00:05This building is called Ballina. It's an art deco building. This apartment is 22 square meters.
00:13It's always a pierre terre for some clients of ours, but to be able to rent it out for
00:19short-term rental when they weren't here. When we first came to visit it, the layout was
00:26completely different. It was really important for us to retain all the original features
00:31of the apartment, but try and make it a little bit more workable. We reduced the size of the
00:37bathroom so that we could sneak a little kitchen into the entry area and that way the kitchen
00:42would be away from the sleeping area and tucked away.
00:50The kitchen was positioned at the front door and it was designed as a black element that
00:57would almost disappear as you entered. Even though it's not very wide, the bench is quite
01:04deep, so it's quite useful.
01:07We were really confined by that dividing wall and this archway and we really wanted to maintain
01:14all of those original features, so we looked at quite a few layouts and it made the most
01:19sense to actually have the bed in the middle and be able to access it from both sides. The
01:25wall along where the windows are actually had quite a few pipes and conduits, so we built
01:33it out slightly to make it all even and then ended up with these lovely deep recesses.
01:38We thought a lot about the best location to put a sofa and we thought it was really important
01:43to be able to sit back and look out of the windows. By having this joinery piece here, you
01:49separate the sleeping zone from the living space and you just see over the top of the bed
01:54and you can enjoy the view from the windows.
01:59By elevating the bed platform, we could separate the living area from the sleeping area. It also
02:06meant that we could raise the floor to the bathroom so all the plumbing could be reworked
02:11without causing any inconvenience to any of the apartments below.
02:15So we wanted the bathroom to be a really lovely experience. We thought it would be lovely to
02:22have a timber-battened floor all the way through the bathroom and we copied that onto the ceiling
02:27and it gives you this beautiful smell like a sauna. The idea with the mirror was that the
02:34mirror creates a sense of depth, it reflects the light and when you're lying in bed it also
02:39reflects the view. Even though the apartment is so small, there's a place for everything.
02:47Little details that you might not necessarily think about in a big house are really important here,
02:53like the fold-out ironing board. We have a lot of wall-hung floating units so that you still get
03:01a
03:01sense of the whole footprint of the room and give you a sense of more space. We've got the hidden
03:09lighting under the cabinets and above to create atmosphere. We really loved the original Art Deco
03:17detail of the apartment and so everything that's new has also been given the same amount of attention
03:23to detail. I think good design can have a really positive impact on people's lives, particularly
03:31in small spaces. Good design is absolutely imperative in order to get the most out of a space and to
03:38really feel comfortable in a space.
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