An American woman from Olympia in the North-Western state of Oregon sold her regular home to downsize is life, and in space. A Lot! She built herself a 84-sq. ft./7,8m2 home that she shares with her black Lab. Check her unusual home here.
Dee's small home built from scrap materials
His friends didn’t see it, but Ronald himself knew the apartment he was going to rent would be a haven of well designed tranquility. The 22-year-old interior designer to be saw through the silver window frames, the stained red carpeting and the yellow walls and recognized the huge potential. He saw huge windows, a clever lay-out, and a very central location in the Southern Dutch town of Oss. He signed the lease and started making plans.
The same friends that were less thrilled about the place in the beginning, proved to be of great help. Together they stripped the walls, tore out the carpets and revamped the flat to what it is today. Ronald: “I knew immediately that I wanted light walls and a dark floor. This adds the sense of space and gives an instant chic appearance. By painting the toe-boards in a light colour, in this case the same white as the ceiling, one avoids the floor being like a box”.
Sitting room with wall dividing bedroom
The dividing wall between the main room and the bedroom needed something special. Ronald wanted to keep as much light coming through into either room as possible. “A friend and I started thinking up ideas. One was having the wall rotate with a TV in it. Or maybe lowering the wall to where it would just be a partition, we thought of many things”. The final outcome is a very clever lower wall with wooden blinds fixed on galvanised steel pillars. “The pillars are actually curtain rails. It was a tough job creating this as the rails had to go through the wall to be able to support the wooden blinds. I am very pleased with the result”, adds Ronald.
The window frames and the ceiling were painted a bright white to contrast the subtle grey on the walls. For the floor Ronald was hoping to put in a concrete floor in a darker anthracite grey. But the existing floor proved to be a bit of a problem. Ronald: “We needed to level it and sand it down to be able to put the floor in. In the end I opted for a marmoleum (vynil) floor”.
The kitchen cupboards are covered in black adhesive foil.
The Kitchen was in perfect condition and the lay-out was great too. It would have been a shame to rip it out. Especially considering this a rental flat. But the veneer with faux-wood print had to go. “My father in law had experience in covering up kitchen units and cupboards with an adhesive foil. I wanted a black kitchen, so covered the doors with black foil. The worktop looks really good with it, so that stayed”.
Instead of a regular dining set, Ronald chose to put in a high breakfast bar with four stools. It separates the kitchen from the main room and when not used as a table makes for extra worktop space.
Details throughout the flat
Ronald is aspiring a career in interior design. Homevoyeurs thinks he has what it takes!
Photography © Ronald Cornelissen
Inspired? The Homevoyeurs webshop sells many books about how to decorate small spaces. A great example is Studio Apartments: big ideas for smaller spaces by By James Grayson Trulove. You can order it here.
Studio apartments: big ideas for small spaces
The wonderful queen of real estate gossip, the Real Estalker, wrote on her blog that mister Vidal Sassoon and his wife Rhonda (yes, wife, I was surprised too) have listed their 1950’s minimalist bungalow in the glitzy LA neighbourhood of Beverly Hills. The 6000 plus square feet bungalow (that’s 550 plus square meters for us normal folk) was designed by the noted architect to the stars Hal Levitt. This man designed many a house for many a movie star way back when Beverly Hills were still hills, Hancock Park was still a park and one could still breathe in fresh air in Bel Air.
Vidal Sassoon's home in Beverly Hills. Picture collage courtesy of the Real Estalker
The house has seen extensive renovations throughout the years. It still oozes 50’s architecture but I must say that for a man who does such wonders to hair, the house is a bit too bare for my likings.
It’s on the market for a staggering $17,500,000 but for that one buys a house previously owned by Her Royal Highness Princess Shams Pahlavi, the now deceased older sister of the last Shah of Iran. Not sure if that is actually enough of a reason for that hefty a price, but I know I’d be telling that to strangers in bars if it were my house.
Swedish design duo The Snowroom make lamps from recycled plastic bottles. For their light objects, as ‘lamp’ is too little a word, they were inspired by fresh snow. The bright white colour, but also the structure are in fact reminiscent of the snow you used to know as a child. The kind no other kid had stepped on yet.
In-House lamp by The Snowroom
The designers, Ulrika Liffner & Thorulf Lofstedt, try to create their products as ecologically conscious as possible. Not only are the lamps made from recycled materials, but they are delivered with a low-energy lightbulb.
Check their website for stockists, or order them online from Nordicchild.com
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