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How To Make a 140 Square Foot Apartment Functional

  • August 4th 2015

by Tianna Mañón

How To Make a 140 Square Foot Apartment Functional: Figure 1
A Polish designer has made a 140-square-foot apartment not only functional, but cool.


Welcome to UrbanTurf’s Property Week, a week-long series devoted to some of the most intriguing residential properties in the DC area and beyond. From a train station-turned-brothel-turned home to a clever way of making 140 square feet livable, this week is all about cool residences. Enjoy.


Most of the micro units planned for DC bottom out at about 250 square feet. That seems downright spacious to designer Szymon Hanczar, who has managed to not only make a 140-square foot apartment in Poland functional, but also beautiful.

Hanczar, a lecturer at Wroclaw Academy of Fine Arts & Design, aimed to make the space feel like home with a lofted bedroom, a small office area, a hammock, a small bathroom and a closet that holds a washing machine in addition to his clothing, according to dezeen.

How To Make a 140 Square Foot Apartment Functional: Figure 2
An overhead look at the space provides a better view of Hanczar’s design.

He used a minimalist color scheme, hip elements like a lamp-shaped lighting feature, an animal-shaped rug and clever storage tricks such as a slide out cutting board to give it flavor. Most renters of small apartments steer clear of extra design elements because they’re worried it’ll add clutter. Hanczar’s design shows a potential approach to adding personality to a small space.

“Extremely small flats are great for people who are Minimalist, who want to enjoy the city life,” he told dezeen.

Here are more photos of the small apartment:

How To Make a 140 Square Foot Apartment Functional: Figure 3
The closet opens to not only reveal clothing but a washing machine and additional storage

How To Make a 140 Square Foot Apartment Functional: Figure 4
A view from the home’s entrance shows just how small it is.

See other articles related to: micro units, micro-units, urbanturf property week

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/designer_tackles_140_square_foot_apartment/10142.

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