Tiny House Blog

Tiny apartments, especially tiny studio apartments, present a set of challenges to the dweller. Storage is one challenge: With the exception of the handful of lucky folks who score rent-controlled apartments and stay for years, it’s not worthwhile for most renters to buy built-in storage units for their apartments. Creating a separation between the living space and bedroom space is the other major challenge. I live in a studio apartment, and I’ve learned how to stay organized and to maximize my space. I’ll tell you what works for me, and a few other tips that I picked up from Linda Merrill, a fabulous and pragmatic interior designer who I work with.

How to Maximize Space in a Studio Apartment

• Multi-tasking furniture is your best friend: Instead of trying to squeeze a couch, a guest bed, and a linen closet into my apartment, I bought a daybed with a storage space built in under the mattress. I store my sheets, towels, and (oddly) scrap paper in the hidden compartment under the mattress. Continue Reading »

Tara and Herb both sent me two related articles about some cool lofts under development in Vancouver B.C. Canada. These micro-lofts are about 270 square feet, the size of two parking spaces.

General manager Jon Stovell says the micro-lofts will have pretty much everything essential for living, including a bathroom, kitchen, workspace and big loft-style windows that provide natural ventilation and bright views of the street.

“They have a fold-down wall bed, and when that wall bed is up, it has a fold-down table. We integrated a workbench with a built-in flat screen TV so that that does not take any room and created a glassy washroom enclosure that functions as a single area — shower, and toilet and sink all in one area. Continue Reading »

Katie in Berlin, Germany recently wrote me to let me know about their tiny kitchen remodel. I am going to let Katie tell you their story.

We live in a 480 square foot apartment in Berlin.  Our kitchen in Berlin, Germany left a lot to be desired when we first saw it.  It was easy to see why.  At 36 square feet, there were no drawers, counter spaces, or places to store anything.  The last tenants kept a fridge and freezer in the living room with dishes stacked on top of it.  We thought that there just had to be a better solution. We had no idea where to get tools or construction supplies.  

Our apartment also didn’t have any lights except this one dangling hazard.  When people buy or rent in Germany, their homes don’t come with any light fixtures.  People prefer to take their lights with them from home to home.

We were considered lucky, though, most homes also don’t come with kitchens. 

Germans call American homes “cardboard houses”.  I don’t think we truly understood why until we started to tear down our kitchen walls. They were solid drywall, and they weren’t even load-bearing!  Each of those drywall bricks weighed at least 50 pounds.

And slowly, we progressed without breaking the law… What law?  The notorious German law that enforces strict quiet hours every single day.  It makes work for young remodelers nearly impossible; it offers their neighbors a bit of bliss.

• Our cabinets extend all the way to the ceiling, utilizing every inch of vertical space.
• Our oven is too small to cook a turkey, which is fine with us.  (We’re vegetarians)  It also happens to be our microwave, too.
• We picked a two-burner stove.  It turns out we hardly ever use three burners, let alone four.
• Our dishwasher is half-sized.  It really feels like just the right size for a family of two.
• Our fridge is a standard German fridge… which happens to be the same tiny size Americans have in college dorms.  It’s covered by wooden panels, which is traditional in German kitchens.
• Our recycling system is super compact… and still manages to provide us with a way to sort our recycling in TEN ways (required by German law).

We like to think that good living can come in any size.  And so far, so good!

To see more pictures of the project and read more of Katie’s experience go to her blog.

If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to our feed

24 Rooms Tucked Into One

Christian and Shelly both sent me an email this morning in regards to a New York Times article about a modern and cool and high tech and very expensive tiny home in Hong Kong, that has some neat ideas we can apply to tiny space living.

Mr. Chang, an architect, can impose on his 344-square-foot apartment, at least 24 different layouts. Using shifting wall units suspended from steel tracks bolted into the ceiling, the apartment becomes all manner of spaces — kitchen, library, laundry room, dressing room, a lounge with a hammock, an enclosed dining area and a wet bar. 

The article called 24 Rooms Tucked Into One by Virginia Gardiner can be viewed at the New York Times website. Following are a few pictures and descriptions.

Photo Credit: Marcel Lam for The New York Times

Living Area

The walls in the apartment’s main room, awash in yellow because of tinted windows, are pushed against the wall to the left to create an open space, with CDs to the left and the desk to the right.

Bedroom

Mr. Chang uses a hydraulic Murphy bed of his own design, hidden behind a sofa during the day.

Bathroom

Behind one movable wall of shelving is an extra-large Duravit bathtub. A glass shower stall doubles as a steamroom with color therapy and massage and a Toto toilet has a heated seat and remote control bidet. Sound emanates from a six-speaker home entertainment system.

Kitchen

A panel hides the nook, and the TV wall moves to reveal the kitchen.

Closet Storage

Mr. Chang, 46, has lived in this seventh-floor apartment since he was 14, when he moved in with his parents and three younger sisters. His experiment in flexible living began in 1988, when his family moved into a bigger apartment a few blocks away with his grandparents and uncles.

If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to our feed