Urbanite challenge concept: Micro-apartment

Count on me to be late for the party.



Being snowed-in for a couple of weekends has given me some time to unapologetically start working on my Undersized Urbanite submission. With all of my current obligations it seems a bit frivolous, but it's not like I really feel like going out. Unless it's to a Goodwill.
I mentioned in my last post that I'd be doing up a very tiny apartment, about 300 square feet. Yep, you heard right. If I lived in New York City, that's likely what I could swing rent for. So how would I make myself comfortable, be able to entertain and accommodate guests, but not have to sacrifice lifestyle due to limited space? There's the challenge.

These folks have the right idea:

apartmentgeeks.net

http://milenachka.tumblr.com

wired.com

apartmentgeeks.net

I'd like to spend less time on the structure and more time on really cool space-planning and convertible elements inside. I've opted for a simple plywood roombox. (Famous last words... simple, ha!) I just don't feel the need to have a million full-blown dollhouses. Yet. I haven't got the space, or time to maintain them. The idea of having a few roomboxes of varying styles for setting up scenes is growing on me.

The basic dimensions for the rough box pieces are as follows:

Floor 24" x 14" (336 square inches, but the walls will take a few feet away once assembled)

Walls: 12" height

Give or take.

Oh, you saw that? So what. I slipped myself the luxury of 12' ceilings. Give a girl a break. I'm sure everyone else is cutting themselves a little slack here and there. Some of those old industrial buildings had ceilings like that. And lucky me, I found one.

There will be exposed brick on (at least) the long wall. I'll attempt to make space for a dinner party of 8, 2 overnight guests, office/study space, and storage. Working electrical is an obvious given. Any additional square footage obtained from lofts/furniture is an intentional design feature.

So far I've got the roombox panels cut, and one side of each panel finished. Also got started on the bricks, that job friggin' sucks. Never heard anyone say "I want to be a bricklayer when I grow up". With good reason.
The pieces should all go together pretty quickly once I have them ready. I'm trying the 'work smarter, not harder' approach by doing as much wall prep as I can prior to assembling the structure.

 Things are moving along, promise. You'll see next post.