South Africans live in small spaces like New Yorkers
South Africa has a history of small houses – just look at the thousands of famous four-roomed houses in Soweto and other townships – neatly stacked together row after row… although these days many owners have done alterations, some even building a second level to increase the living space – The point is, we’re not the only people to live in small spaces – so do many other people the wor…
ld over – we look to New York for inspiration on how to make a small space work.
The shortage of housing and the high-crime rate in Johannesburg (not to mention unscrupulous tasteless developers) has resulted in the building of an unbelievable number of townhouse complexes, duplexes, simplexes, you name it – all made compact and small to satisfy the exploding suburban emerging market.
For most of us, this is where we will live at some point or for much of our lives, as it’s the only option we can afford – that is of course until more affordable large city apartments become the norm – come on urban regenerators! For now, dreams of spacious living areas may never materialise for many suburban inhabitants as the price of larger homes cuts the average house buyer out and restricts them to the low-end “can’t swing a cat in this” townhouse.
But don’t despair, small living spaces are the norm in the most fabulous of cities the world over – just ask any South African that has lived in London or New York… Property is expensive and they pack ’em in in both those metropolises.
Everybody wants their home to be comfortable and many of us like it to look good and feel good. As the saying goes – it’s not about the size, in this case it’s about how you use the space.
Today we look towards the city of NEW YORK for inspiration on how to make the most of a small living space and really make it look fantastic. APARTMENT THERAPY is a fabulara BLOG that held a competitiion amongst it’s readers based in New York called “the SMALLEST COOLEST APARTMENT CONTEST” and invited people to send in pics of their space and how they made a small space work beautifully. Go and have a look and scroll through some of the apartments on show – be inspired by a range of fantastic ideas. It’s a pity we don’t have IKEA in our country – for those not-in-the-know, IKEA is an affordable house decorating shop loved and adored by people all over the world… we will send them an email and ask them where they are.
We give you two tips for how to use your small living space more effectively:
1) LESS IS MORE – minimalist minimalist minimalist – don’t buy huge, imposing, clutter. Keep your furniture minimal. Only buy what you need. Get rid of ugly waste-greedy furniture.
2) PUT YOUR BED UP ON ANOTHER LEVEL- build a raised sleeping area in your bedroom for your bed – that way you can use the space underneath for other things – there are a number of apartments on the site that have done that and it works fantastically.
We think this is a great idea and will be on the lookout for stunning apartments in Jozi…If any REPRESENT readers think that they have a COOL SMALL home, please mail the Editorista so we can get in touch and come and get some pics.
Thanks to Apartment Therapy for the inspiration and pics!
