I found an affordable apartment in Paris!!
 

Well almost.. Very ingenious.

I finally found an apartment in Paris ( in the 17eme, no less!) that I can afford. Unfortunately, itis a tad too small to be legal, so it's for an au pair. It's 8sqm, needs to be 9sqm.

http://vimeo.com/109832468

When I was an au pair I would have loved it, except no comfortable place to sit. That's where the extra sq meter comes in!

DEBITNM,

Wow, that is tiny, but there is definitely a trend in that direction in cities all over the world. Interesting...

Interesting, but way too tiny for me. I got claustrophobic just watching it! I also could not sleep in that bed and would never close the door to prevent day light. With one window there isn't much light anyway.

The Museum of the City of New York had a great exhibit awhile back on micro-apartments, complete with a staff member who showed you how everything opened/worked, etc.

While I would absolutely downsize to live in Paris, I could not go THAT small (although I love the 17th.) Very interesting, thanks for posting.

P.S. I love the "easy to access" comment - yes, for someone her age! :-)

Yes, the lack of a cozy spot to lounge in needed.

IKEA stores always have some tiny space living concepts set up. I have a dream of one of them in a tiny bungalow on Coranado Island California, off San Diego --

http://www.mymoneyblog.com/ikea-smal...oor-plans.html

But by comparison, they seem huge to the spot(and I do mean spot) in Paris!

Yes, I would have LOVED that place when I was living in an au pair apartment in Paris! In that place, the toilet and shower were down the hall . . . I can't believe I lived there.

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The before and after cutaway is fantastic. I would so live in that!!

What a clever use of space. That bathroom is pretty nice!

I love it and want one. 7th floor walkup instead of a home gym.

That is really interesting. What is the rent, out of curiosity.

Not rented as it is not a legal apartment. Apparently, the Au pair gets to use it....

When she closed the "bedroom door" while she was inside, all I could think was coffin.

For loungy seating, I'd get this:

http://www.amazon.com/Inflatable-Col...72VPYVPNG1D9BK

I think I could handle a week tops.

I would rather had that comfy seat than that stool. Where was the tv?

This isn't an apartment. It's being buried alive. Yikes!

My goodness, that makes the tiny home movement look like McMansions!

Here's one you can actually rent in Rome. Slightly larger at 10 square meters although I don't think that includes the loft sleeping area. Great location!

http://www.lacasapiupiccoladitalia.com/index_en.html

It's a regular staple for newspaper stories about property market madness in London:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...nds-month.html

Jean,cwhat is a step up! Would like a better look at the WC, though.

Sorry, should be....Now, that is a step up...

Extra space is over rated. How many cats can one person swing, anyway? I'd take any of those London or Rome ones, too.

There's a special camera that apartment rental sites use that I bet could make any of those look palatial. Padded with closeups of flower vase or knickknacks, and several shots of say the Eiffel Tower, Coliseum, or pigeons in Hyde Park.

Just shows how one can transform a small space with clever design. Not sure how livable it is on a day-to-day basis. I would not be able to close the door to sleep (too claustrophobic)... but then, I'd be afraid I would roll out and off the bed in my sleep! I'd need a bar across like on the top of a bunk bed!

Clever, but dreary, like a gray ski with no movement, and terribly claustrophobic. The bath is really nice. The rest is like a prison cell dressed up with laminate. It also looks as if it would feel lonely and isolated. Everything is closed off. It is not a room anymore, simply a closet with built ins. If you could even sit by the window, that might help. They could have done a closet above a pull out bed/sofa with a drawer underneath, book shelves under the window, etc. Overall, I find it wretched.

Sassafrass, here's one for you in Hong Kong, enormous at 330 square feet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQM7a5Yjp9g

Longer, more detailed video of Hong Kong apartment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB2-2j9e4co

I think this flat is really cool.

Me, too. Gary Chang is a domestic architecture hero.

Wow. Gary Chang is like the Chinese David Blaine. A lot of stuff in that small space but very organized.

This is the company we are using for next June/July. Regis is very easy to work with. specialapartments.com

When I was a mother's helper/au pair in Westchester County, my "apartment" was the TV room, where I shooed the kids out and unfolded the couch for the night. My own uninvadable apartment, however austere, would have been oh so nice. (Not even to mention having Paris outside my door instead of miles of suburban roads lined with rich folks' houses.)

OMG, I love the Gary Chang space. He used the windows so well, love that you could lay in bed and look out. You could actually cook in the kitchen, and a real tub! The color was warm and inviting - nothing like the laminate cell in Paris. This guy is a creative genius. Love it. Think what he could have done with the Paris space. Fabulous, just fabulous!

This one in Paris is a bit more "livable' I think than the one posted above.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/a-ti...g-style-212595

Isabel, that one is nice. Upbeat, spacious feeling, hip and charming. Quite livable. A big change from the laminate cell!

Isabel's apartment is 3 times the size. A townhouse by comparison.

I think there could be things done to "comfy" up the original "apartment" but I agree, it would be difficult to make that your home.

Since an au pair lives in it, the assumption is that she is in the main home of her employer the majority of the day.

It's been interesting to see all the tiny spaces.

DebitNM, You are Right. I see the first one in Sq feet is only about 85, so roughly 8x10. Isabel's is 270sq feet, so something roughly like 15 x18 or 12 x 22, a lot more to work with, but it was the closing up of everything in separate gray storage boxes and turning it into a built in closet with a sleeping box that was so bad.

I liked the small apartments in London.. I could survive if I had to in a few of those.. but anywhere I have to climb a ladder to get in and out of bed is just a no.. I would hate to break my neck going to the bathroom at 4 am all groggy.. yikes
The apartment in Hong Kong was very well done.. but I find it abit cold too.. and really.. where do people put their clothes.. ?

The tiny apartment in London.. well hey.. its better hen being homeless and I know people who would love their own space..even that small , as opposed to having to rent rooms here with shared kitchens and bathroom. Very common here. My sons first place was converted space in someones basement. Four bedrooms.. all shared one bathroom and a small kitchen. No common room , so if you wanted to have folks over they sat on your bed or maybe easy chair you could fit in your bedroom . Rooms for students basically. .but now a days all ages are having to rent such small places because of price. My sons rent was 550 dollars a month . To get your own bachelor apartment here runs about 800 a month and that would not include your utilities.
To put that in perspective... my younger sons is on a disability pension of 800 dollars a month.
A person on welfare gets about 500 dollars a month.

People need more small living choices.

May be horrible to you and me ( lets face it .. many of us have closets not much smaller then some of those apartments) but if its a choice between being homeless and having a clean safe place to sleep each night.. small living is great.