The studio is intended for the elderly parents of the owners. They will get their own space that opens out onto a shade dappled back yard, that is only feet away from the main family home. The parents will be able to participate in family life, or retreat to the cottage as they see fit, but benefit from the proximity of the family and the grandchild.
Small Spaces
11 posts
This week I visited this project in Oakland which converted an existing detached garage into a studio cottage. We started this project a little more than a year ago and now it is very near complete. The owners are waiting on the Murphy bed to arrive, and they want to […]
One of the projects in my studio at the moment is a backyard cottage in Berkeley. This is a quintessential accessory dwelling unit: free-standing in the backyard. We are doing everything we can to keep this design simple and straightforward in order to keep costs down. The property backs up […]
I can’t recall if I’ve written about this project or not. Years ago, I did a project for these clients in this house, enclosing a carport to be a garage. That was successful. But the owners soon had to relocate for work, and the house was rented out. They’ve returned […]
A couple of weeks ago I visited the project in San Leandro which is currently under construction. I took some pictures and realized that this project provides an example of a principal of design I call “Small Changes Can Make A Big Difference”. In this case, opening up the wall between […]
If you are interested in “tiny houses”, HGTV may have the show for you. It’s called Tiny House Hunters. Like it’s name sakes, House Hunters and International House Hunters, the “tiny” version of the show follows a person, couple, or family while they search for a tiny house solution just […]
This apartment in Spain by PKMN Architecture, is an inspired bit of space planning and “thinking outside the box”. The client, an artist and designer who works from home, needed a house that provided a series of different spaces. The solution the architects came up with is ingenious. It may […]
Sometimes you have to make a small kitchen work. Expanding the kitchen is not viable because of cost, space constraints, or because you are renting. Kitchn.com recently published a list of 8 ways to make more of a small kitchen. Though, there are two number 4’s and no number 6. […]
One of the things I am interested in, and have some experience with, is designing for living in small spaces. The average American house is 2300 square feet, which is about 1000 square feet larger than the average American house of 50 years ago. Are American families bigger than they […]
When you are designing a small space, every inch has to work and every piece of furniture has to be carefully considered. The video below shows the multi-functional furniture from one manufacturer. Not only is the furniture beautiful and functional, I find it inspiring. Seeing furniture like this makes you […]
House Beautiful is a great resource for inspirational ideas. This article of theirs features 10 ideas for small space design 9 of them are really good. But 1 is really not that great. I do not agree about open shelves in small kitchens. Unless you live your life curating everything […]