Find Out How This Millionaire & Tech-Tinkerer Transformed a 420-Square-Foot Apartment Into 1,100-Square-Feet Worth of Space

The founder of the environmental website Treehugger.com might be a millionaire, but you probably wouldn't know it when you consider the square footage of his homesteads.

A member of the tiny house movement, which appeals to various audiences for different reasons, Graham Hill has lived in a trailer, tent, boat and a 350-square-foot apartment. According to a recent profile by Fair Companies' Kirsten Dirksen, an avid documentarian of the tiny house people who has detailed Hill's projects before, the tech-tinkerer finished a showcase project in New York City that turned a 420-square-foot apartment into 1,100 square feet of living space.

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

Part of his "LifeEdited" project -- a concept that Dirksten reports is one that believes "if you edit your stuff, space and even friends you can have more money, health and happiness" -- the SoHo apartment was completed after a design was chosen through a crowd-sourced competition. Although tiny, the space still includes enough room for a 12-person dinner party, two overnight guests, a home office, and theater, according to Dirksen.

With all these capabilities, Hill said he feels like he's "not sacrificing anything."

"There's just something about simplicity and just having less but better stuff that keeps your life ... gives you more time," Hill said.

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

Dirksen explains how it all works together:

[...] walls, drawers and beds move and unfold to create 6 rooms: living room, dining room, office, guest office, master bedroom and guest bedroom. If you include the kitchen and the bathroom which morphs into a phone booth or meditation room, the apartment includes 10 total rooms.

To create the bedroom, Hill lowers his Murphy bed (designed by the Italian firm Clei-- see our video with distributor Resource Furniture:Space-saving furniture). He grows his dinner table from inches to feet. His office is a simple desk-in-a-drawer. The truly tricked-out element is the moving wall that is packed with storage (2 desks, drawers, closets, etc) and opens to create a full second bedroom (with 2 Clei bunk beds that fold out of the wall)*. Magnetized curtains close for privacy, both visual and acoustic.

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

Notice the nesting kitchen utensils to save space. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

Describing the design as futuristic, Dirksen said it was a pricey project. The hardware for the moving wall alone was nearly $5,000, which Hill said was too expensive. Still, the design is experimental and one Hill said he hopes to incorporate into a long-term goal of creating rental housing as a part of another one of his companies LifeEdited.

Take a tour of the morphing "6 rooms into 1" tiny house:

See Dirksen's full post for more background on Hill's "LifeEditing" concept here.

Related:

• Two People Work From Home and Live in This Tiny NYC Apartment That Un folds 'Like a Swiss Army Knife'
• Extreme Home Downsizing: Avoid Building Codes and Loans
• Here's the Full 'Tiny House People' Documentary You've Been Waiting For
• Is Living in a $5, 120-Square-Foot Tiny House 'Extreme'? Ask This Guy