of comforts. I could have decided to work with decoration and soft furnishings alone. That in itself would make a big difference by introducing some much needed warmth and character into the room, but what the clients didn't realize was that the space itself was not being used as well as it could be, and in spaces this small, to get the best results, the bones of the room has to be right, before thinking about decoration. After a quick chat with the client, I was given free rein to make the space, “the best it could be”.
It was time to get creative...with space!
Layout and existing furnishings were “traditional” and traditionally places within the space. The bed was recent, and but far too large for the room.
It could have been lived with on a tighter budget, but luckily this customer understood the concept of investing wisely in the basics.
Luckily the marketplace is full of very functional, and clever, “bed in the wall”, “pull out”, and “now you see it, now you don't bed solutions that are just made for studio living!
Not cheap, but worth the spend, as one of these would free up valuable floor space during the day.
Clothes storage was adequate, but the open-fronted existing solution was not in keeping with the look we wanted to create, so I started to consider alternatives...Attaching fabric to the wardrobe frame would be a cost efficient solution to cordon off this area, and at the same time would help “soften” of feel of the room. Building-in sliding doors to mask the storage area would do the job, but to ensure that the look and longevity (read quality) matched the function, these solutions are rarely the most cost efficient.
Re-distributing the layout of the storage, away from the traditional wardrobe was an option that tempted me most for this tiny space, and having had the luxury of working alongside an artisan that fitted out the interior of top-end yachts, I'd learnt a lot about the use of almost non-existent space (and about tracking down rather special materials that these compact spaces into tiny works of art...but that's another story!). I love “hiding” the day-to-day storage away behind “false walls”, inside tables and benches, into decorative bulkheads...
There is often lots of under-utilized space all around us, it only takes a new way of looking at it, to open up lots of possibilities.
Solutions!
Combining the services of a great carpenter, with some “off the shelf” store-bought solutions, meant tiny studio was about to “grow”. Unusually high ceilings allowed me to utilize “lost” space by “tucking” a small double bed into a custom bulkhead, and at the push of a button the bed moved “up and away” during the day, to free a built in seating/storage area underneath, complete with a clever coffee table whose “lift up” table top allowed meals to be eaten in comfort.
With one wall given over to storage, we “lost” the depth of a standard wardrobe, but gained floor-to-ceiling storage.
It's simple, flush facade added an elegant feel, and with one of the doors designed to drop down as an office table top, this small space was now fully functional!
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