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Two People Work From Home and Live in This Tiny NYC Apartment That Unfolds Like a ‘Swiss Army Knife’

Nov. 26, 2012 7:00pm Liz Klimas

An apartment sizing up to 550-square-feet might be considered tiny for just meeting living standards of many couples. But when the space also serves as home office for two people, it gets even harder to imagine how it would work.

Rosa and Robert Garneau in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea still somehow manage to conduct business with privacy and store all their stuff in the “Swiss Army knife“-like walls of their New York City apartment, as Fair Companies explains in a profile.

Fair Companies Profiles the Garneaus Tiny NYC Apartment With Custom Cabinetry and Geeky Hardware

Robert Garneau stands in front of a hidden Murphy bed, cabinets and sliding room divider. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

The Garneau’s call their home a “Transformer Loft” — a nod to the popular movie series where things like a car or airplane shape-shift into giant robots.

Robert explains in the video tour that there aren’t really actual walls in the space that was originally a studio apartment. One giant, 9-foot long, 2-inch thick sliding door is what not only serves to make the studio into a more private one bedroom, but it also covers the home office equipment and other storage. As Robert said, nearly everything in the apartment has to serve two purposes.

Robert finds the cabinetry in his apartment “exciting.”

“…yeah, it’s a little bit more than what you would have to pay normally but it’s so liberating in what you can do with it.”

Cabinets in the bathroom are hidden because the whole room is covered in the same blue mosaic tiles. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

He said that some of the cabinets and hardware they employ to make their space function well is “a lot like living in a ship where everything is precise.”

Even his closest clothing rods have special hardware that allows them to be pulled down for easy access.

“It’s all about the hardware. I’m quite geeky in terms of hardware,” Robert said.

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

Moving on to the living space furniture, you see that it all has storage built into it and is on wheels to make rearranging possible. Their couch, for example, can be transformed into a queen-size bed for guests.

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

Their kitchen table, where much of their work would be conducted, is height-adjustable via an electronic control. Raising it up would make it like a counter-height kitchen island.

There are hidden drawers inside the table. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

Here’s the table after it has been raised. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

Take the full tour in Fair Companies video:

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Comments (81)

tangonine
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 1:31am
I’ll take my 4500 sq foot house on 37 acres, paid for. And for you idiot leftists: I have 5 degrees (wife has 6) and I teach at a university, raise critters and have a green house and am off the grid. Enjoy your box.

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- Marci
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 2:27am
  And it’s no surprise the tagline on faircompanies.com says this: community and access to tools on sustainable culture.
  
  How about some Agenda 21?
  
  Report this comment
- loriann12
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 7:35am
  Marci, I didn’t look it up, but that’s the first thing I thought of: Agenda 21. I am really disturbed by all of the talk of tiny spaces, especially since I’ve read most of Agenda 21. They want no one living in the coutry, they want that to all go back to nature. They want every one living in “urban centers” and they want the population of those urban centers controlled by how much food can be grown within 100 miles. Meaning if the farms around an urban center will only support 100,000 people, that’s all that can live in that city. You would have to check with the government to see if you could move somewhere, to see if they had room for you. You would have to get permission to have a child. Crime will go up because people will have to kill someone to have a baby.
  
  Report this comment
- Ballot_Box_Revolution
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 8:30am
  That was a 13 min video about a sliding wall…..
  
  Hey come interview me…i’ll show you my house and talk about my wall for 13 min.
  
  Report this comment
- AlwaysAmazed
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 8:40am
  They are a pretty imaginative and creative couple. It works well for them. I liked everything they did but did not like the city view. They couldn’t do anything about that!
  Yes – Agenda 21 came to mind for me too – very “sustainable.” The word is starting to get out about Agenda 21. Let’s keep getting the word out, and stop it in our cities, towns, and country sides whenever we see it encroaching into our lives and freedoms to live as we, as individuals, choose to live. What works well for them does not work well for all. That is the key. Take note of that progressives!
  
  Report this comment
- tajloc
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:04am
  I agree. Just sold $10K worth of hay. Cattle got to eat too. Wonder how the place will wotk w/o elec and water?
  
