NEVER TOO SMALL: Family of 5’s Multifunctional Micro Apartment, Manila 28 sqm/301sqft

The building is located in Mandaluyong City in Metro Manila here in the Philippines. The residence is a home to a family of five, the parents and their three sons. The family had been living here for four years. They needed help with space planning since their children were a lot smaller when they first moved in. My idea was to make sure that the space that we're designing is going to exude the same vibrant personality that the family had while also retaining the functionality and intentionality of the whole space. My name is Joseph Carol Aguarez. I'm the principal interior designer of Studio Joseph Carol, an interior design practice here in the Philippines. So I know the clients Timmy and Lester from the cycling communities. Their bikes themselves, they're very beautiful bikes. They have accent colors of rust, of green, of mustard so I was inspired by that. Having this neutral plain but then pops of color here and there. This property has an exceptional location at the center of Metro Manila which is in close proximity to all the major business centers and popular shopping destinations. What truly sets it apart is that it's the tallest tower in its location providing an unobstructed view of the skyline. The apartment is 28 square meters. The building was built in 2018. The apartment had an open kitchen, a living and dining area, a bedroom, and a compact bathroom and balcony. We kept the existing floor plan and made changes to most of the placements and positioning. The main thing we added were smarter storage solutions throughout the apartment. Once you enter the unit, there are slim cabinets for shoe storage. The wall is painted in an accent muted gold color to signify the end of the entrance. There is a wooden hook system for hats, bags, and keys which also served as a decoration. The living room has a couple of our favorite design features. The fluted PVC wooden finish panels serve as a wall accent juxtaposed with a tall living tree to soften the whole rectangular space. The custom-made sofa and cushions is a multi-purpose piece which serves as the couch in the day and it slides out to become a larger bed at night. On the corner of the living room area, we put a flexible wall light which you can swing forward. They could use it as their reading light during the night. The media cabinet is a customized storage unit which houses clothes, the kids' personal belongings, their TV, and the high cabinet by the end has clothes and their tall vacuum cleaner. We use clear polycarbonate in one of the cabinetry doors to make it visually lighter since a lot of the cabinetries are in color blocking and full shapes. We design cabinetry based on how can we maximize the floor to ceiling height. To make sure that the space doesn't look too cramped, we put a mirror on the side. In between the entrance and the living area, there's a dining table. It's an extendable dining table from Ikea and the family, since they eat out fairly often, they don't need the full space of a full dining table. The kitchen has the same fun colors as the living room. We planned out each drawer for each element since there is limited space. We also installed a quarter round mechanism for hard to reach corners to maximize the space. We have drawers to stow away their portable induction stove, their space for their tabletop appliances such as their rice cooker and their air fryer. To maintain the overall theme, we chose large colorful subway tiles and it's also easier to clean. For the bedroom, we maximize the vertical space by installing floor to ceiling height cabinets. To maintain the same theme, we use the same vertical fluted panels. There's also a work zone and the sleeping area. The double bed sits a little higher so we could add a pull-out single bed underneath. That's where the youngest son usually sleeps. We also added wall lamps by the murals which they could use as a mood or ambient lighting during the night. The office corner has a floating desk with a mirror backing to reflect the space. Behind it, there's a full length mirror. When you sit down there, you don't feel the space is too cramped because the reflections bounce off each other. For the bathroom, we opted for terrazzo finish tiles that had the same accent colors as the living room. Because of the cramped corner space, the clients opted for a shower curtain set instead to make sure that it doesn't close off the shower area too much. We also added cabinetry above the toilet for stock items and we painted it in the same rust color we used in the kitchen. The thing with urban living is that sometimes you don't need a bigger apartment or a bigger home. For example, here it's a family of five and they could go down and visit the nearby gym, their nearby playground, and then have a community with the neighbors. Since the building is set right dead center in Metro Manila, it's very easy for them to go to work and then for the kids, they go to a nearby school so there's less time on commute or traffic. We love inspiring you with our YouTube videos so here's a special bundle from our store to inspire you even more. It includes our new essential guide to your living room, a digital guide packed with expert tips and tricks to help you transform your living room into the perfect space, and our first hardcover book featuring 30 of our favorite small footprint homes filled with detailed floor plans and gorgeous photography. The bundle is available worldwide from our store just for you. You're welcome! Thanks for watching and if you're an architect or designer with a project we could feature, please share it with us at nevertosmall.com submissions.