Collection by Allie Weiss
Comfortable Dwellings for One
These small homes are perfect retreats for one—and guests.
Kitchen ConfidentialFour years into his tenure at a former metal factory, revamped a decade ago by the architects BOB 361, architect Julien De Smedt is enjoying the pleasures of home. “I spend so much time in hotels and restaurants,” he says, “so I really like to cook when I’m here.” The founder and principal of
JDS Architects splits his time between Brussels, Copenhagen, and New York, but finds himself more and more in his Belgian home.
In the open kitchen, De Smedt installed stainless steel rolling carts from Ikea to stand in as the kitchen island. “The carts are the kind of thing you find around the Bowery in New York at restaurant suppliers,” he says, “which I didn’t know at the time, or I would have had some shipped over.” De Smedt cribbed the idea from a friend in New York who had something similar in his kitchen. The polypropylene curtains are what the Swedish army uses for winter camouflage.