Like so many Torontonians on the hunt for real estate and rentals, Jano Badovinac chose his Annex one-bedroom apartment because of its neighbourhood and tree-level views and not for its sprawling space. At just 475 square feet, it doesn’t offer a lot of layout options, but the graphic designer adopted a decidedly urban method to maximize utility and storage in his living, dining and work area: build up!
“It took me a while to settle on a floor plan and about a full year until I started to really dial the place in,” he says. “The best thing I did was get rid of my television. It allowed me to experiment with furniture placement and not worry about sitting in a specific direction.”
What replaces the TV is a dense stack of file cabinets, chests of drawers and suitcases. Badovinac calls the assemblage of found objects “up-hoarding,” a look that’s as eco-friendly as it is visually interesting.
Carefully curating the pieces is what separates the style from standard over-collecting and makes it small-space-friendly. He’s edited down the rest of the room to include a few conversation-starting elements like tufted chairs bought from a biker gang in Venice Beach and a wool rug inherited from his father’s family.
“Adding more texture to the walls is something I’d like to experiment with,” he says describing other design projects he has in mind. “I think I’d like to cover one in cedar shingles because of their outdoorsiness and the fact that they smell good.”
When he’s done with it, we can’t imagine that each of Badovinac’s 475 square feet won’t be touched by an outside-the-shoebox-apartment idea.
