This Might Be London’s Smallest Home (& It’s Surprisingly Livable)

In London, which has the dubious distinction of being one of the world’s most expensive cities, two designers set out to transform what might be the city’s smallest house into a shipshape, efficient little cocoon. The space, a former mini-cab office, may be only 13 square meters (140 square feet), but it manages to pack in all the essentials…and then some.

The designers’ solution for squeezing a lot of functions into a very small footprint was to think of the space less like a house and more like a caravan or boat. The house has no freestanding furniture: everything, from the bed to seating to storage, is built into the walls, for maximum efficiency. The furniture and cabinets are made from a light-colored plywood which also covers the floor and ceiling, giving the space a feeling of cohesiveness and calm.

The house, which is shaped like a trapezoid, has a door and two windows that overlook the street. Upon walking in, the space’s small kitchen, with a cooktop, microwave, and pull-out workspace, is right in front of you. The bathroom is to your right, and the entrance is flanked by storage, including a small coat closet.

The rest of the space includes a table (with two benches that can be expanded to seat up to six people), a murphy bed, and a couch with a footrest that tucks neatly underneath. During the day, the bed is neatly concealed by doors: when opened, a nightstand and two small bookshelves on either side of the bed are revealed.

Every other surface in the house is covered by storage, which is neatly concealed by pastel-colored panels. One of them hides a shelf that pulls out to become a standing desk. It’s a truly impressive feat: turning a space smaller than most people’s bedrooms in a home with everything you need to live. But this little house proves that, with some design ingenuity, an extremely small space can be not just incredibly livable, but very beautiful, too.

See more photos, and read more about the house, at Dezeen.