Den decor demystified

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TORONTO SUN
NEW HOMES & CONDOMINIUMS
JANUARY 11 - 13, 2008
SMALL-SPACE SOLUTIONS
Den decor
demystified
SHARON ASCHAIEK
Special to Sun Media
I
t's a vexing challenge for condo
and loft dwellers: what to do with
that tiny little room the builder’s
floor plans called a “den”?
Help is on the way. Premiering at
next week’s Metro Home Show is
Den Trends, innovative ideas that
maximize small spaces by making
them stylish, super-functional and
seemingly more spacious, courtesy
of small-space specialists Casalife.
Casalife came to the rescue of
Anita Bilinskis, who recently
moved into a Liberty Village loft
condo and was stumped by how to
decorate her 8-by-10-foot den.
“It’s the first room you see when
you come in and it has no door or
fourth wall, so those were some of
the challenges,” says Bilinskis.
Within these diminutive dimensions, the freelance computer
programmer was seeking to create
both a usable home office and a
guest room to host friends.
On a trip to nearby Casalife she
discovered, and quickly fell in love
with, the Devon Sleep Chest – an
espresso-coloured wooden chest
that, when its double doors open,
transforms into a double bed with a
decently thick mattress. It also has a
storage drawer at the bottom.
“It’s a neat piece of furniture that
doesn’t look like a bed when it’s not
in use,” she says. “It’s not like a big,
bulky pull-out couch. I have enough
room to walk around.”
While the space-saving piece was
a find, Bilinskis still needed to figure
out how to incorporate a functional
home office into the modest space.
She returned to Casalife for more
inspiration and was offered a
personalized den decor consultation
with the showroom manager. He
asked her to fetch her floor plans
and take some digital photos of her
pad. With that information in hand,
he used the company’s computerized space-planner tool to show
Bilinskis her workspace options.
Don’t lose that space, use it
The Devon Sleep Chest is a
cabinet by day but transforms into
a double bed by night.
-photo: Jeff Heatherington
“It was like having your own
private designer sitting down with
you and helping you plan it out,”
she says.
She chose a few minimalist pieces
that would create a savvy and spaceconscious office: a sleek, leggy desk,
an accompanying end table from the
same collection to hold her printer
and router and a stainless-steel
halogen desk lamp. She also
installed a standing tripod light to
illuminate the room and a tall, stainless-steel-framed mirror that leans
against one wall.
It was like having your
own private designer.
Anita Bilinskis, loft owner
“It feels nice and it looks good.
The overall look is quite dramatic
and really sets the tone for the rest of
the space,” she says. “When friends
sleep over, they say the bed is very
comfortable and they have enough
room to get in and out of [it].”
Because Bilinskis is not alone,
Casalife has come up with a number of inventive ways to make the
troublesome condo den a multi-functional space. Six concepts will be on
display at Den Trends. The intimate
“dining den” is equipped with
strategically designed furniture that
creates enough room for a feast,
while the “dressing den” doubles as
an entertainment lounge.
To check out Casalife’s divine den
decor, visit the Metro Home Show,
taking place Jan. 17 to 20 at the
Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Casalife staff will be on hand to
develop customized furniture
solutions for visitors. For more
information on Casalife and its
range of small-space furniture, visit
www.casalife.com.
Casalife’s “dining den,” part of the Den Trends display at the Metro Home Show
next week, is one of several inventive ways to maximize small condo spaces.