Small space wisdom

A lavishly illustrated new book, "How to Live in Small Spaces" (Firefly Books, 224 pages, $29.95), from Sir Terence Conran, one of the world's leading designers, furniture-makers and retailers, offers detailed practical information on how to exploit every inch of living space. Here are a few tips:

• Keep the floor as clear as possible. This is one of the most important ways of maintaining a sense of spaciousness. While this obviously requires proper storage systems so books and belongings are not sitting in heaps all over the place, it also means erring on the side of under-, rather than over-furnishing. Freestanding pieces of furniture devour floor space and may do so without providing sufficient practical benefits.

• Do your homework before buying furniture. If you intend to buy a large piece, particularly a sofa or a bed, make sure you make scale drawings to ensure the item will fit, and fit through the door. If in doubt, take your drawings to the store and ask for advice.

• Think about what you really need. One or two comfortable sofas may represent a better use of space than cluttering up the living room with armchairs, occasional chairs and side tables. Floor cushions and ottomans make good additional seating.

• Opt for built-in storage as much as possible. Freestanding storage furniture is bulky, visually intrusive and creates dead space around it.

• Less is more, but smaller is not always the answer. While some sofa designs are simply too big for a given space and appear too dominant as a consequence, small-scale pieces may not provide the comfort you require and can give your home the look of a doll house.

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune

Downsizing forces changes in way space is used

By Mary Daniels Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO --As Crandon Gustafson tells his students at Harrington College of Design, design is problem solving. The lesson came home to the teacher when the walls closed in on him two years ago.

The problem facing Gustafson? How to live large in a small space. The department chair for interior design at Harrington had exchanged a 3,000-square-foot apartment on Chicago's North Side for one measuring 750 square feet when his son went away to college.

His initial criteria for a new abode were simple: find someplace within walking distance of work, with hardwood floors. And since he's an architect, he wanted a building that would "count for a lot." The former Florsheim Shoe Factory in the West Loop was a good fit.

The smaller apartment forced him to change the way he used space. What he had to work with was basically two rooms connected by a hallway. The larger one is a living room. Its south wall is a window. Opposite it, a narrow island creates a border for a galley kitchen. The west wall holds a fireplace flanked by tall bookcases. A buttercup-colored sofa from the '60s takes up most of the east wall. A short hallway, with storage behind white doors, ends in a bathroom and a bedroom.

There isn't much in the way of furnishings, but what there is, is choice. It's more about the bones and how to manage space.

"The primary 'living' space becomes multifunctional," says Gustafson, who has a master's degree in architecture from the University of Colorado-Denver and practiced architecture until taking on the position at Harrington.

"At times it's a studio for working, at other times it's for entertaining, or for quiet reading. Traditional Japanese housing uses the same idea. I like to call it, 'One space, many places.' In Japan, they may use a sliding shoji screen to transform the space. I don't have that luxury, so I use directed lighting (spot luminaries) to effectively change the areas of emphasis. With the lighting, you can kind of make the kitchen go away."

He accomplishes this by adjusting the lighting so it highlights some of the shiny things in the living room, such as framed artwork, making the pictures more of a focal point. Several pieces of framed art lean against the base of a tripod in front of the window.

"I have all these pictures and find if you put them all up (at once) it is just too much. I keep them there, and I can bring certain ones to the front."

Extending space

Natural light is also put to use. "Having the large window extends the living space to the outer world. A small space feels bigger when it's visually connected to the outside. A simple view is good, but a managed view is better. Capture space in the near distance by giving the eye a focal point and suddenly you've created layers of near and far that connect to your interior," he says.

"I do it with a few items on the ubiquitous small balcony -- my nephew calls it my 'party porch' -- that's been attached to so many Chicago multifamily developments in the past 20 years. Normally, I have a plant on a tripod as a focal point on the balcony."

Cutting back also was called for. "When I moved, I got rid of a lot of my stuff. It's liberating and necessary when you live small. Anything 'clutter' makes the space smaller. This applies to pattern too. The challenge in a small place is how much pattern you can use. Too many patterns and the place starts to close in on you.

"As much as you may love a piece of furniture or decorative object, you have to discipline yourself to subtract it if it's intrusive. The exception is plants, which you can use liberally."

Emphasize scale differences

His books were something he could not leave behind. They fill two large cases flanking the fireplace, custom-built by him for a previous residence. The leather couch is from the 1960s, and a matching ottoman on wheels belonged to his ex-wife.

"Find ways to emphasize sharp differences in scale," he adds, using the sofa as example. "If everything is about the same size, the interior landscape is undifferentiated and pushes in on you. A very tiny decorative vase or object against a plain surface makes that wall feel bigger and makes the space surrounding the object more expansive. To do this, you have to find the discipline to subtract."

The wall above the fireplace, with its dark gray slate surround, is pure white. And empty. "People keep asking me, 'What kind of art are you going to use above the fireplace?' There's something wonderful about a clean unbroken wall."

The living room walls and those in the hallway and bedroom are olive, a color that changes with the light.

"I think it is a great color. Cool receding colors make the space expand. If it is a warm or bright color it is going to move toward you."

A different way of living

He owns a desktop computer, not in evidence. "That was really obtrusive and I was looking for a way to make it go away." He put it in the closet and when he wants to use it he pulls out a work surface he built from a piece of older furniture from his past.

The only other room is a bedroom, which the full-size bed nearly fills. The headboard is a multiple-leaf dining table. When he entertains, which is not often, he takes the headboard/table into the large living space, unfolds the legs and uses it for serving guests.

Living "out of the box" is another side effect of his move. "My home base has gotten smaller, and I consequently pay less for it. But at the same time, I've expanded my living area to my neighborhood and the city at large. We 'rent' space at Starbucks, Argo or Cosi for the cost of a cup of tea, and we can therein relax, read, work on our laptops or converse with our friends. Where did we spend all that time 20 years ago? We take more and more of our meals in public with others.

"The purely private realm has shrunk, but the new coffeehouse blend of public/private space is replacing it. We are becoming accustomed to taking our privacy in public among strangers.

"My downsizing has helped me to see personally how we may be beginning to use our resources differently, the glimmer of hope that we can recognize that we are living on the equivalent of a small, mountainous island.

"For designers, that means don't introduce materials or systems into environments that are detrimental to the user's health, and don't deplete the broader environment of its resources or its balance in the process of doing our work. I think we're just beginning."

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Take a look

Larry and Elaine Thede stand inside the kitchen of the ranch home they downsized to after their three children were gone. He said the best thing about it is there's nothing to fix when he gets up in the morning. (Pantagraph/B MOSHER)

From the kitchen in this two-bedroom ranch model on Christa Ann Court, Bloomington, you can see the dining room, sunroom and living room. (Pantagraph/B MOSHER)

Builder Mike Gilmore has added a sunroom to the most recent homes in his Ireland Grove Road development. When he started it four years ago, small, detached homes were unique in this area, he said. (Pantagraph/B MOSHER)

Larry and Elaine Thede finished the basement in their two-bedroom home, which gives them another family room, bedroom and bath when their grown children visit. (Pantagraph/B MOSHER)

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