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Family Spaces, Small Spaces & Large Spaces

So how about making your home function for the family? Um forty six percent of homes in the u s have children under eighteen living in them and having your home's function for kids is really critical to making your life easier like I was just saying I need my home to function for my daughter just to have one less thing for me to have to think about because there's so many things that she needs and so many things that I need and it's just double double the concern to make things work in our home so some things to consider for kids for functions we've talked a lot about this this week but toy storage backpacks and coats everybody wants help with charging stations place to do homework play spaces that are inspiring so let's look at a few a lot of these are very imaginative and they have fund spaces and these are things that you could actually do with drapery and a loft space like leslie was talking about yesterday with her two small children defining space with dry paree is a fun idea I l...

ove this idea of using a loft space so this is this is using vertical space of course kids love anything like this if you're sleeping zen's up on the loft and a workspace down below in that fund oh really really fun so I think it's again just remembering that you have that vertical spaces particularly when you're in small rooms and kids aren't so tall, so ah lot of times you could go vertical even in a ceiling haif it's not super tall when you're dealing with hits something like this is pretty simple I don't think it would be that hard to remove later after the kids started getting a little bit older, so that one's really fun um and more of the ideas of that we were thinking about four workstations khun b great for kids workstations too, so they have a lot of the same need. So I like the idea that we were looking at this concept for adults with an arm wah but you could do the exact same things for children with an arm juan it's, the craft station with hanging on the wall, even the craft paper on like a a paper towel roll and ben's and cubbies and tack boards and chopped board. So I think this is really fun to be able to contain everything in this way really smart. So most of the time I find that the ideas I eat that work for adults are the same kinds of ideas of sets off the one I was going to look at are the same kinds of ideas that work really, really well for kids um, so even this organizational system over the desk all of the same things task lighting they need the same things that we need. They just need him in their size or within their reach or their scale. Lots of rooms we looked at yesterday were for multipurpose spaces like this for adults with sleeping areas or reading areas and this one's fun because the desk or low for children but I don't, depending on how you made it, you could probably make an adjustable shelf for the desk and it could raise as they age, so that has the potential to be something that could grow with with kids. Mr these really have those same kinds of ideas now what I love to do and we talked about that yesterday, uh, was make spaces that are adult sized but their kid friendly so they can grow into him or they could also be great for a guestroom. So this has that option, that capability and even with the trundle bed or storage underneath the bid. And I think there were a few little gadgets down here that we might take a look at um, so just good ideas for and these worked for anybody in the home but charging stations I love this it's his mom sailed it's dad sale ipod ipod camera so they even have it labeled and everybody has a place for there for they're charging station pinterest has loads of kids ideas it's one of the largest categories out there. So this is an area that you're interested in. I think they're gonna help you find alive of things that you need. This is sort of what I was talking about yesterday, uh, by taking something this is just a box that and its color coded they even have the cords color coded to whose phone they go to, but a lot of times I'll take a box or some kind of a desk organizer for clients, and I'll have holes drilled in the back of them for the charging station and so there's lots of clever ideas. I saw another one over here simple, very cute and it's fine it's just a box. Yeah, there was another one I saw. I think somewhere, too. Oh, this one something that even has just a power strip inside. So just easy ways, little do it yourself ways to start containing and then most of the things on this board really also just have to do with the same ideas we've been looking at, like lockers with doors over them or even open lockers like this one. Hooks loved this one, um baskets, containers, bins I love thee these so that the same ideas are going to work for no matter what you're trying to store, whether it's adults or children and just keeping in mind that things need to be lower for kids so that it bacon ex access them themselves and don't need you to constantly be getting them down for them okay let's take a look at small spaces add on the power point storage ideas resonating with youtube family so this is a big problem that you have here in the office is yours you know you're a very organized person but I know the spaces you're having to work with right now it's a challenge for you and finding a very small space but having to get it all organized yeah but I think that's the fun of it kind of it's like a tetris puzzle figure out how everything kind of fits perfectly in a little spot I think katie and when katie first got hired we both were like kevin geeking out over oh my gosh we could totally organize the snack drawer with these look it was really bloody kindred spirits with organize a yes on the way and you've done a lot of that to katie because I mean things have changed actually since you've been here in the way yeah I love to organize but a lot of this I find will be released home especially when you mentioned building some of the storage units instead of there's this one and I ke a that I keep eyeballing but it's just not the right size I was thinking how can I force this in but as soon as you said we'll just buy the basket and build around it was like there we go I've got this odd space under a countertop that I never use and it's really not going to be that expensive or that complicated yeah if you keep it simple like some of those yeah and then labeling the baskets that something that I haven't been doing in one of my closet it turns into a black hole I'll organize it put everything in the baskets and then I forget where everything is and you have to take every basket now and why haven't I thought of labeling those back on that's what I was saying earlier sometimes these seems so straightforward and I'm showing them to you and everybody's like oh yeah that's simple but we just don't we can't see the forest for the trees we just have those kind of dumb omelettes were like why didn't I think of that? Yeah um so let's look at a few more things that group that are great for small space design certainly again our whole topic here