- 3 hours ago
- #smallapartment
- #architecture
- #interiordesign
Subscribe to the NTS Sub Club by July 18th to receive your copy of Issue 4 of the Never Too Small Magazine, with free worldwide shipping https://www.nts-store.com! This issue is a bold celebration of colour, creativity, and the art of small-space living.
In Amsterdam’s eastern harbour, Koen Fraijman and Fadime Gökkaya’s bright 45sqm/484sqft loft apartment is full of character and clever DIY solutions. What started as a simple plan to add a dishwasher quickly became a full DIY renovation—transforming the compact space into a creative hub for everyday living. A repurposed IKEA kitchen features smart drawer layouts and a long alphabetised spice rack tucked into the beams, while a rail-mounted TV in the living room slides out from behind the sofa. Upstairs, a sunlit mezzanine features a workspace and multipurpose bed frame with a cleverly integrated laundry hatch and drying rack. Outside, the couple built their own floating deck for gardening, swimming, and enjoying the view. Full of heart, humour, and hands-on design, this tiny home is a joyful expression of how the smallest spaces can inspire big ideas.
00:00-01:51 Introduction
01:51-04:12 Entrance
04:12-07:10 Bathroom
07:10-08:52 Stairway
08:52-12:25 Kitchen
12:25-16:52 Living Area
16:52-18:23 Deck
18:23-22:43 Bedroom
22:43-23:31 Conclusion
Watch the original apartment tour here ✨ https://youtu.be/wD6NlS348CQ?si=wY3AkdzwN7qE_fa6
Read the full article about this apartment here: https://www.nevertoosmall.com/post/how-koen-fraijman-and-fadime-gokkaya-live-small
#smallapartment #architecture #interiordesign
How I Live Small Ep.8
Owners: Koen Fraijman and Fadime Gökkaya
https://fraijman.nl/nl/
https://www.instagram.com/fraijman
Produced by New Mac Video Agency
Creator: Colin Chee
Producer: Lindsay Barnard
Director and Cinematographer: Nam Tran
Editor: Jessica Ruasol
Music: Artlist.io
The Ice Cream Booth by Ziv Grinberg
Busy Bee Bop by Ziggy
Home - Instrumental Version by Zach Sorgen
Tamars Love Song by Alexander Levin
Voodoo by Jimit
Falling by Phury
Shinjuku by Magiksolo
Radiate by 92elm
Weekdays in Blue by Simon Berggren Ballads
Juno by Jimit
Smooth Lab by Simon Berggren Ballads
Candy by Jimit
Arak Deluxe by David Gives
Share your projects with us- https://www.nevertoosmall.com/submissions
Subscribe to our newsletter- https://www.nevertoosmall.com/subscribe
Check out our store- https://www.nts-store.com
Website- https://www.nevertoosmall.com
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/nvtsmall
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/nvtsmall
In Amsterdam’s eastern harbour, Koen Fraijman and Fadime Gökkaya’s bright 45sqm/484sqft loft apartment is full of character and clever DIY solutions. What started as a simple plan to add a dishwasher quickly became a full DIY renovation—transforming the compact space into a creative hub for everyday living. A repurposed IKEA kitchen features smart drawer layouts and a long alphabetised spice rack tucked into the beams, while a rail-mounted TV in the living room slides out from behind the sofa. Upstairs, a sunlit mezzanine features a workspace and multipurpose bed frame with a cleverly integrated laundry hatch and drying rack. Outside, the couple built their own floating deck for gardening, swimming, and enjoying the view. Full of heart, humour, and hands-on design, this tiny home is a joyful expression of how the smallest spaces can inspire big ideas.