  Report this comment
- NovemberTwentyseven
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 12:31pm
  No way, I don’t care if it is the greatest city in the world, I’ll visit and go back to my farm. Read fresh Political comentary at: http://smallcraftadvisorychronicles.blogspot.com/
  
  Report this comment
- wthtamfm
  Posted on November 28, 2012 at 3:57am
  I envy you. If we could afford to do what’s necessary, I would go off the grid also. (We’re retired.) Great job.
  
  Report this comment
Mustanger
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 1:13am
This idea is 100 years old. Look up the story of the Murphy bed. Mr. Murphy was a packer / guide here in the sierras. He fell in love with a girl in SF, he followed her home and stayed in a cramped apt and invented the bed, along with the folding ironing board and other stuff.
Sorry, great story.

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- Chuck Stein
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 2:34pm
  Sad that those innovations don’t have a more savory origin.
  
  Report this comment
newwell
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 1:09am
Looks like an upscale, modern dollhouse. Not for me at all. I can not imagine not having space to move around, let alone both people working & living in the same 550 sq ft all the time. I’d go bonkers.
I can’t even imagine how much $$$ they paid for just the hardware. A cheapie euro hinge ~$3.60@.
And the furniture looks about as comfy as sitting on concrete blocks covered with foam rubber & fabric. No thanks.
I’m very happy in my +1600 sq ft house on a 1/2 acre that has a water supply, big veggie garden & chickens. Can’t beat that.

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nzkiwi
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 12:43am
Up until now I have ot been particularly impressed with these small homes, but I must say that this one does impress me. I’ve bookmarked it until I have the time to write down some of the ideas for a future project.

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ArmedAndNotDangerous
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 12:43am
I would like to mess up his **** – just a little bit. I bet he would really freak.
And, imagine loosing your keys in there? They could be an any of 500 drawers.

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- TurboCat
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 3:16am
  Hanging out with him and listening to him babble about “efficient spaces” would drive me totally insane!
  
  Report this comment
- RonaldReaganWasRight
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:05am
  The first thing I thought was that my keys would be lost ALL the time…
  
  Report this comment
kiwi1
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 12:04am
His Quotes….”Space is very precious in terms of the environment”….”Energy efficient, spatially efficient”….. Agenda 21 Propaganda. Pack-em & Stack-em……It’s coming, soon to be Forced on Everyone.

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- The Giver
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 12:29am
  And ‘fair’ companies.com! Yuck!
  
  Report this comment
kturn16
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 11:25pm
OK so how many times did he ACTUALLY open and close that wall/door….can we say OCD? That being said I like some of his ideas…

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- The Giver
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 12:26am
  He did over do it with that wall, back and forth… He wanted nautical practicality, well it was making me seasick!
  
  Report this comment
Ducky 1
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 11:20pm
Agenda 21 home!!

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- PaxInVeritate
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 11:56pm
  All that’s needed is for it to be placed underground – THX 1138. Lucas was the brain child for Agenda 21 ;-P
  
  Report this comment
El Paso Girl
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 11:13pm
Cool…… Little to small for me.

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Chuck Stein
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 10:26pm
A lot of comments here about the guy’s lefty-ideas, but I see a lot of “ingenuity” and “thrift” in the story. Those are not bad things.

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- The Giver
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 12:58am
  I agree that he has ingenuity. You need it when living in small spaces. But they probably spent millions in that apt and their custom furniture and wall. What about all the trees that were cut down to give him all that wood? Maybe it was harvested in a ‘sustainable’ way! You see thrift? More power to them, I don’t care where they choose to live or how. It’s their business, but I won’t be visiting ‘fair’companies.com anytime soon.
  
  Report this comment
LameLiberals
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 10:19pm
Why is Glen Beck’s The Blaze so OBSESSED with tiny home living when the majority of them live in HUGE MASSIVE MANSIONS on many acres?

I am starting to think Glen Beck is pushing Agenda 21 on everyone but his rich family.

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- grayling646
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 10:58pm
  Glenn and his wife live in a small 20 X 24 space (a converted storage building) and have a doomsday bunker in their back yard.
  
  Report this comment
- mastice
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 12:45am
  @grayling646
  
  No, no, no, no…. no. Glenn and his family live in a 10×10 box made with leftover crates from Food Insurance… inside a 20×24 bomb shelter lined with gold bars. He sends us all his message on his two way radio that he keeps hidden in his Liberty Safe.
  
