00:01What caught my attention when I first saw the apartment was that it was a
00:06penthouse and it had a ceiling height of four meters. This is a very unusual find
00:12in new developments. As a kid I loved building tree houses and sort of makeshift
00:23buildings like clubhouses and huts. So I wanted the loft addition to feel like
00:29a treehouse or a clubhouse inside my own home. In addition to that as a kid I also
00:37loved seeing New York style apartments in the movies. So I wanted to combine the
00:44two. So this is my New York treehouse.
01:00This apartment is part of a newly developed residential area in the city of Halmstad.
01:07It is located in the west coast of Sweden and Halmstad is famous for beautiful
01:13beaches and it has a cute little castle nearby. This location is very close to
01:20the city center. It's a five minute walk. There are bakeries, shops and restaurants
01:26nearby and it's a really cozy and quite quiet neighborhood.
01:36My motivation was to create a small apartment that feels like a big apartment.
01:44I wanted all the things I've had before in larger apartments but in a smarter and cheaper and more
01:52compact form. When I first acquired it they had not utilized the ceiling height
02:01and it was also somewhat lacking in storage.
02:06I kept most of the apartment in the original layout
02:11but with the other loft I got an open plan living slash kitchen area
02:17and office and a bedroom.
02:27The entryway is compact but offers plenty of room for shoes and clothes as well as storage.
02:35The tiles help to zone the entrance from the rest of the apartment.
02:40The hallway cabinets are the same style as the kitchen.
02:46In the entrance area I added a tall mirror to one of the wardrobe cabinets.
02:51It's primarily a mirror for my outfits. It is positioned to make the hallway feel larger
02:58by giving you a direct view into the living room.
03:03The kitchen extends directly from the entrance and hallway storage.
03:08This saves a lot of space by combining the two areas.
03:12which allows for a generous kitchen with an induction top, an oven, full-size sink and a large dishwasher.
03:21I've only added some extra storage to the kitchen in form of apple boxes.
03:26The apple boxes are actually a design feature throughout the whole apartment.
03:31The modularity is great for a small home and they are also very cheap to buy.
03:37The finishes of the kitchen are warm grey cabinets with grey stone countertop and backsplash.
03:45In the kitchen we have a beautiful vaulted ceiling with a skylight.
03:54The dining area receives a lot of light.
03:57The marble dining table picks up the greys, whites and browns from the kitchen,
04:03the oak flooring, the painted walls and the ceilings.
04:09The pendant light over the kitchen table is an industrial lamp to add to the industrial look of the glass
04:17partition walls.
04:22The living room has a four meter high ceiling and a whole wall of windows.
04:28When the sun shines through at an angle in the living room it almost looks like a chapel.
04:36I chose a generous size sofa which I placed in the middle of the room.
04:41Placing key furniture in the middle of a room in a small space makes the room feel bigger.
04:47As long as you can maintain the natural pathways it really helps a small space.
04:55In Swedish we have one word, koja, for buildings like tree houses.
05:00And a koja is really what I've added to the apartment.
05:05The loft space is so cozy and it feels like sleeping in a tree house with the added comforts of
05:11modern residential buildings.
05:14An inlet of air is also situated in the ceiling.
05:18The curtains were added for privacy, but I often just leave them open during the day.
05:27And to add even more to the tree house feeling I put up framed posters of trees and forests in
05:34the space.
05:35As well as I chose a green accent color in the artwork and in the curtains.
05:46The added loft created a small room where the sleeping nook used to be.
05:52Thanks to the glass partition wall I can separate the spaces without removing the views out the windows when working.
06:03The storage units are from IKEA and offer more storage than what was previously included in the apartment.
06:13I love the use of wood as a contrast.
06:16Below the loft you can see the structural design of the joist framing.
06:21And I just stained it brown and let it add to the character of the space.
06:26I was adamant to be able to fit my home office with a desk and a computer because I work
06:32from home a couple of days a week.
06:37From the living room you can access the balcony.
06:41It helps to expand the living space by a considerable amount and it also makes the apartment look bigger.
06:48I added grey treated pine for flooring and I furnished it with a bamboo lounge sofa.
06:55I use this place a lot in the spring, summer and in the autumn.
07:00It's like an extra living room.
07:02And I often eat on the balcony if the weather is good.
07:11The bathroom is really large compared to the overall size of the rest of the apartment.
07:17This is actually required by law in building standards in new developed homes in Sweden.
07:23Bathrooms have to be accessible to everyone, for example someone in a wheelchair.
07:30As a result I now have a pretty big sized bathroom with a large shower and even a laundry.
07:43It's important to optimize a small space and it's important to show what can be done
07:50by adding simple changes and upgrades to small homes and to floor plans.
07:55It's like I did.
07:57We can house more people in the same space which could be important for the future.
08:15The half theВы
08:20we can set up to staff near the Lyr realizates...
08:24The roof is definitely right.
08:24For more information visit www.fema.org
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