Redefining the Dorm Room

When you think of dorm rooms, luxury isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. Living like a student doesn’t always mean top ramen and uncomfortable bunk beds, especially when a firm like Fateeva Design is designing it. They’ve constructed a 186 square foot flat fit for a young professional in Odessa, Ukraine. When they inherited it, the owners were confused on what do with such a small space until Fateeva suggested turning it into a student rental. The studio uses built-in furniture that lines the perimeter that contains a raised bed with storage, desk, kitchen, and a bathroom. There is even a small entryway with a built-in closet for hanging clothes. Click the pics for more views of the student residence. 

photos by Andrey Avdeenko via curbed

 

Seeking Higher Ground with an Elevator Bed

Beds in tiny homes can be a hard to thing to deal with because they take so much space, and you’re not even using them during waking hours. Instead of a lofted option, Ana White of Spruc’d came up with an affordable solution to create more space without sacrificing comfortability. Enter the elevator bed. She constructed a mechanical sleeping system with the use of garage pulleys and sliding door hardware on a budget of $500. The full bed lifts when not in use and also makes enough room for a guest bed underneath.

The building plans for the bed as well as the entire tiny home are available here.

LifeEdited’s Design Service for Homeowners

LifeEdited now offers a design consulting service specifically for homeowners that are remodeling or building new!

Since inception, our focus has been on space efficient green design. You have probably seen some of our projects over years: a 350sft apartment that sleeps four comfortably, a 420sft apartment that can easily host a dinner party for 12, and a 1,000sft home where a family of six can live in off-grid comfort. Our consulting service rapidly applies that accumulated design knowledge to your project. In industry terms, we are a specialty consultant. That means that we work with you and eventually with your architect. You may have seen some of our work in the New York Times, Dwell, Fast Company, New Yorker, Fair Companies.

 

To learn more: LifeEdited for Homeowners

Are you a real estate developer or architect? We also have services for you: LifeEdited for Developers and Architects.

Want to know more? Subscribe to our newsletter, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Interested in renting or owning LifeEdited Maui or the LE2 apartment in NYC? Please contact us.

LifeEdited Maui

LifeEdited Maui

LifeEdited:Maui is a model for how we can innovate to live in the future. It allows a family to live a big, happy, modern, convenient off-grid life in a 1,000 square foot home that functions like one twice its size. You may have already seen it in the New York Times and you’ll soon see it on TV. Some key details:

Want to know more? See the detailed description, subscribe to our newsletter, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. We’ll be publishing much more about the house in the coming weeks.

LifeEdited began in 2010 when Graham Hill, founder of popular eco website TreeHugger, crowdsourced his 420 sft New York City apartment. Named LifeEdited 1, it demonstrates the “less but better” lifestyle by creating a beautiful apartment with the functionality of a much larger space – seats 12 for dinner, has proper sleeping quarters for 2 guests, a great home office, a home theater, and is extremely energy efficient. With its own TED talk, three NYT features and coverage by most major media outlets, it has become one of the most widely published apartments in the world. The follow-on project, LifeEdited 2, has similar functionality, in an even smaller 350sft space. You may have seen it on the cover of Dwell or on Dream Big Live Small.

Would you like a home or apartment like this? If so, read more about our design consulting service. Would you like an apartment building like this? If so, read more about our services for real estate developers and consultants. And if you are interested in renting or owning this specific home or the LE2 apartment in NYC, please contact us.

Please click on a thumbnail to see a slideshow. Bloggers and journalists are free to download the web resolution photos or the high resolution photos. It isn’t mandatory but it is much appreciated if you can credit Shawn Hanna for the photography. 

Acer: Water tanks
Airlite: Purelite Interior paint
All-Clad: TK cookware set
Andersen: MultiGlide, 100 series windows & doors
Ann Sacks: Stampino & Savoy tiles
August: Smart Lock Pro, Doorbell Cam Pro
Bento Build: Lattice Kitchen
Blue Planet Energy: Blue Ion 2.0 Energy Storage
Boll & Branch: Organic bedding & towels
Cali Bamboo: Bamboo Engineered Flooring
eGauge: Energy meter
Freitag: Bags and clothing
Full Circle: Nesting bowls, other smart kitchen things
HAWAII OFF-GRID
Insteon: Smart dimmers and remote control outlets
KOHLER: Abrazo bath and many fixtures
Krups: SAVOY Coffee Maker
Magnum Bikes: Electric bikes
Meural: Canvas art monitor
Modern Fan Company: IC/Air3 & Cirrus ceiling fans
Neato: Botvac D5 Connected
Nest: Nest Cams, Secure alarm, Protect smoke + CO alarm
Oliver Yaphe: Rugs, runners, pillows, more
Plumen: 003 Dimmable LED Pendant Set
Pono Grown Farm Center
Ravensburger: The best games
Resource Furniture: Transforming furnishings
Rich Brilliant Willing: Crisp & Monocle lighting
Richlite: Countertops & table tops
Rowenta: Eco Iron, Silent Table Fan
Sense: Energy monitor
Separett: Composting waterless toilets
simplehuman: Trash cans, soap dispensers, more
Slyde Handboards: Handboards
Smeg: Induction cooktop, refrigerator, other kitchen appliances
Stelton: Pure Black knives
Sunflare: Sun2 Sunflare flexible solar panels
Tuft & Needle: Mattresses
Vanatoo: Transparent Zero speakers
WORX: Landroid Robotic Mower

The Vero Tiny House from Covo and LifeEdited

Vero Tiny House Exterior

Do you like LifeEdited designs but wish you could find them in a tiny house? Well, you will soon be in luck. Covo Tiny House Co and LifeEdited have announced an upcoming tiny house model, the Vero. Covo is known for elegant tiny homes. And LifeEdited is known for elegant space-efficient sustainable living. So it is a natural match, and we’re pretty excited! The Vero tiny house will be out next year. We can’t share a lot of details just yet, but you can find a bit more information on the Vero product page.