  (Glenn – love ya man, big fan, just joking, don’t hurt me!)
  
  (:
  
  Report this comment
charles116
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 10:08pm
My sisters work from a small apartment, Their legs open up like Swiss Army knives.

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- The-Monk
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 11:15pm
  Hey Dora…
  
  Whose legs open first? Yours or them?
  
  Report this comment
Git-R-Done
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 9:46pm
These kinds of small living spaces are very common in Western European countries. I lived in a very small space one year in college and it felt like living in prison and being a caged animal.

No wonder leftists want all of us in society to live like that.

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- Red Meat
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 10:49pm
  The miserable left is not happy until they make us all miserable.
  
  Report this comment
- AlwaysAmazed
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:06am
  You got that right, RED. With the lib/progressives it is always “My Way Or The Highway.”
  
  Report this comment
grayling646
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 9:20pm
That’s about the size of the cellar my parents locked me in as a child.

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woodcellar
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 8:22pm
If you both work from home why would you not move some place where you could have a whle lot more space for a lot less money. I have 320 acres That the expenses are probally les on and produces income that pays the expenses and much more. Maybe the social thing is worth. I rath look out my window and see my cows.

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- Stoic one
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 8:32pm
  I am with you…
  
  Report this comment
- American Soldier (Separated)
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 9:42pm
  They seem to both be architects or engineers, probably for high rises as the thickness of those blueprints look… well… thick.
  
  Report this comment
MrKnowItAll
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 8:04pm
Am I the only guy to get a 2200 Sq. Ft. House with a Half Acre while on Welfare?

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The-Monk
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 7:56pm
Either he’s really short or that’s a tall ceiling.

He’s wasting a whole lot of space right above his head….

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- Psychosis
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 7:58pm
  i would say above his neck
  
  Report this comment
GBTVFan_Non_American_Overseas
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 7:55pm
They could have one of these…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtsOQz2I09g

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Psychosis
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 7:49pm
obviously no plans to have kids ……………and in their case its probably for the best bunch of limp wristed greenie metrosexuals

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HotFixIt
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 7:39pm
They keep celebrating how minimal a space people are able to exist in…. the smaller the space the more excited we are supposed to be about them and their ability. Well, I am so proud of my 1,600 sq ft that I live in ALONE! It is not huge but it comes with a 2 1/2 car garage and a yard too. If I ever move, it will be to something larger.

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RamonPreston
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 7:22pm
Same size as a room in a FEMA camp?

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- SimpleTruths
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 7:37pm
  I’m amused by your ability to find a way to work in your bizarre theories into virtually any story about anything.
  
  Report this comment
- RamonPreston
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 7:53pm
  Reality is an illusion. Take the red pill before it’s too late.
  
  Report this comment
IndianaLifesaver
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 7:21pm
Living Space? Where is the nutrition cube door?

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- STawbush
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 9:37pm
  …and I didn’t see the woman’s walking board ANYWHERE!
  
  *** Praise be to the Republic! ***
  
  Report this comment
Tractorboy
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 7:17pm
I don’t like it……..would be like a prison cell at some point…….here’s your cell…..get in…….Agenda21 anyone.

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- RobbieTLHughie
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 8:05pm
  It’s a bloody small apartment, how could you incredible cretins not see that? The guy WANTED to live there, it works for him – it wasn’t sanctioned by the f*cking government, you people are so incredibly damn ignorant. ARGH!
  
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- Tractorboy
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 8:42pm
  Oh Robby, you’ve never been stuck in a camper for a week and a half with the family, the dog, a guinea pig, and a cockatoo………After you do that, then you come talk to me…..let me tell you something, it can drive you a little crazy….
  
  Report this comment
Stelex
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 7:16pm
This will be a luxury apt. soon. Wake up America…..your being herded and caged. Step by step.

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- SimpleTruths
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 10:59pm
  Yes I’m sure this not their choice, they have been forced to live in this small apartment. No one would choose this would they. Blahh blahh blahh.
  
  By they way, learn the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’, your home schooling needs a tune up.
  
  Report this comment
Chromo200
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 7:15pm
What is wrong with these people not buy/renting big houses/Apt. putting people out of work .. Could not sarcastic .. We really don’t need much in our lives. Live frugal, and follow the words of the Lord..

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