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Elina Mussakulova has worked on her fair share of small apartments in Almaty, Kazakhstan, but this one is by far the tiniest she’s tackled: the space is a mere 39 square meters, which translates to roughly 420 square feet. But the principal designer at sdelaemremont.kz looked at a 2D floor plan of the unit and only saw opportunities for a fully separate bedroom, a spacious kitchen drenched in sunlight, and even a laundry area.
“We think we managed to create one of the most daring layouts in the city,” says Mussakulova. Here are some of the genius ideas we’re stealing from the chic shoebox.
Match the Window Treatments to the Floors
Instead of opting for traditional wood or tiles, Mussakulova’s client—a woman who ultimately planned to hand the apartment off to her adult daughter—decided to paint the poured polymer floor a grassy green. The custom color was mixed on-site and, later on, the designer intentionally matched the curtains to the hue. The cohesive detail draws your eye up and gives off the sense of tall ceilings, making the space appear a bit larger than it really is.
Always Make Room for Laundry
A must-have in Mussakulova’s projects, but especially the small ones, is a laundry space. “It allows you to maintain order in a small apartment,” she says. In addition to getting chores done, the dedicated room can be used to store things like extra folding chairs for parties, cleaning products, suitcases, and other bulky equipment that can’t just slide underneath a bed.
Fill the Bedroom With Light
By elevating the bedroom floor and surrounding it in glass windows, the designer and her team were able to give their client a true one-bedroom layout without compromising its access to natural light. They hung delicate roman shades that allow sunshine to filter through and, most important, provide some privacy if they ever need to do a quick wardrobe change when friends are over.
Take the Toilet Out of the Equation
Knowing that the client’s daughter would want to host friends, the designer relegated the toilet to the entrance of the apartment, so no one would have to enter her bedroom to get to it. But a shower doesn’t necessarily have to be separated by another door—they simply stuck it in the bedroom, just a few feet away from the bed. “We weren’t sure if the client would agree to it. To our delight, she did!” says Mussakulova.
Framing the shower with a high curb helps keep water at bay, but the polymer floor turned out to be the perfect solution, as it won’t get damaged from any drips that follow her out of the bedroom.
TV Drumroll, Please
Because the sofa faces both the kitchen cabinets and the bedroom window, there was no logical place to mount a TV, unless…
Mussakulova looked to the ceiling and realized they could place a 5-by-7-foot projector screen there, giving the client the freedom to watch movies without losing a well-lit bedroom.
Don’t Let Corners Go to Waste
To gain extra kitchen storage, the designer wrapped the cabinets around the bedroom walls and swathed everything in a berry shade that added depth to the teeny space. While the corner drawer technically only opens in a single direction (one of the handles is faux), Mussakulova won plenty of storage in the hallway, too. The ceiling-height cabinets—where the client’s daughter now stashes seasonal clothes—can be easily accessed via a ladder.
Where There’s a Window, Treat It
Taking advantage of every nook, Mussakulova and her team extended their design plans to the balcony, which can be completely closed off from the elements thanks to sliding windows. The curtains that frame the exterior windows make the area feel truly one with the rest of the indoors. (Psst: You could achieve a similar cocooning effect on a sunporch.)
The opening also came in handy on move-in day. “It was very useful: We lifted and carried the glass dining table through these doors, because it is very fragile,” says the designer. It was constant decorating Tetris—and she won.