Transforming a tiny apartment for a growing family (kid #2)

Marta Barceló lives in a 47 square meter (505 sq ft) apartment in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter. She first moved in with her husband. Then they had a son so they built him a bed under the stairs. Then they had a second son, so they put the living room on the roof, built a closet under the stairs and put their sons in bunkbeds in the old living room-turned-bedroom.

Part 1 of this story here: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/a-tiny-home-for-a-growing-family-bed-und...
Original story here: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/transforming-a-tiny-apartment-for-a-grow...

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• tiny home
• small space
• tiny apartment
• small apartment
• manhattan
• new york city
• upper west side
• downshifting
• home size
• simple life
• simplicity
• downsizing
• new york
• small house movement
• small home
• tiny house
• green building

[vegx88]

What's the deal? I've lived with 3 of my friends and a dog in a 50sqm flat (3 rooms, kitchen, bathroom) and it was pretty comfortable with lot's of space for all of us. So I don't get it why you say this 47sqm apartment (?) is so tiny... It's normal!

[kirstendirksen]

@vegx88 You're right. Size is relative. In Europe (I see you're from Poland), this isn't considered tiny, but in the United States where not even most cities are very dense (except perhaps a few like New York City), this is tiny, especially for a family of 4.

[tiaorraca]

Where did most of the furniture and such come from, Ikea and ????

[kirstendirksen]

@tiaorraca The living room/boys room table was Ikea but they added the hinge to it so it would fold down from the wall. I believe their other table is also Ikea. The rest of the furniture was either secondhand (much of it from Marta's husband Miguel's bachelor days) or Miguel made it.

[alexaa77]

Wow. This is so cool how they use all this space efficiently. And the terrace makes up for the lack of indoor space. I think I saw your little girl in that video too :)

[kirstendirksen]

@alexaa77 Yeah, that was my eldest daughter. She is friends with Marta's son. They are actually are next door neighbors and I've always loved how they use their space so well so I shot this video (and the previous one) with them. You can see the previous one here: youtube.com/watch?v=2IdowFfyTt­E "Tiny apartment for 4 (bed-under-stairs and living-room-on-roof included)"

[Andybaby]

Where's the 'tiny' apartment? 2 bedrooms (?) AND is has an outdoor area w room for a party as well!?

[TemporarySushi]

the little boy is adorable!

[mompm]

she wishes for less stuff not a bigger space- awesome attitude

[yolandasotolopez]

You are right, this is considered a Tiny home in the USA.. where the average size home has doubled from 1200 (in the 1950's) to now around 2400 sq. ft. Hopefully the McMansion fad is going away. I have many friends who are a family of 3 or 4 living in 6,000 plus sq. ft. homes.

[missvickinicole]

its a very nice space and nice size...if a designer and organizer came through that place it could be an amazing luxury apartment

[cashncarryma]

This is a really lovely, warm, welcoming home. The best thing about small spaces is how it pushes people toward creative thinking- you end up with something unique and reflective of the people who live there, instead of tract-home homogeny.

[buddybuddy44]

This kinda looks a little unsafe with the stuff on the walls for the kids.

[Odeliza]

Que bien! Es lo mismo mi apartmento ;) Beso