Wood and concrete come together to create a sleek yet industrial cool aesthetic in these two small apartment interiors, designed by Svoya Studio. With each measuring under 50 square metres, the designers on these projects had to get creative with zoning. The sleep space in both homes has been elevated, in a way that not only achieves clear zoning but builds a sense of grandeur despite the meagre proportions of each property. Kitchens are not crammed here, but instead stretch out in a way that goes modestly unnoticed. We finish off with floor plans of each apartment, which reveal the details of these clever layouts, and some hidden storage systems.
Our first home is a studio apartment measuring just 39 square metres, located in Odessa, Ukraine. The bed area is zoned on a grey marble podium, which stands about the height of a divan base. A wooden step up to the marble podium gives it a sense of added grandeur, and the illusion of entering a new room.
A Shōji screen style room divider obscures the view of the bed whilst sitting on the sofa, but allows all the light from the windows into the main living area. A concrete wall makes a more solid divide between the bedroom and the dining spot.
By night, the concrete room divider is lit from a recess in the ceiling, which floods ambient light down its raw industrial texture.
In the living area, a round coffee table duo and a small grey sofa fit neatly into the limited floor space–though the wide arms of the sofa give it a more substantial look. Mini pendant lights dandle at one end of the seating, where a floor lamp would have been a squeeze.
A row of fitted closets are installed by the home entryway, finished in white to blend quietly with the white wall.
Both the sofa and the head of the bed look toward the wall mounted TV, so on screen entertainment can be had from either location. The TV wall is clad in wood grain panelling, lit warmly around its ceiling perimeter with recessed LED light.
A Fiddle Leaf Fig has been given a home up in the bedroom, where it can take in sunlight from the windows.
The kitchen is a simple handle-free white slab fronted design, so as not to overwhelm its small home.
A grey marble upstand and countertop match with the grey marble bedroom podium. The adjacent kitchen wall has cabinets set into the wood faced wraparound of the TV wall. A single wall shelf crosses the small kitchen, accessorised in a minimalist fashion.
Another small decorative vase forms the centrepiece of the round dining table. Two dining chairs and a bench seat wrap around it, all with a view of the window.
The dining bench is mounted onto the marble tile bedroom podium, with the concrete room divider forming a back rest.
The same slimline pendant light design as used over the couch is utilised in the dining area too, creating calm continuity in the small open plan home.
The grey, white, and wood colour scheme continues inside the bathroom. Grey stone tiles back the shower enclosure. A wooden vanity unit is mounted onto a wall of white tiles.
The bathroom vanity light is a bar suspension design that distributes light evenly along the length of the wash area.
Studio apartment floor plan.
Staying in Odessa, Ukraine, we move to a one-bedroom apartment measuring 47 square metres.
The same serene white and wood colourway, with grey concrete elements, shape our second home tour. Another raised bedroom separates the floor plan.
In this home layout, the kitchen island cuts right through the centre of the living space, where it builds a half wall between the lounge/dining room and the home entryway.
Two steps climb the back of the kitchen island, to give access to the raised bedroom.
A slimline chimney cooker hood and a suspension bar light cause minimal disruption to the flow of the room. Looking through, we see a large L-shaped blue sofa bordering the dark grey living room, and a characterful print from Valery and Katerina Kuznetsov.
A view of the sea can be had from the bedroom, which is why glass was chosen for its construction. The glass walls open up the sea panorama to the entire apartment. A textile curtain can be pulled around whenever privacy is desired.
The raised bedroom podium provides opportunity for hidden storage in the space beneath it. Another storage system spans an entire wall between the entry door and the bedroom, and conceals the bathroom.
The concrete wall between the bedroom and lounge forms a TV feature wall. A collection of decorative vases and candles dress the wooden plinth.
A grey bed fills most of the compact bedroom space. Matching grey bedclothes complete its dominating block.
highlight a small table at either side of the bed.
Inside the shower room there is a built-in storage tower, which shelves towels, face cloths and toiletries by the side of the sink. A black vanity unit extends out of the shelving tower, stopping just short of the shower screen.
The plan shows the hidden bathroom, concealed within a run of plain white closet doors. We also observe the waning angle of the storage system outside the bathroom and in the kitchen, which create the illusion of a much squarer living room.
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