keep it organized you can use mirrors to create the illusion of more spice like a lot of us responded to the the little closet turned into a desk yesterday that had a mirror in the back of it so reflected the window instead of just being such a a little a little hole there we've talked a lot about using your vertical space keeping your friendship and proportion so not too big not too small I think that was leases big takeaway from the living room that I designed yesterday and she was just a surprise that I didn't change that much with the layout but just got the furniture scaled appropriately to the room and it really used more of the space and then as multipurpose pieces were now all in love with and thinking about using lighter paint colors often when you're in a small space now there are times when you want to create a little cozy little cubby jewell box for a small space on purpose like a dark little dinora library and that's sort of the exception to the rule but for the most part when you're in a small space a lot of times you want to keep a color light and let let the natural light and the space really reflect in the room so the few examples on pinterest of small space living that we can look at so there's several really great things on here they're even this little floor plan of a tiny house and eight hundred forty square feet and showing all the different things that they got into a space this is a lot of what many of you are dealing with here you're trying to get all these different kind of activities though there's even fun little layouts on pinterest where people have actually created these tiny floor plans for small spaces uh they're fun to take a look at that I've actually just downsized myself andi you know I'm really now working out a ll challenges that come with that because I don't really want to get sort of pared down to the point right now I have everything I want I don't really want to get rid off but I'm gonna have to I'm gonna still have to get rid of some things that maybe you could find some vertical like this is a great use of vertical space again this looks like it's maybe a beach kind of cottage but I just I love that they took advantage of all the space and of course if you know this ahead of time if you're building or constructing you could make sure that you have proper insulation and things so that you can really take advantage even of all the space that might have been an addict space or or used more utilitarian white previously and you're able to use it for space in the home I love this little little caught it's really fun? I think that the two things we've all learned this week really to think about that vertical space and then think about things that can be multipurpose even a table like this that might could convert to your workstation adding lighting in uh figuring out how to create these little activities like dining or work or relaxing in little areas of a space carving out something in making it fit the function this is a really tiny space and really honey, but they have a lot of seating in there and it still works a lots going on but it feels cozy and comfortable and they've used fun colors really make it interesting and added texture in so you could get a lot more furniture than a lot of people think in a small space and that was again back to what I was showing yesterday with one of our problems spaces and most of the things we've been looking at for day's work for a small space for sure we've been looking at great bill tins even using like this little window seat and the way you use your window treatments too so that you can still sit there it's not a drapery or something that's hanging in the way and using every tiny little nick synchrony everyone there's nothing going to waste in a small space hopefully so if you live in a small space and it's not working for you, it is going to be going back and thinking about how you could enhance um the space with using vertical vertical space or storage or cubbies here's a tiny little room really special it's pretty strong but I like I mean it's amazing it's very reflect that looks european to me, possibly really. What a great idea! Because that's really given the room depth when it actually looks it's a very small space, I think, yeah, it isthe so some great ideas here and again, and I'm not gonna linger too much on some of these but here's something that the great barcelona's here like you, like I found it. But again, there's great use of mirrors here to expand this space. The two mirrors with a window in between, I think which is a great ah way to reflect light and really open up a small space like this. It gives the illusion that it's, larger than it is also a lot of furniture in that really small area. Maybe just one more. And then we'll look at large spaces, any questions in particular? I love stuff like this. This is where that that geek and may also comes out. So I also love to collect. As theresa was saying the other day, she did dishes and serving ware and platters and so love society of carving out spaces. And I had, uh used I was showing you the other day, the little home office I had in my last time that we used as a half butler's pantry wrapping station, home office had about sewing room I had about ten different activities going on in that tiny little space and it was because I use shelving on all the vertical space that allowed me to be able to do that I love the ladder I love that they're taking advantage with a shelf over the door here so that's really exciting to me lots of things that you've been showing toby is really excited the audience definitely mary d saying she lives in seattle and she recently saw the tv in a public restroom using the backsplash tiles but she went first she thought she heard a voice she thought she'd put in on somebody on that she realized it was the news anchor on the robo shopper is saying is active somethings that if her happy husband sees this digital splash back he's gonna want to install it immediately yeah it's really it is pretty cool uh well let's take a look then it's um large spaces says most of you aren't dealing with large spaces but there are people across the country and especially in the like where I live that are dealing with how to make large spaces work for them uh because just because you have a lot of space does not mean that it's organized or functional and content a lot of times you get lazy when you have a lot of space and it becomes less organized because you're not forced teo teo edit things and get rid of things and really make spaces worked for us a few tips on living large with function really thinking about rooms that can have multiple seating arrangements in them so they phil more cozy and cohesive and of course that as we've talked about, I love using those room size drugs to bring it all together so that's the tip with the rug of tying it all together and then again even in a large space taking advantage of all the space. So I go through an exercise with my clients when they have a really large space and we're thinking about not only the scale of the furnished but why they're going to use this room and if it's just