Customer Reviews

Small Apartments

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I ranked this near the bottom of 7 "decorating small spaces" books I bought. It is a translation (published in Spain), for people who transform commercial space with the help of architects, decorators, & custom-built furniture. NOTE: These are tiny apts (322-850 sq. ft.) in European cities where owners do business, not primary residences. Owners bought the bldg, so can install skylights, etc. If this is you, you'll find the photos & blueprints & sections on Furnishings, Color, Moveable Panels & Exteriors helpful. Nothing was remotely adaptable for my American condo (high rise, 1400 sq.ft., 3 BR-2 B, with small rooms.

This book is not nearly good as Bartolucci's Living Large....

I think a designer and photo stylist were dispatched to each home to spiff everything up, bring in set furniture and props, to idealize each of these homes. They all look the same after a while, though they are supposed to be real homes in many different countries.

A total lack of true human quirkiness, individuality, humanity, toiletries, book and figurine and art collections.... That is the problem. The small apartment dweller's solution should not be, hire a designer, and have your home look like a Crate and Barrel catalog page. These homes have been too cleaned up and homogenized.

The book does not answer, how to live realistically in a tiny home. Bartolucci's book does.

I was disappointed.

This is a great book- for Europeans or the all too rare odd American space. I bought it for ideas for my 700 s.f. place. Which is totally normally laid out (frontroom, sunroom, dining area, kitchen, bath all on one peid-a-terre level...) these are a bit "what to do when you have 498 SF and a ceiling that will accomodate a loft over the kitchen for which you need a mobile wall that cuts off the libary"-- if you are looking for a book to help out with figuring out how to make your old pensioners apartment not look like your first piano teachers apartment-- this isn't the book.

a lot of ideas, nice professional photography, interesting international examples

As an owner of an apartment described in the book I am not the most neutral reviewer... This said, I think architect, writer and photographer Bahamon has done a great job giving many useful ideas to all who live and work in small spaces and want to make the best and most beautiful out of it.
Bravo!