I think my
favorite part of the apartment is the sun room.
It’s a great space, it’s...
you feel like it's almost a terrace when you open the doors.
So it's like you have this exterior
and interior space
The building was built in 1870.
We wanted it to become a modern, clean and open apartment
while respecting the original charm that made us fall in love
with the apartment the second we walked in.
With this inspiration in mind, many elements were kept.
Such as the flooring, the ceilings, and many of the doors and windows
that we personally restored.
I love this kind of flooring.
I love the colors, I love the personality that...
that it brings.
My name is Carlota Siverio.
I'm a freelance architect from Spain, and I live in this apartment
with my wife, Carla.
The apartment is in Comte Borrell Street.
Part of the lively neighborhood called Sant Antoni in Barcelona.
Borrell is now
a quiet pedestrianized street during weekdays, then transform
into a dynamic street during weekends with live music
and a book market.
When we found the apartment,
we immediately loved the cement flooring and the high ceilings.
There were two bedrooms, but the size
and distribution of the rooms were not practical.
We moved the kitchen and dining room to the center of the house.
We made the master bedroom wide enough to fit a double
bed, making the living room smaller.
The bathroom was kept in its original location,
but we had a new entrance to make it more functional.
We transform the kitchen into the sunroom to feel like a balcony.
The second bedroom was small and dark, so we removed one of the walls
and create an opening to the sun room, to let in more natural light.
When you first enter the apartment,
you find the entryway, kitchen and dining room combined.
By the door, there is a small cabinet
that we use for leaving our keys and shoes.
For the kitchen itself, we choose
natural materials that match the original flooring.
The cement tiles in the floor create patterned
zones, defining different areas in the apartment.
The entrance door is the original from 150 years ago
and was one of the elements that we personally restored.
All the elements needed for cooking
are easily reachable for a streamlined experience.
We also have a small panel dishwasher.
The kitchen counter is made of granite
and the cabinets out of melamine wood.
the floor to.
Ceiling cabinets contain
functional elements such as the switchboard, the integrated fridge,
the oven, and a small breakfast bar perfect for hiding as small appliances.
We chose white melamine, so
that at a glance they merge together and feel like another wall.
The same material was used for all the similar storage
in the apartment to gain consistency.
The living room is facing a pedestrianized street.
When opening the balcony doors, you feel like you are in a quiet village.
The living room has the most impressive
flooring with more than eight different colors.
Traditionally, the most special tiles
were usually located in the rooms facing the street.
This was a way to show wealth back in the 19th century.
We also decided to leave the original wall uncovered
and created a built in shelf to display
our favorite art pieces.
When we removed the ceiling,
it revealed a stunning structure which we had restored.
It brings a lot of character to the room.
In the living
room, we continued with the same strategy for the storage.
A bar cabinet and a display shelf serve
to show some personal objects.
The bedroom is next to the living room.
The sleeping room also has a balcony.
In this room, we can easily fit
a double bed.
Also, we continue the floor to ceiling closets
line from the living room, which now serves as a clothing closet.
To have more storage we custom made a chest of drawers
that delineates the dressing area and the sleeping area
without physically dividing the space.
We add the same wood handles from the dresser to the closets
to have a more cohesive look.
The lighting continues to the bedroom, to visually connect
both rooms.
In the bathroom and home office, we couldn't
keep the original flooring as it was too damaged.
To create a new mosaic we work with a company
that is still using the same methods to build the tiles.
They are handmade one by one
and we were able to make a few ourselves.
To bring more natural light into the office,
we create a second entrance from the Sun Room.
We decided to leave this space open to keep it flexible
We use the same strategy from the bedroom
using a low storage unit to delineate the space.
In the bathroom, our priority was to make the most
out of the space we had.
We designed the wash basin cabinet
to perfectly fit that space.
There is a built in shower niche
on one side of the bathroom.
and a ledge behind the toilet try the plumbing
that doubles as a shelf on the other side.
There is a small window connecting to the sun room
to help with ventilation and bring in more natural light.
Our favorite part
of the apartment is the sunroom.
We decided to use the same tiles, rasilla, that were widely used on balconies
and terraces when the building was first built.
We also replaced the windows so they can be fully open
to convert the sunroom into the exterior space it originally was.
On one side of the sand room, there is a closet
which contains the washing machine and the boiler.
There is also a spot
for our cat's litter box.
In the afternoon, it is really sunny in here.
So this is a perfect spot to read a book.
When it comes to designing
small spaces, I think customization is key.
It allows you to create clean and organized schemes
which make spaces feel bigger and easier to live in.
Flexibility
is also important as people's needs evolve
and their home should be able to do so too.
Small apartments offer a more affordable option to live in the city center,
but we need creativity so these are spaces can meet our needs.
Thanks for watching.
and if you're an architect or designer with a project we could feature,
please share it with us at NeverTooSmall.com/submissions.