Design house: A small, space-saving house in New York, designed by Corine Maggio

Corine Maggio founded CM Natural Designs in 2011 with a strong understanding for the human experience of space. This humanistic approach is apparent in everything the she does from the personalisation of design, pricing transparency, honesty and accessibility throughout the design process.

Corine is known for being approachable and creating bespoke designs that reflect her one-of-a-kind clients. Here she talks to us about this space-saving design projects.

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THE PROPERTY

'This is a rental apartment for a young couple in Brooklyn, New York,' says Corine 'They wanted the space to be personalised and functional despite the fact that it's a rental and no construction could be done. I was eight months pregnant when I took the project on and since I live in the San Francisco Bay area, I had to do everything site unseen.'

LIVING ROOM

'The living room and dining room were spatially tricky because the space is on the smaller side, so we opened up the room to let in more light.'

The couple are avid travellers and had a lot of beautiful photos to display. We created this beautiful gallery wall using black frames, which also cleverly hid the television.

HALLWAY

'The hallway console table made for a beautiful drop zone and worked well with their existing art,' explains Corine.

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KITCHEN

'The homeowners like to entertain and needed a place to sit down for dinner. The bistro table perfectly suited their taste and lifestyle and we added the plug-in pendant to create a statement.'

HOME OFFICE

'The home office was a delight to work on,' says Corine.' 'The velvet sofa is a sleeper sofa in order to accommodate guests when need be. The large flower art with light above the sofa bring some drama and are a nice contrast against the dark walls.

The original desk we chose didn't end up fitting because of some slight mismeasurement but we found an economical and quickly available alternative which ended up working out just fine and the chic leather desk chair elevates that corner.

The leather wall piece is actually a small rug but enhances the texture and movement in this room.'

BEDROOM

'My favourite room is the bedroom,' she says with delight. 'The removable wallpaper brings me so much joy.'

'The plug in wall sconces make the space feel less like a rental, while the matching headboard and drapery bring out the tones of the wallpaper and soften the overall feel of the room.'

DRESSING AREA

'The faux shagreen desk was our solution to a small yet smart make-up vanity. The art above the dresser perfectly mirrors the colours of the wallpaper but in different proportions without being too matchy-matchy.'

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