Rosa and Robert Garneau's Chelsea apartment is small -- just 550 square feet of usable space with a bedroom just 8 feet wide -- but they can both work from home, find privacy (even for meetings while the other is sleeping) and fit all their belongings (sports equipment and lots of office gear) thanks to walls that don't stand still.
Nearly every "wall" in the Garneau's transformer loft opens to reveal cabinets, a bed or even a home office. And all of it was carefully designed for utility and precision.
"It's all about the hardware. I mean I'm quite geeky in terms of hardware, so I like playing around, doing the research with what piece of hardware will do the job that I need to do... you know, the hinges, the lid supports, the tracks."
The hydraulics of their Murphy bed are so perfectly balanced that it opens and closes with fingertips. The 500-pound track-mounted sliding wall that separates both their office and kitchen from the bedroom relies on ball bearings that are so smooth it makes little noise when it moves, despite being heavy enough to act as a real wall.
The main table in the kitchen area serves multiple purposes, thanks to hydraulic legs that have been programmed with preset heights for meals, work (both sitting and standing work desk) and cooking (different for both 5-foot-4-inch Rosa and 6-foot-4-inch Robert).
Watch Kirsten's feature-length documentary on tiny homes, "We the Tiny House People: Small Homes, Tiny Flats & Wee Shelters in the Old and New World."