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  • Really the inspiration came from my clients, how they live, what they love to do and how they want to grow in this space.

  • I didn't really draw much inspiration from other sources other than them.

  • My clients, Jack and Sarah, live here, they're in their early twenties and this is their first home that they've lived in together.

  • The brief was to create a space that was really functional, minimal because of how small the space was as well and they wanted everything to be sourced sustainably, have a muted colour palette with a Japanese and Danish influence in there as well.

  • Before we arrived the apartment was very dark and dated, it felt very cluttered and a lot of the space wasn't being utilised very well.

  • We didn't change the layout a lot, it was mostly the kitchen and just extending the kitchen bench so it could work as a workspace.

  • Other than that everything pretty much remained the same.

  • The bathroom hasn't been renovated as of yet, they wanted to create this space and then really draw inspiration to what they're going to actually do for the bathroom so that's a stage two renovation.

  • The living space, the whole colour palette is really muted, there's no really strong texture anywhere, you just see a lot of American oak, flooring is American oak, the sofa is American oak.

  • We also didn't include any rug or coffee table you'll notice just because we wanted the space to feel really open with no clutter.

  • The sofa really is the hero piece of the living space, we created a custom sofa to actually shape around some of those angles where it's quite low and just having that linen as well kind of creates that earthy organic feel.

  • We actually built in and extended the sofa so there was a slight coffee table that they could use there.

  • They also didn't want a TV so everything in the space again is going back to basics.

  • With the kitchen we kept it all white, white subway tiles with an inclusion of a little bit of timber just to warm the space up.

  • All the kitchen cabinetry is also matte and there's no handles, they're all pool handles.

  • My clients are really big foodies so they wanted quite a large pantry space so we popped this right next to the fridge, the integrated fridge, so both of them look quite discreet and the lines are actually level, you can't really tell which one is the fridge and which one is the pantry.

  • Part of the brief was for my clients to be able to work from home so we extended the kitchen benchtop by about two and a half metres and have a workstation there and then also included some additional drawers at the very end of the bench.

  • We moved up all the switches as well so they sat above the benchtop so they could charge their computers, their laptops or their phones when they're working.

  • My clients really wanted a kitchen benchtop that was durable and cost effective so we went with an engineered stone, it's just a white quartz and it runs through the workstation all the way through to the pantry and there's one clean line that you see with the integrated fridge in the pantry space that sits right against the stone.

  • There's quite a lot of storage in this studio apartment, all the storage runs through the sink behind the cabinetry.

  • The only separation between the living area and the bedroom are shutters that fold back, they were in really bad condition when we first started the project so we took them off, repaired them and gave them a fresh coat of paint and we often have these open just to bring in the light into the bedroom and then at night time they close them.

  • With the bedroom, it's actually quite spacious so we were able to fit a queen bed in there.

  • We kept the original wardrobes and just repaired the doors, gave them a fresh coat of paint and then we also added the brushed brass handles to tie in with the rest of the fittings including the tapware.

  • So the dining space sits right next to the living room, we included a circular table here to utilise the space.

  • We subtly wanted to create two separate zones with the living room and the dining area and we did this by really introducing the oversized linen pendant lights just above the dining table with exposed wiring.

  • We kept all the dining chairs nice and low so that you do have a clear view from the bed out from the balcony.

  • We ensured that all the floor covering is the same throughout so it's just an engineered timber floor and all the furniture was lifted off the floor just to increase the floor space and make each of the spaces feel larger.

  • My philosophy when it comes to designing small spaces is always considering the end user.

  • We thought through every piece that we added in here, how they were going to use it, how it would look, just because they are looking at everything every day in such a small space.

  • From a sustainability standpoint, it's really important to repurpose the buildings that we do have currently.

  • You can redevelop them and customise them to your client's needs.

  • It's vital for the growth of our city to repurpose current buildings and repurpose spaces.

  • Thanks for watching.

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Really the inspiration came from my clients, how they live, what they love to do and how they want to grow in this space.

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