00:00-01:51 Introduction
01:51-04:12 Entrance
04:12-07:10 Bathroom
07:10-08:52 Stairway
08:52-12:25 Kitchen
12:25-16:52 Living Area
16:52-18:23 Deck
18:23-22:43 Bedroom
22:43-23:31 Conclusion
Watch the original apartment tour here ✨ https://youtu.be/wD6NlS348CQ?si=wY3AkdzwN7qE_fa6
Read the full article about this apartment here: https://www.nevertoosmall.com/post/how-koen-fraijman-and-fadime-gokkaya-live-small
#smallapartment #architecture #interiordesign
How I Live Small Ep.8
Owners: Koen Fraijman and Fadime Gökkaya
https://fraijman.nl/nl/
https://www.instagram.com/fraijman
Produced by New Mac Video Agency
Creator: Colin Chee
Producer: Lindsay Barnard
Director and Cinematographer: Nam Tran
Editor: Jessica Ruasol
Music: Artlist.io
The Ice Cream Booth by Ziv Grinberg
Busy Bee Bop by Ziggy
Home - Instrumental Version by Zach Sorgen
Tamars Love Song by Alexander Levin
Voodoo by Jimit
Falling by Phury
Shinjuku by Magiksolo
Radiate by 92elm
Weekdays in Blue by Simon Berggren Ballads
Juno by Jimit
Smooth Lab by Simon Berggren Ballads
Candy by Jimit
Arak Deluxe by David Gives
Share your projects with us- https://www.nevertoosmall.com/submissions
Subscribe to our newsletter- https://www.nevertoosmall.com/subscribe
Check out our store- https://www.nts-store.com
Website- https://www.nevertoosmall.com
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/nvtsmall
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/nvtsmall
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:01We rented here for, well, two years, three years before we bought the place.
00:08We thought, okay, now we're going to make this place really how we'd like to.
00:13When we think of our relationship, creating together is a huge part of it.
00:19We use the house as a way to create as well.
00:24My name is Koen. I'm a designer. I live here in Amsterdam together with Vadim.
00:29I'm Vadim and I work as a child psychologist.
00:34And of course, we have a cat. This is Sok.
00:42We've been living here for about six or seven years.
00:46We've been together almost ten years.
00:49We were actually both doing an exchange in Turkey.
00:52After that, I convinced Koen to come to Amsterdam.
00:56We moved into another house first. After half a year, then we found this place so we could settle down
01:01here.
01:03We rented here for a while and then we were thinking, are we going to look for another house or
01:08are we going to renovate this place?
01:11One of the first things we both said we really needed was a dishwasher.
01:15That's true. It started with something practical we really need.
01:18But then what happens is, but if we do this, then we first need to tackle this.
01:23But we then need to tackle this. We need to tackle this. And then it became this huge project.
01:28Some people claiming it must be at least 65 square meters.
01:32I just took that as a compliment. I was like, okay, well, thanks, but it's 45.
01:36Because it's so high and so light and it has these windows and connecting with the outside, it's optically looks
01:46bigger than 45 square meters.
01:54So this is the hallway. We try to keep it as clean as possible because it's a quite a small
02:01hallway.
02:02Visitors have a clear line of sight through the house to the outside to the water.
02:07We added these cabinets over here so that you don't come in and directly look into the bedroom, but you
02:13can actually have a bit of a small block.
02:16Keys, wallets, phone, everything goes here and the shoes as well.
02:21We have a castle on top of our lamp.
02:23One of the things from Living Small is that it's quite nice to have other small worlds in the house.
02:30So we have a lot of tiny scenes, tiny dioramas scattered throughout the house.
02:36We also added a mirror there also to make it again feel more spacious, but also make it more light.
02:42You can actually put your coat over here. It used to be here, but then the hallway becomes very cramped
02:49and you cannot open the door anymore.
02:50So that's where you put it in a cabinet and it works nice as well.
02:53The cabinet behind here was made by my father. He made it to fit the stairs.
02:59So all the doors kind of open and they're cut. So you still have all the space inside the cabinet,
03:05but you can actually open and close the doors.
03:09The bookshelf was already here by the previous tenants.
03:13It's an IKEA bookshelf which was decided to keep it and to fit it to our own needs.
03:19These sculptures I've been making the last year and they're like inspired by exploring old towns or walking around with
03:27twisted buildings.
03:29This is a book nook. We have this tradition, Vadim and I, to make Christmas cards or holiday cards for
03:36friends.
03:37We did a Photoshop of ourselves inside this book nook and we've hidden all kinds of small details that had
03:43to do with what happened with us the last year.
03:46This famous Dutch artist had this permanent sculpture inside the museum, but then the museum closed down and I happened
03:55to be in a neighborhood with Vadim.
03:57It turned out they had thrown the whole sculpture in the trash bag. So we were like, what is going
04:02on here?
04:03We just decided to cut out a nice part and now it's hanging here on the wall.
04:07You can say I've stolen it. You can also say I've saved the part of the sculpture.
04:11Yeah.
04:13Bathroom night.
04:16One thing we really loved in old houses was stained glass.
04:20Well, this is quite a new house, so there was no stained glass.
04:24And then we figured out we could just make some ourselves.
04:27And the motif is inspired by Tetris.
04:32Living with the cat also comes with some challenges.
