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In redesigning this Chippendale warehouse apartment Folk Studio, and interior designer Mariah Burton, stripped the space bare and started from scratch. With the aim of giving the owners a first home they could grow into, she draw inspiration from the things they loved. Extending the kitchen out into a workspace so they could work from home, and shaping a large sofa around the protruding walls. Everything in the home carries a sense of purpose and function from the muted palette to the lovingly restored shutters and doors.

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Project Name: Chippendale Home
Architect: https://www.folkstudiodesign.com/chippendale-home

Website https://www.nevertoosmall.com
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Produced by https://newmac.co
Creator: Colin Chee
Director: Jack Mounsey
Producer: Lindsay Barnard
Camera: Brian Rapsey
Music: The Wonders by Dear Gravity
Transcript
00:01Really the inspiration came from my clients, how they live, what they love to
00:06do and how they want to grow in the space. I didn't really draw much
00:12inspiration from other sources other than them.
00:22My clients Jack and Sarah live here. They're in their early 20s and this is
00:27their first home they've lived in together. The brief was to create a space
00:33that was really functional, minimal because of how small the space was as
00:37well and they wanted everything to be sourced
00:40sustainably, have a muted colour palette with a Japanese and Danish influence in
00:45there as well.
00:48Before we arrived the apartment was very dark and dated, it felt very cluttered
00:53and a lot smaller. They had a lot of bulky furniture so the
00:58space wasn't being utilised very well. We didn't change the layout a lot.
01:03It was mostly the kitchen and just extending the kitchen bench
01:06so it could work as a workspace. Other than that everything pretty much
01:11remained the same. The bathroom hasn't been renovated as of
01:14yet. They wanted to create this space and then really draw inspiration to what
01:19they're going to actually do for the bathroom so that's a stage two renovation.
01:25The living space, the whole colour palette is really muted.
01:29There's no really strong texture anywhere. You just see a lot of American oak.
01:34Flooring is American oak. The sofa is American oak.
01:38We also didn't include any rug or coffee table you'll notice just because we
01:42wanted the space to feel really open with no clutter.
01:45The sofa really is the hero piece of the living space. We created a custom sofa
01:50to actually shape around some of those angles where it's quite low
01:56and just having that linen as well kind of creates that earthy organic feel.
02:02We actually built in and extended the sofa so there was a slight coffee table
02:06that they could use there.
02:09They also didn't want a TV so everything in the space again is going back to basics.
02:16With the kitchen we kept it all white, white subway tiles with an inclusion of a little bit of
02:22timber just to warm the space up. All the kitchen cabinetry is also matte and there's no handles.
02:28They're all pool handles. My clients are really big foodies so they wanted quite a large pantry space
02:35so we popped this right next to the integrated fridge so both of them look quite discreet
02:42and the lines are actually level. You can't really tell which one is the fridge and which one is the
02:47pantry.
02:49Part of the brief was for my clients to be able to work from home so we extended the kitchen
02:55bench top
02:55by about two and a half metres and have a workstation there and then also included some additional drawers
03:03at the very end of the bench. We moved up all the switches as well so they sat above the
03:08bench top
03:09so they could charge their computers, their laptops or their phones when they're working.
03:14My clients really wanted a kitchen bench top that was durable and cost effective so we went with an
03:19engineered stone. It's just a white quartz and it runs through the workstation all the way through
03:24to the pantry and there's one clean line that you see with the integrated fridge in the pantry space
03:29that sits right against the stone. There's quite a lot of storage in this studio apartment. All the storage
03:39runs through the hallway and we hid the washer dryer and the sink behind the cabinetry.
03:50The only separation between the living area and the bedroom are shutters that fold back. They were in
03:57really bad condition when we first started the project so we took them off, repaired them and gave
04:01them a fresh coat of paint and we often have these open just to bring in the light into the
04:08bedroom
04:08and then at night time they close them.
04:14With the bedroom it's actually quite spacious so we were able to fit a queen bed in there.
04:21We kept the original wardrobes and just repaired the doors, gave them a fresh coat of paint
04:27and then we also added the brushed brass handles to tie in the rest of the fittings including the tapware.
04:34So the dining space sits right next to the living room. We included a circular table here to utilise
04:40the space. We subtly wanted to create two separate zones with the living room and the dining area
04:46and we did this by really introducing the oversized linen pendant lights just above the dining table
04:53with exposed wiring. We kept all the dining chairs nice and low so that you do have a clear view
05:02from
05:03the bed out from the balcony. We ensured that all the floor covering is the same throughout so it's just
05:09an engineered timber floor and all the furniture was lifted off the floor just to increase the floor
05:15space and make each of the spaces feel larger. My philosophy when it comes to designing small spaces
05:23is always considering the end user. We thought through every piece that we added in here how they
05:29were going to use it, how it would look just because they are looking at everything every day in such
05:34a
05:34small space. From a sustainability standpoint it's really important to repurpose the buildings that we
05:39do have currently. You can redevelop them and customise them to your client's needs. It's vital for the
05:46growth of our city to repurpose current buildings and repurpose spaces.
06:10so
06:11so
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