This Growing Family Maximizes Every Last Inch in Their 850-Square-Foot Apartment

"We immediately understood that we needed to erase everything," says designer Roberto Di Stefano, who, along with architect Alessandro Bongiorni, overhauled an 850-square-foot home in Milan. The 1950 apartment, purchased by Andrea Maffei and Rossella Acierno, was highly segmented, divided into small rooms that received little natural light from the narrow windows. Dated materials and finishes—seemingly untouched by the previous owner for decades—completed the sad picture. "You had to have a good fantasy to imagine a livable apartment, with the state that we found it in," Andrea says.