How To Upscale A Studio: Two Examples With Images

When you think of a studio living situation, it might not conjure the most luxurious interior imagery–only feelings of restricted creativity and limitation. However, home is what you make of it, and the only limits are your imagination. These two little studios have style in spades, and two entirely different approaches. Studio number one is a daring interior with a marvellous mini kitchen design and a bathroom to rival the big boys. Design number two is a clean and breezy Scandinavian inspired home that evokes feelings of open and airy space that is unexpected from its small dimensions. Whether you’re one for dark drama or light natural beauty, there’s inspo here for you.

Designer: HE.D group
Visualizer: HE.D group

Going first to a studio apartment in Ukraine, Kyiv, we find ourselves in a warm wood panelled living room, like a cosy modern cabin.

A network of exposed electrical wires drop a pendant light at one end of a modern grey sofa design. A slimline floor reading lamp stands at the other side. Heavy drapes hang from a ceiling recess to conceal the rail, keeping everything tucked and tidy.

The round coffee table makes a colour statement in the centre of the small lounge. A bright red finish gives the room a blast of personality that disrupts the quiet wood and grey palette.

A minimalist workspace has been fashioned at one side of the lounge in a way that doesn’t close in the room. A white work surface floats between a built-in bookcase and a narrow room divider. The desk chair and pendant light are white against a white wall so as not to demand attention.

The TV is fixed onto a floor to ceiling wood panel, set in front of a glass wall bedroom design.

The bedroom’s glass wall allows natural light to filter through into the adjacent kitchen.

A full wall of granite tiles and a matching granite countertop set this small kitchen apart from the rest. Instead of seeing small spaces as restrictive, turn the negative into a positive and go all out with finishes than you wouldn’t dare to (or couldn’t afford to) in a large space.

Dark charcoal grey units back the unique galley kitchen. Choice wooden pieces lighten the drama.

Peninsula cabinets are faced with granite effect doors, so that the central mass looks as though it has formed right out of the floor and wall.

A freestanding faucet fills a distinctive kitchen sink. Bar stools make the kitchen peninsula into a dining table for the compact home.

More exposed electrical wires crown the kitchen and home entryway with a cool, laid-back industrial aesthetic.

Half of the open kitchen shelving units are backless to allow light to pass straight through from the bedroom windows, which creates an attractive feature and a suggestion of spaciousness.

Despite its small proportions, the layout of this studio apartment has made way for a generous walk-in closet by the home entryway.

The sliding bedroom partition meets at a corner point, which means that when the glass is drawn back the bedroom space is seamlessly amalgamated with the bigger picture. Electrics for the bedroom TV are housed in the same media wall as the lounge TV on the opposite side.

Unique bedside tables house bedtime reading in their stems.

A bedroom pendant light descends at one side of the platform bed.

Obscure glass provides an element of privacy.

Heavy drapes pool by the small side table.

The same wood frames out each zone of the studio.

The interior of the walk in wardrobe is just as stylish as the rest of the apartment, decked out in wood panels and white closet systems.

This small bathroom is filled with big ideas.

The same luxurious grey granite seen in the kitchen is used to cover the walls and floor of the bathroom.

A smoky shower screen divides the space.

Black fixtures dot stone clad walls.

Simple styling builds an effortlessly industrial vibe.

Designer: Nikita Zub & Anna Koroleva
Photographer: Maxim Maximov

Our second tour has a breezy Scandi appeal that appears spacious despite it’s limits. A sputnik chandelier hangs over the sofa, which is situated right by the end of the bed. Indoor plants place reminders of the great outdoors, and airy freedom.

The natural vibe transfers over to the kitchen and dining area in the form of raw timber elements.

Scandinavian dining chairs and the round dining table all have natural wooden legs, which tie in with wooden open kitchen shelving, plus a wood countertop and backsplash combo.

White coffee mugs and a wooden cutting board match with the palette of the kitchen and dining space–where a delicious looking loaf waits to go under the knife.

The small kitchen is only three units wide but in this limited space a sweet rustic style has been pulled up by the bootstraps.

Similar country-meets-Scandi style appears by the bedside, where a simple bedroom pendant light swings above timber legged tables.

A deep window reveal is fashioned into a window seat to take advantage of precious added space.

As bold and brave as they come, this small bathroom is painted solid black, both walls and ceiling. White geometric tiling in two sizes defines the main floor area from the shower floor, whilst neat squares of white back the enclosure.