Innholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2025 i Dwell

We have one in the third bedroom/office/craft room. Awesome to have it when needed. Just make sure you get a mattress that won’t sag after being vertical most of the time. @warped_ by_bsg Ultimate small space workhorse! We have one in both of our cabins and they’re still A+, no sag either. @theeast ernthredbovillage Yes, the vertical mattress sag is real. We had an extra space above our garage and used it as a playroom for the kids when little. We had two twin beds and one queen Murphy for overflow guests. They were magical, multipurpose rooms. Need storage for bedding and pillows. @rochelle.yvr Love them. It means every room can be a bedroom when needed but utilized as something else when not. It’s a clever use of space. @becksonts…

There are two ways to go about organizing a small living room, says Andrade: “You can inhabit the perimeters to free up the center and have a single congregation space, or you can inhabit the center with furniture or pieces and free up the perimeters.” Either way, you’ll probably be starting with a couch. At Dwell, we say, think modular and multifunctional. Retroloop’s modular seating can be attached to create a love seat or broken up to create chairs for social gatherings. For those who truly can’t squeeze in a coffee table, Heller’s clever stool at least offers a way to store two beverages and some snacks. Added bonus: It’s made of recycled plastic, meaning it’s indoor/outdoor. Another living room tip from Koto Design’s Millie Bryant: Use a large rug,…

THAT DREAMS BIG When it comes to outfitting small bedrooms, there are plenty of ways to create character and maximize functionality. Among the experts we consulted, nearly all emphasized the importance of storage beds as essential. Sixpenny’s storage bed offers two side drawers and two drawers at the foot of the bed, utilizing nearly every inch underneath your mattress. Nightstands remain a pain point in dollhousesize bedrooms: Save floor space and go for a floating platform, like Goux Studio New York’s minimal yet distinctive version with maple or white oak slabs. Beyond that, color and paint go a long way, especially in studio apartments. “Using color, even in simple ways, like paint to define spaces instead of walls, can be an effective and playful approach to maximizing space,” says…

Lauren Blanford, owner of the Lost Woods glamping and event center in Northern Michigan, was looking for something unique to add to her site. She had started the compound with some spacious canvas tents and later added an A-frame cabin. But in an area where ski slopes and snowshoe trails abound, Lauren wanted a singular attraction that no one else in the area had, one that could be inhabited yearround. The answer: a geodesic dome, equipped with heat for the colder months, that welcomed its first guests last March. It was a “major level up,” she says. The dome itself was ordered from Polish company FDomes. The primary variable was the amount of insulation that should be included, and Lauren needed all she could get. “The cost of the insulation…

In 2010, Michel Noiset and his wife, Danielle Noiset-Lekeu, were living in Germany, but they longed to return to Geneva, where Michel had lived for 30 years. When they heard there was an opening in the Immeuble Clarté, a building designed by Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret and finished in 1932 in the lively Eaux-Vives neighborhood, they jumped at the opportunity because of the location, light, and views. “My first impression was that I found the building superb. It was a jewel,” says Michel, 78, a former electronics engineer and IT executive. The couple purchased the five-room, 1,345-square-foot flat, which had not been altered since 1975. Danielle, a former interior designer, reached out to Brigitte Jucker-Diserens of DVK Architects to collaborate on a renovation that would honor the…

The Clothes Hanger Some historians credit the first clothes-hanger-type object to Thomas Jefferson, who is said to have devised a clothes-hanging contraption for a closet at Monticello. But what’s widely recognized as the earliest inspiration for the modern hanger was a rounded wire coat hook invented by O. A. North in 1869, which was improved upon by Albert J. Parkhouse in the early 1900s. Parkhouse, an employee of a Michigan wire company, showed up at work one morning to find all the coat hooks occupied, so he fashioned a wire hanger with a bent hook at the top that could be hung from a rod, allowing more coats to be stored at once. The Folding Cabinet Bed In the late 19th century, inventor Sarah E. Goode’s novel solution to the urbanite challenge…

The traditional approach to small space storage is to build upward and utilize dead space near the ceiling. This may work if you are constructing a home or gutting a space, but renters may want to consider prioritizing storage from the waist down. “You feel space from the waist up,” says Kevin Fritz, founder and owner of Fritz Tiny Homes. “We try to eliminate upper cabinetry as much as we can because that’s shoulder space—that’s visual space that can eat into a small room.” When you’re low on closets, consider a wall-mounted storage solution, like Ferm Living’s hallway cabinet, with just enough room for a coat, some keys, and a bag or two. Create the tiniest drop zone with Yamazaki’s teensy table; at just eight inches deep, it’s one of…