04:34They also need their own toilet.
04:37So we give her our own little toilet house over here.
04:40Whenever necessary, we can also easily open the door and then clean the litter box.
04:48I love to make and create things.
04:50I think when you buy something, you first have this peak of that you bought it a new thing.
04:55And then over time, it only becomes less valuable.
04:58With making it yourself, it's kind of the opposite.
05:01First, you only see the floss.
05:02And then over time, you really start appreciating and it becomes more and more valuable to you.
05:06We made this cabinet and we added the mirror cabinets and these shelves.
05:14We actually first bought a yellow Fiat as a car and then only later we learned that there was a
05:19Lego set in the same color of the same car.
05:22So we had to get the Lego set as well.
05:24I was always cleaning the cups where you put your toothbrushes in.
05:29And then I figured, well, I can just also have the toothbrush stay inside of the sink.
05:34So I designed and 3D printed these holders for the toothbrushes.
05:37So they're hanging in our sink right now.
05:39Behind this screen, we have the shower.
05:42So it's a bit small, but it's just functional. It works fine.
05:47Oh, this box is just to hide the piping.
05:50I made it in Illustrator and then laser cut it and paint it.
05:54Sok also needs to be able to access her toilet when the door is closed.
06:01So that's why we also have a cat door over here.
06:06When you enter the hallway and go down with the stairs, you come across this lovely design.
06:13It's an Illustrator Heckel.
06:15There are these websites where you can upload your photo and they will make the wallpaper from that photo.
06:25So it is all segmented.
06:27So you have a standard wallpaper size, which ends here.
06:31So these I had to do in three pieces.
06:36From the entrance, you can either go up to the bedroom or down to the kitchen and living area.
06:42So let's go down.
06:45In this corner, we have more storage area.
06:48And a nice detail with the storage area are these doorknobs.
06:52We've been making these doorknobs ourselves at the forging workshop.
06:55That was really cool to do.
06:57The thing we both love to do is to create together.
07:01At some point we started to look at vacations where we could just do a project, a creative project together
07:08that would also be functional.
07:10And then pottery came in.
07:12All of our plates, cups, everything we made ourselves.
07:16And then it was also the same time in the process where we were tiling everything.
07:21And we thought, how fun would it be to create a tile that matches?
07:25And then we put our signatures there as well.
07:29We have space for our cleaning utensils, for everything we need for our cat.
07:35This door also opens up to give us access to all the space we have below the staircase.
07:40We removed from the stairs this side panel, so we can store all the cushions there that we have outside
07:46right now.
07:49We actually arrived now in the kitchen, which we can enter with a little elevation.
07:54Is there a reason why it's raised off the ground?
07:57From the entrance, we took a meter or one and a half down.
08:02For the water system not to get in a problem.
08:06Okay, you do it.
08:08Come here.
08:09Here's the street level.
08:11So the sewage is like about here.
08:14For the water to keep on flowing down, we need to raise the kitchen.
08:18Otherwise, you need a pump to pump the water back up.
08:21So that's why the kitchen is slightly elevated, so you don't need a pump.
08:24Yeah, but at the same time, it creates a different zone for the area as well.
08:29Before, this was only the part you see behind me.
08:33And with adding this aisle, we have so much more space and storage.
08:38Which we can store.
08:39And everything is in hand reach as well.
08:42We built it with, actually it's an IKEA set.
08:46So also the tabletop, which was easy to get a second one to replace the tabletop of the original kitchen.
08:54So it would be matching.
08:56But we also were very lucky that the available grey fronts of the IKEA set really matched with the original
09:03idea itself.
09:04Before, the storage beneath here would all be cupboards where you couldn't reach the end part.
09:12Everything is now a drawer.
09:14Even if these two look like a cupboard, there's a drawer in there as well.
09:20The dishwasher is placed over here.
09:22So I really wanted the cutlery and the dishwasher rack to be close to each other.
09:29So it's very easy to remove the clean cutlery back in their place.
09:35On top, we have the hanging pans.
09:37I think it's aesthetically pleasing, but also it saves a lot of space in the kitchen.
09:42And it's just easier to reach instead of going all the way back into a drawer.
09:49I have a lot of spices and to place this into a cupboard would create a mess.
09:57The construction here was already here and we only needed to add this bar for us to put little jars
10:05with spices in there.
10:07It's alphabetically organized.
10:09I know exactly where my spices are.
10:12You would come up with a new thing you need in the house and then you have to figure out
10:17how to make it work.
