Whatever your project can be

Whatever your project can be, Benjamin Moore has the paint that is right for you. Nobody portrayed the I Love Lucy apartment as "small." By North American standards, when the average family in the 1930s lived in roughly 1,000 square feet, the homes of the '50s and '60s were spacious. If you were born in the '70s, you got a bit more space, but it was not till the '80s - throughout the years of Dallas and Dynasty, big shoulders and bigger hair - that the average single family home ballooned to over 2,000 square feet. J.R.'s mansion on Southfork Ranch was nearly 6,000 square feet, and that has been considered palatial. Fast forward to 2016. Can you guess the size of today's average single family home? At 2,463 square feet, it lets each inhabitant to take pleasure in roughly 1,000 square feet of floor space. But if you are looking at the downtown condo market in any big city, the average three bedroom "affordable" condo for a single family is back to 1,300 square feet - exactly the kind of space I grew up in. And still, these spaces feel more livable than the old bungalows and ranch houses of the '60s and '70s. we are smarter now. We do not waste much space on hallways. Formal dining rooms are gone, and things like ultrathin wall mounted flatscreen TVs, tiny Sonos sound systems, window walls and glass partitions save space and create an expansive feeling. But beyond that, we have learned to embrace "small" as a virtue, and to tailor our lives to having less and enjoying the freedom that comes with that. I think we have learned most of what we know about smart downsizing by watching how savvy millennials live and decorate. They do not annoy with landlines, phone sets, full size printers, cameras, CDs or, sadly, books. they have done away with box springs, many sets of dishes, and cupboards full of glasses. The right tableware looks great for everyday and may be dressed up for special dinners with some smart layering and all purpose, low stem crystal wineglasses, which generally work.

A beautifully intended modernist bench makes an stylish declaration in a fraction of the space of an oldfashioned, overstuffed upholstered one. Thin lamps, thin tables, thin rugs, and wardrobes that are about seasonless layering of thin, warm fabrics - so much easier than storing all kinds of heavy winter clothes. Seating and beds are lower, and tubs are smaller and freestanding, or struck me. The best approach to decorating small spaces looks to be a selective, creative use of decorative materials like patterned tiles, wallpaper, mixed woods, natural stone and composites. Hardware is sleek and special - like good jewelry - and light fixtures are sculptural and stylish. We know from the example of single floor London flats that a tiny room may be layered up in a luxe mixture of glossy black paint, petite antiques, lively prints and exquisite artifacts for a dressier look. One by one, my friends seem to be leaving behind their big family homes and moving into condos and townhouses - customized to integrate carefully edited pieces into a new new mix. each one of them loves their new sleek, effortless space. there is something so appealing about the idea of living in a self contained, small still stylish apartment that offers all the zones of a real house, close at hand. To this day, I still keep a file of favourite one room "great rooms" with a dressy kitchen along one wall and a comfy sitting room that will include a round table as a centerpiece.

Thinking back, I have realized where that idea came from. I was watching those single girls in their imaginary apartments in the '60s and '70s, taking in every detail. My all time favourite was not Rhoda's kooky Bohemian lair or Mary Richards' charming attic apartment with the pocket kitchen and sunken living room, it was Brenda Morgenstern's tiny, fashion forward apartment in New York. I still remember the pale yellow wall of art hung salon style with a white Parsons table and a wicker fanback bench tucked in the corner. It was all one room, with a kitchen on one wall and a round, dressed table in the centre of the room - and I thought it was perfection. I am guessing... 400 square feet, tops. What do you think?

Building a kit car

So you think you may like to build a kit car? Over the next not many pages we look at what you need by a building space, tools and being realistic about your capability and budget. the side of his house, where he effectively welded the chassis together and could have finished the car, had he not then moved house to a place with a wooden framed garage... Luxury. If you do not can access your garage then it is generally possible to rent one, but kit projects can frequently take longer than you think, and the cost can be prohibitory. Expect to pay around 30 to 50 per month for a lock up garage. what is more, you are most probably to find an en bloc garage, which in itself is not ideal. While it may o er you a dry place in which to assemble your car, it'll typically come with some number of distinct disadvantages. Most importantly, it is not likely to have power, which means no easy access to light or electric sockets from which to run things like a power drill. you may be able to overcome this by running a small generator to power a light source, and use battery powered tools, but it is far from ideal. Other disadvantages should not be ignored either. Lock ups can frequently come with serious security issues. Will you leave your tools there, and what about all the kit parts when they're still in boxes and easily portable? when a lock up can be only a short walk from your house if it comes with the property, if you're renting a garage then it may mean a drive every time you want to pop round and do some work on the car. you will must be very organised and dedicated to preserve progress in this scenario. , lock ups are rarely inviting places in which to spent hours tinkering with a car. If you have no other choice, then it may be done, but... Our recommendation must be a garage at home either brick or wood built. If it is attached to the house, better and if you do not have to go outside to access it, but have a door from inside the house, then that is ideal. just, the easier it's to pop into the garage, the more probably you're to take benefit of any spare times you may have.
With care and some planning, it is perfectly possible to assemble most kit cars in a common single garage. but, it's worth checking the dimensions of the style of kit you're thinking of building, , then possibly marking out its footprint on the oor of your garage with some masking tape. With the bodywork removed, most chassis when rolling on wheels are much easier to get around, taking up less room in a con ned space. One way of maximising a small space is to delay delivery of the bodywork till you're prepared to t it. Many kits may be built up to a rolling chassis before the panels need trial tting, and storing panels which in itself needs to be done carefully can take up lots of space.

Other ways of maximising space can be to mount your trestles on tough dolly wheels, so that you may push the chassis against one wall when working on the reverse side. You may also get dolly wheel trolleys aka wheel skates which lift the wheels o the garage oor and let you to do the same with a fractional or completely built car. also as getting around your car, you will also need space for some form of workbench, and also storage. E latter can frequently be done with shelving units which keep the oor space clear, and it's also possible to have a fold down work surface, that you only erect when needed. At said, a permanent tough work surface that will support possibly heavy parts and which is available at all times must be ideal. Is should be possible inside a common single garage. for example, CKC's Ian Stent, has a garage at home which is pretty compact, measuring just 8ft 6in by 16ft 6in. A common Lotus Seven style kit car ts nicely, though it can still be cramped to get access to all sides. But there's room for a full width work surface at one end, with old kitchen units below and mounted on the wall above. obviously, it could be far more challenging to park a Cobra copy in here, if you're considering a bigger kit car, then there is no question that a double garage double width being better than double length is the kit builder's dream if not important.

By removing the dust you will keep your clothes cleaner, it'll make wiping up spills easier and also make it easier to spot dropped nuts and bolts etc. If nothing else, it seems dead cool when your finished car is parked up after a great summer's day drive. Another more and more a ordable alternative is to cover the oor in garage oor tiles. Ese typically come in the form of hard plastic tiles which clip together to cover the whole garage. You may have to be cautious when using a jack or axle stands that you do not damage the tiles, but this is an more and more liked choice. LIGHTING Going hand in hand with painting the walls, is to get the lighting right. We'd recommend strip lights to get you as much light as possible. If you simply replace the centrally mounted pendant light, then you will nd shadows falling down each side of the chassis, just where you want the light. So t some number of strip lights, either across the garage, or running lengthways along the garage and located possibly half a meter from the side walls. generally t strip light covers garage ceilings can frequently be lower than in the house, and it is easy to break an exposed strip light bulb when moving bulky things around the garage.