Kirsty and Clara live in the loft conversion of Claras mothers house.

They have to make their small space work hard: its simultaneously a bedroom, living room, office and nursery for their oneyear-old son Isaac. Isaac is growing fast, so the space has to adapt easily. live interior designer Pernilla Warnhammar visited the family and together they made small changes to help them enjoy time together in their home even more. Clara (far right): We love a minimal style with lots of storage and no clutter. It suits this space. And, with a young child, its important for safety reasons Isaac is discovering the world through his mouth, everything goes in there! Our son is our life so we fill our home with things that make him happy. When we moved out of our studio flat and in with my mum, we had to give away a lot of our furniture. We were left with a mishmash of white and pine. Now Isaac needs a new cot so were working on getting rid of the old pine one and buying white products. I

love matching furniture! I would like to bring more colour to the loft. I have an image of a beautiful bright wall sticker Kirsty: Becoming parents affected our relationship. Before you have a baby its just about the other person. When that changes it can be tough. Starting our blog (www.mytwomums. com) has helped. Not many people know about same-sex families we wanted to show them our life is not that different. And to be honest about how hard it can be to raise kids. No one talks about it! People say: Parentings great! I just baked a cake this morning and youre there at home saying: Are you serious? I didnt even change my underwear last week! Living here has brought us closer together. You dont need an abundance of space to raise a child. But we are looking forward to working with Pernilla to find a few ideas that will make better use of our space.

It s amazing how much your home affects how close you feel as a family Clara

UK

PHoToGRapHy ADRIAN BRISCOE sTylinG PERNILLA WARNHAMMAR WoRDs MIRANDA THOMPSON

Were two mums bringing up our baby boy in Claras mums loft. Were not your average family in your average home, but if my nan can raise two sons in a tiny caravan, we can make it work in our little loft Kirsty

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rethinking our small space

rethinking our small space

One room, many uses

In a small, open space, zoning helps, says Pernilla. Be guided by what each area is used for. We wanted Isaacs sleep area to feel safe so we added a canopy. Try simple ideas: curtains for privacy, mixed lighting, rugs that define different zones.

Introduce colour without paint

Adding colour was important to Kirsty and Clara but we didnt want to paint as Kirsty has asthma. People forget textiles are a quick, easy, affordable way to make a space colourful.

Fit your storage to your space

Kirsty and Clara had one BILLY. I slotted another slim model in the narrow wall space by the door. And I wall-mounted kitchen units, with a child safety lock added, to create wardrobe space along the lowest part of the wall.

Great ideas for small spaces from live stylist Pernilla Warnhammar

Making a home work isnt about the amount of space you have, but what you do with it. I grew up with eight brothers and sisters and learned early on to squeeze the most out of my small corner of home! I wanted to show Kirsty and Clara how easy it can be to make a room work better just by rearranging the furniture, then adding a few new pieces. These simple ideas can be used to create space in any home 1. Invest in multi-functional pieces Isaacs cot doubles as storage for his clothes with its built-in drawers. His bench has space in the seat to store toys. 2. Put storage inside storage Boxes in cupboards and on shelves make it easier to neatly store a mix of things together. 3. Use dead space Under beds, over doors and the side of bookcases can be used for shelving, boxes and hooks. 4. And use your walls Keep floors and tables clear by wallmounting rails and cupboards.

Room to be together
We smartened Kirstys workspace by adding a task light, tidying the cables and adding an armchair (they used to have one chair and one beanbag). Now Kirsty can blog while Clara watches TV and Isaac sleeps.
Turn the page to see what to buy

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read more about kirsty and clara www.mytwomums.com

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rethinking our small space

To us home means family. Rethinking ours has made us closer

Heres what we did

SO EVERYTHING HAS A PLACE TO GO
FAKTUM wall cabinet 60x70 Hrlig white [998-439-21] xx Kitchen cabinets fit well in smaller spaces. Fix them to the wall and add child-safety locks SKUBB shoe box 22x34x16cm turquoise [502-434-78] xx/4pcs Organise inside your storage STUVA cot with drawers 60x120cm white/green [090-037-92] xx This cot grows with your child and has built-in storage IKEA PS 2012 coffee table 70x42cm dark turquoise [902-084-49] xx Only use this as a TV bench if you have a small, lightweight TV. Its shelf provides extra storage space BILLY bookcase 40x28x202cm white [400-857-14] xx The BILLY system has bookcases of different dimensions to fit in awkward spaces

TO CREATE Zones
GULRT rug low pile 133x195cm multicolour [802-501-89] xx A soft rug makes floor play comfortable STOCKHOLM rug low pile 170x240cm green [802-394-13] xx

TO make eveRyone feel aT Home

Its better than we could have imagined

Its amazing to see what you can fit into a small space everything we need fits in here now. Working with Pernilla was great she helped us build on our ideas to make this space even better. We had thought of buying some cupboards but we never considered adding storage inside. All this good, basic storage has made our room feel more spacious. Everything has somewhere to go now. And its storage we can grow into, its not stuffed full. Maybe Isaac will learn to help us with tidying up, too!

IKEA PS 2012 LED wall lamp white [402-077-77] xx This space-saving light folds away when not in use and provides good task lighting PATRULL corner bumper white [901-150-92] xx/8pk FAMILY mamber price xx With these, its safe for Isaac to enjoy the whole room MELLBY armchair Dansbo yellowgreen [998-943-93] xx A cosy chair, with washable covers, to relax in

GO IN STORE
Think big! 100s of smart, surprising and stylish small-space ideas

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