Living large in a small space
CHICAGO — As Crandon Gustafson tells his students at Harrington College of Design, design is problem solving. The lesson came home to the teacher when the walls closed in on him two years ago.
The problem facing Gustafson? How to live large in a small space. The department chair for interior design at Harrington had exchanged a 3,000-square-foot apartment on Chicago's North Side for one measuring 750 square feet when his son went away to college.
After a divorce several years ago, Gustafson had moved with his son to the apartment from a house that was also 3,000 square feet. Moving into the second apartment — a place one quarter of the size of his previous home — inspired a series of ideas on how to make the most of space and make it feel roomy.
Together, the ideas are like a college course on the subject.
His initial criteria for a new abode were simple: find "someplace within walking distance of work, with hardwood floors." And since he's an architect, he wanted a building that would "count for a lot." The former Florsheim Shoe Factory in the West Loop was a good fit.
There were immediate pluses to his move. In addition to cutting his 30-minute commute to a 10-minute walk to work, the smaller apartment forced him to change the way he used space.
"When I found myself living alone for the first time in 20 years, I made changes that supported a more convenient and sustainable lifestyle," says Gustafson.
"Living in a smaller place has changed the way I use space," he says. "Space has to be flexible."
What he had to work with was basically two rooms connected by a hallway. The larger one is a living room. Its south wall is a window. Opposite it, a narrow island creates a border for a galley kitchen. The west wall holds a fireplace flanked by tall bookcases. A buttercup-colored sofa from the 1960s takes up most of the east wall. A short hallway, with storage behind white doors, ends in a bathroom and a bedroom.
There isn't much in the way of furnishings, but what there is, is choice. It's more about the bones and how to manage space.
"The primary 'living' space becomes multifunctional," says Gustafson, who has a master's degree in architecture from the University of Colorado-Denver and practiced architecture — including doing projects for the Chicago Public Schools — until taking on the position at Harrington in 2005.
"At times, it's a studio for working, at other times it's for entertaining, or for quiet reading. Traditional Japanese housing uses the same idea. I like to call it, 'One space, many places,"' he says.
"In Japan, they may use a sliding shoji screen to transform the space. I don't have that luxury, so I use directed lighting (spot luminaries) to effectively change the areas of emphasis.
"With the lighting, you can kind of make the kitchen go away," he says. He accomplishes this by adjusting the lighting so it highlights some of the shiny things in the living room, such as framed artwork, making the pictures more of a focal point.
Several pieces of framed art lean against the base of a tripod in front of the window. "I have all these pictures and find if you put them all up (at once) it is just too much. I keep them there, and I can bring certain ones to the front," he says. "You can see how the room changes if you don't have the lighting on."
He owns a desktop computer, not in evidence. "That was really obtrusive and I was looking for a way to make it go away." He put it in the closet and when he wants to use it he pulls out a work surface he built from a piece of older furniture from his past. He also brings home a laptop from work.The only other room is a bedroom, which the full-size bed nearly fills. The headboard is a multiple-leaf dining table. When he entertains, which is not often, he takes the headboard/table into the large living space, unfolds the legs and uses it for serving guests."Even though we're in this smaller space, you're just as comfortable and well entertained," says Marie Spicuzza, Gustafson's sister-in-law. "In the new house, even though it's smaller, you're all together."Living "out of the box" is another side effect of his move."My home base has gotten smaller, and I consequently pay less for it. But at the same time, I've expanded my living area to my neighborhood and the city at large. We 'rent' space at Starbucks, Argo or Cosi for the cost of a cup of tea, and we can therein relax, read, work on our laptops or converse with our friends. Where did we spend all that time 20 years ago?"The purely private realm has shrunk, but the new coffeehouse blend of public/private space is replacing it. We are becoming accustomed to taking our privacy in public among strangers."
A lavishly illustrated new book, "How to Live in Small Spaces" (Firefly Books, 224 pages, $29.95) has been written by designer Terence Conran.His strategies include built-in storage, conversions of attics and basements, using under-stair areas, halls and landings, creating sleeping platforms, use of multifunctional furniture such as sofa beds, folding or stacking chairs, extendable tables, pull-out or fold-down tabletops, small-scale appliances and more, much more.Here are a few tips from Conran on furnishing small spaces:1. Keep the floor as clear as possible.2. Do your homework before buying furniture. If you are intending to buy a large piece, particularly a sofa or a bed, make sure you make and consult scale drawings to ensure the item will fit.3. Think about what you really need. One or two comfortable sofas may represent a better use of space than cluttering up the living room with armchairs, occasional chairs and side tables.4. Opt for built-in storage as much as possible. Freestanding storage furniture is bulky, visually intrusive and creates dead space around it.5. Less is more but smaller is not always the answer, he says. While some sofa designs are simply too big for a given space and appear too dominant as a consequence, small-scale pieces may not provide the comfort you require and can give your home the look of a doll's house.