10:19And then I often first say like, no, there's no more space.
10:22And then we have to figure out how we're going to make space anyways.
10:26I know how you work now because when you say first no, I'm like, yeah, we'll see about that.
10:32We didn't have a freezer.
10:33So we changed the whole layout of this cupboard because I wanted to fit a freezer.
10:39And it was like, there's no space.
10:41I'm going to get to move all the stuff that's already there to make room for a freezer.
10:44Trust me, I got this.
10:46You just make the boards.
10:48I organize everything.
10:50There we can have a freezer.
10:52The fronts didn't fit anymore with the new fridge and the freezer.
10:56So we came up with a solution.
10:58It's MDF and we cut it at the exact size as we needed.
11:03And then we painted it with spray paint.
11:06We needed some air ventilation for the fridge and the freezer.
11:11And Koen was like, well, we can also make it ourselves.
11:14And instead of just having holes, we can also have in the shape of bell peppers.
11:25For our living room, we wanted a piece of furniture that nicely contrasted the tiles.
11:31That's why we decided to paint everything pink.
11:34So we have this combination of cabinets that form one big storage unit.
11:41We integrated a working shelf.
11:44Whenever I want to work on some small projects from home, I can flip these open, get this out.
11:50And I have all kinds of tools and laptop laying around just to start working on the project.
11:57What I'm personally struggling a bit with is for bigger projects.
12:01I cannot do that at home.
12:02So that's a bit of a thing I would really like to have closer to this house.
12:06So since two years, I've also rented an office space or a workshop space nearby.
12:13I've thought about it, like to make a bigger workspace here.
12:16But I also like to keep it a bit separated, like working and living.
12:21We used to have a hiding spot for SOC here.
12:25But she was never using it.
12:26So we decided to make better use of the space.
12:30And now we mainly...
12:32I put a lot of food in there.
12:33I storage food in the cupboard now.
12:36So there's no place for SOC anymore.
12:38We have this card rack.
12:41Sending postcards is not a thing that happens too much nowadays.
12:45So whenever you get one, it's very personal.
12:47We thought, well, let's put it in this nice rack so we can still see them sometimes.
12:53Browse through them.
12:54I'm pretty messy.
12:56So I would start 10 projects at the same time.
12:59But don't clean afterwards while jumping to another project.
13:02And that can be difficult for Goen.
13:04And we found a solution which we can both live with.
13:08And that's the basket system.
13:10So whenever I have stuff laying around, he would just shove everything in my basket.
13:16I have to do it at the end of the week.
13:18But normally it's two weeks or once in a month.
13:21I empty my basket.
13:24Coen has one as well.
13:25But most of the time mine is much fuller than his.
13:28What is the best?
13:30This is the lounge and TV area.
13:34As you can see, it's right next to the kitchen, which is really nice.
13:37If I want to watch a show and Fadim wants to cook, we can just still be close to each
13:43other.
13:43So this one moves in this direction.
13:47it started with our initial layout we had the tv in front of the window and we wanted to be
13:54able to
13:55see the water the best solution for us was to kind of move all the functions to the wall so
14:00we have a
14:01big open space in the middle the only challenge that brought is that the other side is five meters
14:06away and that's just quite far for television to be gradually we came up the solution of putting
14:12it behind the couch and then sliding it with a sliding rail to the front this rail is a rail
14:20that
14:20we bought you can use it to hang doors and then we combined it with an arm that you used
14:27to hang a
14:27tv on the ceiling and then made a cover around it the cover also opens up and hides a game
14:37console
14:38i made the sculpture it's all mdf just cutting and gluing everything in parts i really like weird
14:46switches weird toggles i've had people asking me why don't you use smart smart switches and smart
14:52lighting systems and i don't like to use everything with an app but i like big chunky light switches so
14:57for example this one it's a very nice big handle and especially when you turn it off it goes clunk
15:05so that's that's great this is also a ceramic handle that we made ourselves so if we're downstairs
15:11here and you want to close the blinds i just grab it and then in one moment i can take
15:18hold of it
15:19press it and the blinds go down and i can let this go back up there was a bit of
15:25an error for me that i
15:26didn't find a system that had two remotes so i had to figure out a way to get this remote
15:31accessible
15:32from both downstairs and upstairs we've had a lot of questions about the table it was an existing
15:39table and we just changed the legs and on this table we can host 10 people
15:49that sunny days we love to put everything open and in that way we actually extend our living area to
15:57the
15:57outside we have actually two decks going on here one is attached to the house so it's very stable
16:06and we also have a floating deck underneath and that one kun made himself in collaboration with a
