ORIGINAL: Inhabitat
by Yuka Yoneda, 01/20/13
Lilliputian living is not at all new for New Yorkers, but with Mayor Bloomberg's adAPT NYC pilot program, we might be seeing even smaller spaces in the future. The good news is that designers have been coming up with some truly clever transforming and double duty furniture designs to help us make the most of our tiny apartments. From a babushka-style 2-in-1 chair to a vertical garden that doubles as an exercise machine to stairs with hidden drawers built right in, click through our gallery to see a selection of 10 pieces of multi-purpose furniture.
Sharing is caring, as the old adage goes, so the Schair Chair is the perfect way to show your guests you care by turning a single seat into two. The design, by Pratt student Charlotte Kreitmann, is made of reclaimed wood and is a fitting piece for popular urban dwellers who have more friends than chairs.
This wouldn’t be a proper transforming furniture article if we didn’t mention the Murphy bed, that old studio apartment mainstay. Resource Furniture has some really wonderful options whether you’re looking for queen size beds, singles or even bunkbeds.
Quite possibly the most baffling piece of transforming furniture we’ve seen thus far, the Oven Chair is a comfy recliner that can be packed up to look like a retro oven when not in use. We’re not really sure why anyone would need this but it’s such a fun conversation starter that we shout it was worth a shout.
The audacious amongst us have tried it – cramming an exercise machine into a tiny apartment. Some cases are successful but most end in a treadmill that does double duty as a clothing rack (which, in itself, is a creative solution, we suppose?). For those of us who want to work out in our homes without sacrificing space, French designers Yoann Legainoux, Simon Viau and Thibaut Rouganne came up with this exercise machine hidden disguised as a green wall. Breathing in that plant-filtered air while huffing and puffing seems like an added plus!
An elegantly obvious design that makes us want to smile, the Silla Guarda chair is actually 2 chairs in 1. When you need additional chairs, simply slip the wooden inner seat out of its white shell for double the fun.
Leveraging the versatility of modular design, these ingenious Tetran cubes are like LEGO for citydwellers. The cubes and attachments can be stacked in an endless number of combinations and discourage waste since they can simply be restacked when you grow bored of one configuration or if you move to another space. They aren’t available for purchase just yet, but can be pre-ordered through their site.
While it may appear to be a run-of-the-mill coffee table at first glance, the Kai Table is actually a sexy piece of storage porn. With dozens of hidden compartments to stash anything your heart desires, it’s an urbanite’s dream table.
The Paket by Offi is a smart design for New Yorkers with children – especially those who tend to move around a lot. The colorful set of table and chairs quickly and compactly folds into a storage cube within a matter of moments.
When we first came across these staircase drawers, we couldn’t believe what an elegant solution they were. Converting your own stairs to drawers may be a bit of a project but we’re sure it will help with resale value (who could resist storage as cool as this?).
Many New Yorkers simply don’t have the room for a full-size dining table, but having a dinner party with half your guests at a table and the rest on the couch is hardly ideal either. Brooklyn-based Ecosystems’ Bada table provides the best of both worlds by morphing from a loveseat into a table depending on your needs.
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