How many times has this happened to you: you go to tons of trouble coming up with a blueprint for creating your dream office out of the last bit of unused space in your tiny home... only to find yourself unexpectedly expecting your first child.
Never? Well, you might still want to check out this fantastic home tour on AT NY, which gives us a peek at the first stages of a full-home renovation to accommodate both child AND work space. Don't forget to take notes. Because you should never say never...
Parents LJ and Elena (who, luckily enough, happen to both be architects) converted their 500 square foot studio loft into a place where they and newcomer Teo can all live and work: With a few pen strokes and a new attitude, their ideas for space efficiency became plans for a baby room instead of an office and a playpen instead of storage...
Here are a few of our favorite images:
View from kitchen:
A large drawer slides out from under the platform via casters and is large enough for the baby to enjoy as a fun playpen:
An experiment with painter's tape and vibrant colors:
These are just a few shots. See the original post and full tour here.
I love this!
My husband, little love and I will be moving back to NY soon and this is just the sort of thing I've been looking to fill our studio. Awesome ideas!
view BuddhaBellysMum's profile
It's certainly ingenious, but how exactly do they plan to keep the baby from falling off the platform once he or she becomes a little more mobile? And are those the only steps up to the loft? A handrail will only make them a bit less dangerous. I hope neither of the tenants ever enjoys an extra glass of wine--or, worse, that the baby never decides to climb up them.
view Pencils's profile
Pencils, I think they're addressing exactly these issues as they evolve their design (and as Teo grows). A lot of ATers asked these same questions in the comments section of the original post, and LJ posted a long, considered comment in response. It's a really interesting discussion, well worth checking out, especially if you're interested in the concept of iterative design.
view TammyE's profile
TammyE--I did read it. The child is a toddler now, at one of the most dangerous ages, and there are no handrails on the stairs & nothing to prevent the child from running straight off the side off the platform play area and landing on the concrete floor. Nothing to prevent the child from climbing the stairs--don't most people gate off their stairs when they have babies and toddlers in the home? I guess we're just boring suburban types who believe in swathing our children in bubble wrap.
view Pencils's profile
I study & teach child development & my students are always surprised when we start talking about cultural differences about ideas of safety for children. I don't think this is a matter of urban vs. suburban, but I do think that parents in western cultures tend to be more overprotective. In the Amazon rainforest, tribal cultures teach their 2-yr-olds to use machetes, to give just one example. My points are that 1) these parents love their child just as much as anyone else, 2) everyone has different comfort levels, and 3) they are not asking anyone else to live in their home.
view sebnmg's profile