To kick off Dwell’s 25th anniversary, we brought back one of our most popular events: in-person home tours. On October 19, Dwell Open House gave 300 readers the chance to tour three homes we’ve featured—all in Los Angeles, a city that we believe has one of the most dynamic design scenes in the country. The three-hour event, sponsored by Ligne Roset and Sotheby’s International Realty, highlighted architecturally amazing houses on the Eastside that represent new thinking about residential design rooted in the city’s spirit of experimentation—plus a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House. HOLLYHOCK HOUSE The tour kicked off at Barnsdall Art Park, the site of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House, L.A.’s only UNESCO World Heritage site and a harbinger of California modernism. Ticket holders got a chance to step…

It’s a sunny afternoon in Cos Cob in coastal Connecticut, and Peter and Victoire Boldt’s home is buzzing with energy. Their oldest child, Madeleine, leans on Victoire in the kitchen while younger sister Louise flits around, vying for Peter’s attention as baby August snoozes in her bassinet. The second-oldest, Winston, is out of the action, as he attends Japanese school on Saturdays. Anticipation is building, not just for the lunch about to be served but for the adventure to follow. After chicken sandwiches, the group piles into Peter’s Suburban and heads for Tod’s Point, the town beach. After packing supplies into a dinghy, we set out for a mooring a few hundred feet offshore. Here, a boxy, shedlike structure floats among the boats dotting the water. The red and white–painted…

Interior stylist and designer Merie Subryan always wanted a home with character. In 2016, Merie’s husband, Alex Sierra, a sound and retail display designer, walked past a former piano factory in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, that was advertising an 850-square-foot loft condo. Before viewing the home, the couple hoped to find the period elements and architectural finishes that Merie loves, only to discover that the apartment’s original details had been stripped and replaced with a generic aesthetic, aside from one large column that remained from the original floor plan. Ultimately, the 12-foot-high ceilings, abundance of natural light, huge street-facing windows, and sole remaining original column won Merie over. “I was really excited and felt like this was a project where I could bring back the integrity of the home while making it…

Well-designed micro apartments tend to have integrated and stowable options in kitchens and dining areas—which is great if you can afford a custom solution, but less helpful if you’re working with a space you rent. Before you buy something that needs to be stowed, consider whether you’re likely to fold out/pack up a table every day. Fritz warns that “complicated products, although they can be quite ingenious, sometimes have longevity issues or can be cumbersome to work.” He suggests a small bistro table instead—we like chef Marcus Samuelsson’s for West Elm. Kitchens are typically the tightest spaces in small homes, but Fritz encourages adding personality. “We had a client that was into wine and cocktails,” he recalls. Instead of hiding that interest, the designer found ways to incorporate the client’s…

My husband and I have traveled 10 hours, but I guess it was worth it to end up in an alternate universe. Our first meal at the all-inclusive Nickelodeon Hotels & Resorts Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic, is at Spacewalker—one of nine restaurants at the 460-room resort—which resembles a janky spaceship, with white walls illuminated by blue LED strips, faux tulip chairs, and atomic-inspired chandeliers. The eatery serves dishes like Earth Crust (tempura cauliflower) and Coral Reef (garlic shrimp), and waiters wear astronaut costumes that look like they were ordered on Amazon. Occasionally, they throw on plastic helmets for photo ops with gleeful children. (Though workers at the hotel tell me many guests are adults without kids, my husband, Raffi, and I seem to be the only ones.) “I…

Recalling a friend’s reaction upon visiting her new home outside Rosario, Argentina, for the first time, Emilia “Emi” Porfiri laughs. “She called it a ball pit for grown-ups,” Emi says. The square, oneroom house, filled with bursts of color, has an undeniably playful quality about it. Emi, a professional translator in her early 30s, was looking to build an affordable first home, not a forever home or a place where she might eventually bring up kids. She wanted to focus on her needs in the here and now, not the future. Born and raised in Rosario, she traveled extensively before the Covid pandemic, but it was during the lockdowns that she truly recognized the flexible nature of her remote work. Coordinating translations for a gaming start-up meant that she could…

Canadian software salesman Andrew Heneghan had been in Copenhagen for only 48 hours when he met his partner, Martin Reinicke, a local florist and ceramist. Their shared passion for interiors and renovations was a potent common thread: Andrew was once a carpenter, and Martin loves to spruce up homes and other spaces in his free time. “I remember visiting Martin’s apartment and being like, ‘This guy’s got great style,’” Andrew recalls. A decade since, they’ve now done seven renovations together, including this 1960s studio apartment in Copenhagen that they reimagined with a slightly more open plan to easily host friends and events. Though Andrew and Martin split their time between here and Gylsboda, Sweden, weekends are spent at the flat. Sunlight streams into the west-facing space, which offers sunset views…