LIVIN' LARGE... IN A TINY SPACE.

Photo by Marla Weinhoff. From the window of the Kravet Showroom

Today I have been bombarded by tid bits of media about how to maximize small spaces. I've lived in New York for 12 years so you'd think I would be a pro by now - but until 3 years ago I had always lived in gigantic lofts which allow you to accumulate without notice.. Now that i live in a regular sized apartment.. it has been a struggle and one everyone here goes thru.

In this weekends New York Times I read about a man who has lived in 348 sq feet since 1985.. Here we have a pro who knows how to make it work. The problem always is "things".. i mean we are people.. we love things.. they inspire us intrigue us and allow us to create a mood within our space.. a mood that contrasts with the outside world.. a mood that highlights our interests and personality. To be able to express this and live in 348 sq feet is a miracle and a gift. Multipurpose. Multifunctional. Storage and reflective surfaces. Mirrors. This seems to be an underlying theme for maximizing small spaces.

In my morning sift thru the news I landed on a blog called unclutterer.com. You can imagine what they help you with here. There was an article about a woman who had gone to clean out a storage room she had rented for 7 years. She threw away almost everything in the storage room save a few sentimental items small enough to fill a drawer. She did the calculations.. 7 years at $120 per month was $10,000. She had spent 10,000 storing a bunch of crap she threw in the trash. Like her storage unit many of us small apartment dwellers keep a bunch of shit we just dont need. Release it. Bye bye. If you dont love it use it need it. Let it go.

As I scrolled thru the rest of the unclutterer site I noticed a video about an apartment in Hong Kong. The space had been written up in the NYTimes over a year ago "24 rooms tucked into one".. Hong Kong Architect Gary Chang wins the award on small space living... in his own spaceship modern style he has transformed the 344 square foot apartment which at one time housed his entire family and a tenant! This is an architect employed everything he knew about architecture and small space living to create his dream. The video from Discovery Channels Worlds Greenest Homes is at the bottom. Pretty Crazy. The Transformer. Check it OUT>