W
hat do you do when your
dream house is downsized
because of a lack of space?
How do you make the best
of what you’ve got when it doesn’t seem
to fit all you require of it, while still
making it look good? Designers have
had lots of challenging fun with these
questions just so that we don’t have to
feel discouraged by them.
Solutions like implementing
multipurpose spaces, doing open-plan
planning, executing clever ergonomics
in the working environment and loft
living can easily turn what seems like a
nightmare into a happy home.
Multipurpose spaces
58
ceiling or on the wall on which to hang
bicycles or other awkwardly shaped
items which need storage, seeing a
storeroom isn’t often included in a
general townhouse development plan.
Never undervalue the amount of storage
you may need.
In the living room one should
consider manufacturing or purchasing
dual-purpose furniture to help save
space. This can refer to floating shelves
in height-line with the TV cupboard
against a wall which sits over the
lounger and can thus have the second
function of a side table or elbow rest,
shelving for books or magazines in the
underside or under-arm compartment
of a lounge chair, or a side table with
multiple functions of allowing space
for a laptop at a comfortable height, a
printer inside the side table with a door
which can appear seamless and yet
open into a surface which allows paper
out once printed. (See image below.)
There are plenty of opportunities to
implement multipurpose spaces in one’s
home. These adjustments will not only
be cunningly effective, but promise to
become great conversation pieces.
In the bedroom one can construct
or buy integrated under-bed storage in
the form of drawers. Use the wall space
for cupboards. Clad cupboard sides with
mirrors or shelving or both to open up
the space, thus using it to its optimum
potential. In tight areas like spaces
between the bed and the wall one could
perhaps salvage enough space to put up
a floating shelf at dressing-table height
with a small chair which can easily be
moved under the shelf when not in use.
This would then function as a dressing
surface space complemented by a
wall-mounted mirror above it. Floating
shelves are very useful in small spaces
and could even be helpful above the
washing machine in the bathroom.
Add freestanding or built-in Mobile (52nd edition) and Euroluce (27th
This year the Salonedel
cupboards in small corner areas in
edition) order to turn any inoperable http://everysmallspace.com/2010/09/
hallways inFair on the Milan Fairgrounds – Rho Milan, Italy, exhibited the
portable-desks-for-use-in-small-livingfinest some kind as
space into a cupboard ofof trendy designer items in both the
spaces/
long as enough space is allowed for
furniture and lighting categories.
10.10.2013
traffic to various areas in the house.
09:50 Posted 16 September 2013
One could even instal hooks in the
desIgn Namibia October - December 2013