We’ve been approached by tiny house RV developers before. But this is the first time that it really felt right. So we’ve been working as a speciality consultant to Covo for several months now. It’s going really well. We will be excited to tell you more when we can — you’ll recognize the LifeEdited approach, but you’ll also see some things that are new to both LifeEdited and to tiny homes.

For a bit more information, see the Vero product page.

Keys? Who needs ’em when you have the August Smart Lock!

Another beautiful Yves Behar design, the August Smart Lock allows us to open and close our front door with our smartphone. With the ability to create virtual keys for guests, auto-lock and unlock, and keep the existing hardware of our door intact, the August Smart Lock is beautifully designed. It is also easy to install in 15 minutes over most common deadbolts. Graham loves the auto lock feature because it allows him to come and go with nothing but his phone in his pocket. It locks automatically after he leaves and opens up as he returns.

Learn about our Nest Cam security system here.

This post is one in a series that describes our LifeEdited 2 showcase apartment. LifeEdited 2 embodies our green, space efficient, and minimalist principles. We view LifeEdited 2 as a lab for experiencing things that are consistent with these principles. The product described in this post was given to us, which we appreciate, but we would not have accepted if we didn’t believe in it.

Green and Sleek Edyn Garden Sensor

Graham’s proudest match making moment has come full circle with the addition of the Edyn Garden Sensor in the LifeEdited 2 apartment. In 2013, Yves Behar, founder and principal designer of Fuseproject, an award-winning industrial design and brand development firm, and Jason Aramburu, an ecologist and soil scientist, came together to create an exceptionally innovative gardening system. Edyn Garden Sensor monitors “minute changes in soil nutrition and moisture,” allowing the garden’s owner to “anticipate and resolve problems” before they even happen by receiving tips and notifications on their smartphones. Solar powered and Wi-Fi connected our Edyn also has a database of plants from which it can recommend flora to users based on their soil profile. The sleek design and incredibly intelligent technology work really well in the LifeEdited 2 apartment. 

To learn about the smart and water conserving Edyn Water Valve, which we don’t have but conceptually love, watch this video!

This post is one in a series that describes our LifeEdited 2 showcase apartment. LifeEdited 2 embodies our green, space efficient, and minimalist principles. We view LifeEdited 2 as a lab for experiencing things that are consistent with these principles. The product described in this post was given to us, which we appreciate, but we would not have accepted if we didn’t believe in it.

Clean, Aware, and Blueair – LifeEdited’s Air Purifier and Sensor

Our LifeEdited 2 Blueair Sense+ air purifier is a smart idea for city living. “Studies show that breathing clean air can contribute to your health and well-being. Using a Blueair air purifier that removes airborne pollutants can go a long way toward helping you breathe healthier,” especially in a small New York City apartment. Indoor air can be up to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air.

Adding the Blueair Aware sensor allows us to monitor the quality of the air in the room at a high level and even control the purifier itself from our smartphone. Detecting airborne particles, volatile organic compounds, carbon dioxide levels, temperature and humidity, the BlueAir Aware allows us to monitor what the true quality of our air is on a minute by minute basis.

As an added bonus, the sensor and air purifier, as you can see by the pictures, are the nicest looking of the available purifiers on the market.

This post is one in a series that describes our LifeEdited 2 showcase apartment. LifeEdited 2 embodies our green, space efficient, and minimalist principles. We view LifeEdited 2 as a lab for experiencing things that are consistent with these principles. The product described in this post was given to us, which we appreciate, but we would not have accepted if we didn’t believe in it.

Kohler Water Conserving Fixtures

Thanks to Kohler, LifeEdited 2’s bathroom is beautiful and eco-friendly.

Our favorite feature is the brushed nickel Stillness Valve in the shower, which separates water pressure from water temperature, allowing users to save water every time they have a shower by making it easier to quickly get the temperature they want. In addition, the matching Purist Showerhead and Single Hole Bathroom Sink Faucet are beautiful, simple and high functioning. The Veil Toilet, which saves up to 12″ of bathroom space (and has a bidet!), adds to the LifeEdited 2 apartment dweller’s standard of living while reducing their carbon footprint by allowing one to stop using toilet paper entirely.

To learn more about official WaterSense water saving products, follow this link!

This post is one in a series that describes our LifeEdited 2 showcase apartment. LifeEdited 2 embodies our green, space efficient, and minimalist principles. We view LifeEdited 2 as a lab for experiencing things that are consistent with these principles. The product described in this post was given to us, which we appreciate, but we would not have accepted if we didn’t believe in it.