the tenth living room, no one needs to in living rooms or even three living rooms. So how are we going to use thes spaces? So I'm going to be for watching tv, so I'm going to be for reading some for play areas workout room and, you know again rethinking the function in these and hat what's going to make them go into the space is enough often talked clients into smaller homes even against thea probably the idea of making more money with them it I have a lot happier clients that come back to me again and again when I help them make better use of their space in their budget but if you do have a large space, you have to think about the scale right here's a project this was even in aa I think this is a project in l a so this isn't that large of a room but it's a it's a two story ceiling so looking at the scale of the furniture compared to the room that most of the furniture is not that overscaled as faras the tables and things go but they are taller and the bed is really what's maximizing that vertical space, right? Um the mattress isn't necessarily super high just the headboard so it's fitting pieces too the to the room, just as we were saying, light walls can really enhance a small space sometimes you khun bring a cozy your feeling to a large remembering in a darker wall color to it as well. So just be careful with the function there and also thinking about things like eiji and place yesterday. The darker room is, of course, the harder it is to see and function, so make sure that you're not removing some of your function by creating a dark, cozy room I love to design spaces we looked at some yesterday that I loved that have several seating area, so if you do have large rooms like this as opposed to having that bowling alley effect in the middle of the space how can you create difference in so this is clearly a bedroom but it's almost an entire living room in another seating area all in this one space and I like that in this instance they kept the whole room wide so it actually is opposed to making it dark and having contrast by keeping it all just this room that's wrapped in a neutral color it actually makes it not seem so overwhelming it flows together has a really bright energy I told maybe I think this is a home space it could be a hotel but I think it actually is the home space and I do projects that have rooms this large in them the one you were commenting on yesterday the day before with the orange kind of peachy orange and you said it looks like a hotel on was that the end of a long day so I definitely do spaces like these large rooms that have lots of furniture and then let's see if there's anything else that's really exciting here on then we can wrap up and take questions that one with the wave function staircase that looks amazing yeah isn't that interesting so that looks like a really modern home very uh it looks like it could be palm springs or some kind of an area that had a real mod feel to it even a little sixties ask so they're using the vertical space and all of the horizontal space here staircase wrapped the glass it isthe yesterday I was talking about having a a staircase with the glass railing. Now the ones I've used we actually put a wood bannister on the top of it but that one is just a piece of glass so our plexi has bolted and it might be complex to glass because I could see the hardware that's in the side of the the floor right here really interesting there was one other one I want to look at and then let's just take see if there's any questions or comments this morning about any of these liked this one. So like adding in the architectural detail in like we were talking about yesterday cause this is a really large space it's even like a three storey room in a lot of times the floor, the footprint the floor plan is not as large as the room fills because it's just vertical. And so we made a couple of comments about this yesterday. We were talking about those ten biggest design challenges and those tall ceilings so making sure that you're not getting your furniture to over scale because your mind's thinking that this is a giant room when really the floor plans not that big but it's the vertical space that's big and I love how they brought these reclaimed beams in to the various levels of the ceiling height here to really give it texture and interest in him it's much cozier, beautiful use of a large space so we've tackled several different kinds of of specific rooms here that we've looked at home offices, kids spaces, large, small techie spaces what kind of question? Very specifically about a very large space. This comes from theory and e salvo, I think I got that right apologies have not now this they must be design excess, and they're working with a client right now who has up sized to a very large family room now she has her grandchildren three times a week and she's very stressed about the clutter that's now invading this very big space. So I think she's looking for storage solutions because she wants to keep it controlled and keep it a chic space so I would go back to a lot of those pieces we've been seeing, especially the ones we looked at yesterday like the ottomans and in front of sofas that have storage inside of them. Um, the really large family room, that idea that I talked about on the first day where I took created a custom console that fit really large baskets underneath it and it was behind the sofa against a window so you couldn't really see it that huge baskets with toy storage in there and I could kids could pull him out and play with him and everything went back inside, so they were still handy and they were close because three times a week is often they're getting toys in and out all the times that needs to be stuff that's, right? They're close at hand that would look at opportunities for creating built in cabinetry, and then any opportunity for a dual purpose ottoman or a place to touch baskets under maybe a console behind the sofa things that are a little bit out of sight, but that really, really function and just getting creative with the same same tools all the tools we've looked at, which is the thing that happens in design, I think each one of my courses, we get to the third day, and we're like, so remember all the principals we've been teaching for two days? They work in any of these spaces if you just tweet them a little bit to hit whatever your specific needs are, yeah, toys seem to be a big issue for all the people I know pet toys as well. That's something we've talked about during the week, but leslie had a one of our students just had a big a problem with open, big open spaces, but onda storage of the toys was her number one heading, and she liked the idea of having that like a shelving unit and ed, a chair that the baskets were underneath. She and lisa both did, because it was there something about just having a basket against the wall that becomes a catch on. Things pile around. It went. Even if it's open storage. If it has sort of ah zone and a boundary to go in and sitting things underneath it, even on the floor, it still feels a lot more contained. That when things start just filling up every every corner of the room.