Graham Hill, founder of minimalist design firm LifeEdited, brought his ultimate dream home to life less than a year ago.
After shedding the excess, he managed to fit his entire life inside a 420-square foot apartment in Manhattan's trendy SoHo neighborhood.
The idea was to fit 700 square feet into 420 square feet with the creative use of space. The result is a home that doubles as a treasure trove of storage space, featuring fold-up beds, hidden cabinets, removable walls and more. It can be transformed from a living room to bedroom, workspace, dining room and entertainment space.
"A simpler life is a happier life," Hill told Business Insider in an interview in March.
But his particular brand of simplicity comes at a cost.
In 2009 and 2010, he bought two apartments in an old Sullivan Street building and held a design competition for the larger of the two, which is now the popularized LifeEdited apartment. The space cost about $300,000, plus an extra $250,000 to $300,000 in renovations
"You have to fill it full of stuff and then you have to light it, heat it, cool it, clean it, maintain it, move it," he said, adding that his intention isn't for Americans to copy his design exactly.
"We truly believe that this is not only a middle, upper-class type thing. We can absolutely do this on a cheaper basis."
With Hill's permission, we've published a walk-thru of his LifeEdited apartment.
Here's the floor plan of Hill's apartment. At 420 sq. feet, it could fit inside the average American home about four times.
Here's what the space usually looks like as a bedroom. Hill says it can transform into five different spaces — including a living room, bedroom, dining room, entertainment center and workspace.
This is the view from the opposite angle. Hill said he loves the apartment and it hasn't been very difficult getting used to living in the small space, although he had lived in some other small spaces previously.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Please follow Your Money on Twitter and Facebook.