16:13friend we actually build it inside and it's around maybe the same size as our living room and part by
16:20part he moved it outside and now it's floating here we can have a lovely seat with a few over
16:30the water
16:32i have all these herbs here we have an apple tree we have some broccoli coming up i am a
16:41big fan of
16:42swimming so i have to make use of it to the maximum at the colder days i would just dip
16:49by taking out the
16:52ladder and then you can just let it in and then it unfolds automatically into the water but when it's
17:01a
17:02warm day like this then we do a lot of swimming here as well in the mornings i don't go
17:07through the
17:07hassle of getting the chairs out this is my spot i just sit here have the nice view over the
17:13water
17:13have my breakfast here
17:19this upper level holds our bedroom and also our wardrobe when we moved into the apartment the
17:26cupboard was already there but we decided to add all the mirrors to give the room a more spacious feeling
17:32we have this little frame filled with my brooches and you can just pick them out pin them on and
17:41when
17:41you're done with them i just put them back here this is the sleeping area we really try to make
17:48this
17:48its own secluded space this is a hair i did an art project for sculptures in public space and i
17:56made a
17:56series of 30 concrete hairs and you can play the game leapfrog with them i know in english you say
18:03leapfrogging but in dutch is haasje over which is like jumping over the hair if it would have done this
18:09in english country i would made frogs but i've made hairs we wanted to be able to have a lamp
18:16which we
18:16could turn on and off on both levels so i can reach it at this place i can also reach
18:23it over here
18:25this is a slaaptafel so last year never too small asked me to design a piece of furniture that will
18:32be multifunctional pet furniture for the melbourne design week which could be produced with plywood
18:38but that was all the way over in melbourne and only this week i had it made here we had
18:45like a small
18:46table to put some things on and we had like a small camping chair that sock would like to sleep
18:52in
18:52so for me that seemed like the perfect thing to combine into one piece of furniture we build a
19:00whole frame around the bed with a couple of purposes one is that we live close to water and
19:08where water is there are mosquitoes so we really wanted to have a system where we could keep those
19:14mosquitoes out by having a curtain net that is airtight so in the summer we would just have these
19:22light curtains all closed and maybe sometimes you trap a mosquito but then you know in that
19:29limited space we can find them if we don't have it and we have to hunt for mosquitoes in this
19:36area
19:36with such high ceilings there are multiple places we are not able to reach we also have a second
19:42thicker one and this one doesn't let any light through so kun and i i used to have a different
19:49rhythm
19:50where i would get up much earlier than him and in this way i could fully close everything off and
20:00he would just have his dark spot and continue sleeping and i could just start my day opening
20:05the windows and have some sunlight in the house on this side we have our laundry rack we can just
20:13hang
20:13out the laundry to dry but have it in a nice place because you know you have laundry always so
20:20you
20:20might as well put it in a nice place also with dirty laundry we have a hole here we can
20:25just toss
20:25everything in there a nice detail for example is this extra long beam we made here so you can do
20:32like
20:33a full blanket on there we do hang it on the rails sometimes but at the same time i try
20:38to not do that
20:39because it kind of makes you feel you're living in the laundry room and that's what i want to avoid
20:43these are just regular ikea ivar cabinets and these are also just from ikea and the structure around it
20:51is is custom it's just some planks on the side and some struts to hold it up if you are
20:57a little
20:58bit okay with diy-ing you can you can probably recreate it yourself when i was 12 or 13 years
21:04old
21:04it was time for me to get a new bike so i just picked i think the weirdest bike i
21:09could find the
21:09craziest one but i couldn't do it away so i just kept it and now it's uh it's like a
21:14piece on the
21:15wall it was very tricky to get it up there a couple months ago we had a concert here so
21:21we had i think
21:2210 people downstairs and like five people upstairs here and they were sitting here and looking over the
21:27railing we only have to get rid of the table and then we have quite a lot of space for
21:33like the
21:34concerts or a movie night or whatever this house is very nice now and it has been very nice the
21:44last
21:44couple of years but maybe in a couple years it will be too small we're thinking also in the future
21:50like
21:50okay when we want to have kids would this place be enough for that it might be time to look
21:57for the
21:57next phase okay what do we want but yeah that's something we're very excited about also for the next
22:03step in maybe having a family and being able to even create more together in that space
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