A "skinny home" in London measuring just 9 feet and 8 inches wide is currently on sale for $1 million.
London-based interior designer Ed O'Donnell bought the home, located in Brixton, with his partner JP Banks in 2015 for £489,000 ($649,350). Despite the property's narrow width, the interior designer renovated the home into a stylish two-bedroom haven complete with a small outside courtyard and even a walk-in wardrobe.
The home, set over two floors, is currently on the market for £775,000 ($1.03 million). After five years in the property, O'Donnell has decided to move on to spend his time between another house in London and Bruton, Somerset.
O'Donnell is one half of award-winning British interior design studio Angel O'Donnell. Their main objective is "trying to shake things up," co-founder Richard Angel told Insider.
Harnessing O'Donnell's creative skillset and Angel's background in surveying and property development, they worked together on this personal project.
Here's what the Brixton "skinny home" looks like on the inside.
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When he first set eyes on the property he said it was "a dump, basically." O'Donnell bought the property in 2015 for £489,000 ($649,350).
"It was all completely around the wrong way and it was cheaply done," he told Insider. Despite not completely loving it at first glance, he could see that the property had huge potential.
The house is part of a row of Victorian terraced houses in Lambeth's conservation area, which lists houses and landmarks in the borough that are protected for heritage reasons.
"We just saw through that what the potential might be and in fact, it gave up more potential than it originally seemed," he said.
During that period, O'Donnell and Banks really thought about how they would actually use the space. O'Donnell and Angel always advise their clients to try and live in the space first so "you can get a feel for lots of things."
"We came up with lots of different scenarios because the front door of the house is on the side and the stairs were at the front of the house which curved into the living area. The bathroom was on one side of the hallway which didn't have any natural light, so those were the main things that we had to get our heads around in terms of the space planning," O'Donnell said.
O'Donnell added that it was important to get the layout correct first, as "that's when we can really start working."
O'Donnell aimed to maximize as much space as he could during the renovations.
They essentially had to start from scratch, which meant building a new roof, putting in a new bathroom, new flooring, and a new kitchen. They also had to move the staircase from its original location to the middle of the property, which "kind of creates that sense that there is an entrance hall when there isn't one."
The "floating" staircase was created off-site and is made up of sturdy metal plates attached to steel bars, which allows it to rest on its counterweight — meaning there's no bounce when someone uses them.
O'Donnell wanted to "squeeze as much space out of this house as possible."
To achieve that they added vaulted ceilings upstairs to make rooms feel much taller and breathable. This also allowed for a second staircase and workroom to be built.
Rather than having a "house style", the home contains a mix of various influences tied together, including the mid-century design movement of '40s and '50s America. They also made sure to keep some of the property's original Victorian character.
It was important for O'Donnell to have "as big as possible of a dining space within the confines of the kitchen."
Throughout the downstairs of the home, you'll find parquet flooring which adds a "rustic" feel to the house. "It had to be a floor that we weren't going to ask anyone at dinner parties to take their shoes off, and I'm really clumsy — so didn't matter what happened to it, it looked rough and tumble anyway," he said.
"Both upstairs and downstairs, actually, are a real luxury I think as you get to see front to back in both," he said.
"You can really comfortably sit in the sitting room ... then be able to quite happily see what's going on in the kitchen. But then also have people standing in the garden. It's classic," Angel said of the home's "very sociable" design.
A "half-wall" also slightly separates the living room from the rest of the downstairs space. This helps to give the property a broken up feeling without totally cutting off space from the rest of the property.
There has been plenty of interest in the property since it went on the market. Even those who viewed it but weren't particularly suited praised its clever use of space and homely interior.
For O'Donnell and his partner, they didn't want to create "a white box that you could sell in five years," it was about creating a home.
And although they have made plenty of memories during five years of living there, O'Donnell and Banks are now opting to split their time between another home in London and the town of Bruton in Somerset. "It's time for a new adventure," O'Donnell told Insider.
"It has a really lovely feel to it. That's so important when you're going to buy a property, it needs to feel like it's been loved and that it's calmer at the end of the day," said Angel.
