Houzz Tour: Small Space Living and Clever Design in a Tiny SmartHouzz
To celebrate designjunction at the London Design Festival, Houzz has created a small but perfectly formed SmartHouzz
What’s small, green, packed with smart design features and available for you to visit? The SmartHouzz! Based in Granary Square, King’s Cross, the bright green SmartHouzz is a pod that showcases ways to maximise small-space living through smart design, smart storage ideas and smart technology.
The layout of the SmartHouzz is a ‘broken-plan’ arrangement with two main areas – a living room and home office on one side, and a kitchen and dining room on the other. The two rooms are staggered but linked by a large walkway, effectively creating two open-plan spaces side by side.
In the living room, an L-shaped sofa and a large rug mark out a seating zone encompassing the television area and a small wall unit/desk. A hallway space has been carved out with a slim console behind the front door, and the space under the ‘stairs’ has been utilised as a home office.
Find out more about ‘broken-plan’ living
In the living room, an L-shaped sofa and a large rug mark out a seating zone encompassing the television area and a small wall unit/desk. A hallway space has been carved out with a slim console behind the front door, and the space under the ‘stairs’ has been utilised as a home office.
Find out more about ‘broken-plan’ living
The built-in ‘up and over’ shelving around the doorframe was inspired by a clever idea spotted on Houzz to make the most of dead areas. Rather than take up valuable wall space with traditional shelving, slim shelves run up the side of, and above, the door.
Perfect for storing items that aren’t used every day, it’s accessed via a sliding ‘library ladder’. It also doubles up as a display feature in its own right for scarves, books and seasonal items.
Perfect for storing items that aren’t used every day, it’s accessed via a sliding ‘library ladder’. It also doubles up as a display feature in its own right for scarves, books and seasonal items.
Each piece of furniture has to work extra hard in a small space, so the sofa in the living room transforms into a bed for guests, while the upholstered stools can be brought in to provide seating or act as side tables when required, then tucked neatly along the wall when not in use.
The stools also double up as portable storage boxes for tidying away toys, books and cables, while the deeper section of the sofa lifts up to reveal a roomy storage space perfect for cosy throws or spare bedding.
Browse more living room photos on Houzz
The stools also double up as portable storage boxes for tidying away toys, books and cables, while the deeper section of the sofa lifts up to reveal a roomy storage space perfect for cosy throws or spare bedding.
Browse more living room photos on Houzz
A homework area or work station has been created in the living space, thanks to a slim, ladder-style shelving unit propped up against the wall with a neat desk chair tucked underneath. This is an idea that can be applied to any room in the home where space is tight.
The dead space under the stairs is often used as little more than a messy storage area in many homes, but, with some clever thinking, it can become so much more. In this photo, the stairs have been marked out to the right with a paint effect to show where they would be.
A slimline desk and wall shelving under the painted ‘stairs’ create a compact home office that neatly contains any paperwork, files or clutter in one dedicated area.
Bikes are essential to many homeowners living in urban environments, but storing them can be a challenge. Inspired by a similar idea on Houzz, the bike here has been raised up to clear valuable floor space and turn it into a feature in its own right. The Clug mount, which holds the bike, is the world’s smallest bike rack!
A micro kitchen slots into the corner of the second open-plan space, with a flexible breakfast bar/workstation dividing the room to separate the kitchen and dining area.
A mix of floor units and wall shelves make the most of every inch of space. A set of three stools allows the workstation to double up as a breakfast bar when required and the open storage shelves are accessible from both sides.
In the dining area, the table is extendable, so can be expanded to make space for guests. The dining chairs are stackable in case the area needs to be cleared, and the bench has integrated storage, perfect for stashing away tablemats, table runners and linens.
The pendant light has a rise and fall mechanism, so it can be lowered for dinners and pushed out of the way for watching the TV. It also
has a smart light bulb, which can be operated remotely by a smartphone, to check whether you left the lights on by accident when you’re out, for example.
The pendant light has a rise and fall mechanism, so it can be lowered for dinners and pushed out of the way for watching the TV. It also
has a smart light bulb, which can be operated remotely by a smartphone, to check whether you left the lights on by accident when you’re out, for example.
What to do when unexpected guests turn up? Take down an extra chair from the wall! Held in place with fun paperclip hooks, these folding chairs are kept up high when not in use to maximise space and also create a feature in their own right.
Houzz data tells us that 19% of renovating Houzzers rate smart home integration as ‘very to extremely important’. So there are plenty of smart tech features integrated throughout the SmartHouzz.
A smartplug in the kitchen can turn off devices that have accidentally been left on, as well as measure the power being used by any devices plugged into it.
Mini weather stations, shown here on the breakfast bar, allow the homeowner to track the weather and air conditions inside and out and use real-time data to plan their day.
The house also has a face recognition camera that can send an alert to your phone when someone arrives.
A smartplug in the kitchen can turn off devices that have accidentally been left on, as well as measure the power being used by any devices plugged into it.
Mini weather stations, shown here on the breakfast bar, allow the homeowner to track the weather and air conditions inside and out and use real-time data to plan their day.
The house also has a face recognition camera that can send an alert to your phone when someone arrives.
Want to take a closer look? Why not pop down and visit the SmartHouzz for yourself? You’ll need to hurry, though, as it’s only open from 22 to 25 September. Find out more on the designjunction website.
What do you think of this SmartHouzz? Let us know in the Comments below.
What do you think of this SmartHouzz? Let us know in the Comments below.
Location designjunction hub, Granary Square, King’s Cross
When 22-25 September 2016
Size 40 sq m
Design and build project management Jennifer Chong of Feioi
What do you do when faced with a tiny, 40 sq m plot and a brief to create a SmartHouzz packed with clever design features, small-space living solutions and modern tech? You turn to the experts – the Houzz community!
Many of the furnishings, colours and features in the smart green home have been chosen based on Houzz insights to make it a true representation of the modern UK Houzzer’s home. Colours are based on what we know Houzzers are choosing for their own interiors, and the design solutions are ones that Houzz professionals have used.
We know small-space living is a consistently popular search term on Houzz, so the SmartHouzz was created to provide inspiring solutions to the common space dilemmas faced by the Houzz UK community.
Furniture and accessories throughout, John Lewis (including Design Project by John Lewis). French grey oak vinyl flooring, Karndean. Wall paint colours, Dulux.