We look to three Curbed House Calls subjects who live large in petite spaces Every week, we visit a home with style and soul in our House Calls feature. We?ve noticed a trend: There?s no correlation between good design and size. In many cases, making great design in small spaces is a matter of good choices and editing. As Justina White, an interior designer whose 500-square-foot apartment was recently featured says, "In a small [home], you have to decide what?s important."
For Bridie Picot, a homeware designer and the founder of Thing Industries, the most important feature that makes her petite Catskills cabin (a prefab unit that weighs in at 502 square feet) work is flexibility. "Most of the furniture is moveable so the room van be configured in different ways for different uses," she says.
Bridie Picot started Thing Industries when she couldn't find multi-functional pieces for small spaces. She puts her products to the test in her 502-square-foot cabin. The bright print is from Pure Evil.
In other words, being able to move the furniture allows her to set up a single living space in a way that makes it work for her family (husband Harry Bugden and dog Rabbit) or for a gathering of friends.
Another strategy: Furniture you can see around (and under). "Where I can, I have items raised off the ground so it doesn?t block the flow of the room," she says. In this house, even the kitchen cabinets stand on legs, allowing the eye t...