“It Keeps a Cap on How Maximalist I Might Be”: How Matt Reynolds Lives Small
“I suppose I wouldn’t feel at home in a really massive space”, architect and mattr.studio founder Matt Reynolds considered, almost as if it had only just occurred to him during our visit to his 51sqm/549sqft apartment in Bronte, Australia. He explained, “A lot of my friends have commented on how I’ll have a quite large space and then start infilling it with other things to make it a bit smaller and cosier”. beâCHâlet, his name for the place, stands as a consummate testament to this. A blend of functional design, personal flair, and efficient use of space, the apartment serves as both a home and a playground for Reynolds’s design ethos.
Playfulness at Play
His journey with the space began when he happened upon the unit for sale during a jog in 2012. Reynolds saw potential in the run-down space and began his long-term project of turning it into a home that’s “designed to suit how I live.” Self-built and thoughtfully curated over a span of seven years (and counting), beâCHâlet encapsulates not only Reynolds’s lifestyle but his ever-curious and playful personality as well. Here, furniture is often on wheels, secret compartments abound, and décor is regularly swapped out for the latest favourite. The mini “art gallery” in his front door – a built-in, easy-to-access frame with room for a small print or art object – primes any visitor for what they’ll discover inside.
Collections of books, magazines, toys, art, clothes, objects – you name it – line the shelves and surfaces, taking up residence in glass-top tables, display walls, and beyond. Yet, amongst it all, a sense of order remains through the clean lines and primarily plywood structures serving as their backdrop. What’s more, Reynolds created some de-clutter on demand solutions by way of things like sliding panels or track curtains for when he wants a more minimal environment. “I have a lot of stuff”, he noted, “but I’ve also designed this space to hide a lot of stuff … You’re seeing the tip of the iceberg; beâCHâlet hides eighty percent of the stuff I own”.
Even though beâCHâlet is not merely about optimising space for function, there’s plenty of that still at work too. Whether it’s the underfoot storage within the bed’s raised platform, the collapsible at-home gym in the living room, or the glass-fronted shelf for storing glassware without blocking the natural light, the home is packed with well-thought solutions to spatial limitations, allowing him to have both and, rather than either or. He explained, “Living small can be a challenge, but it’s also a challenge I wanted to take on. You soon learn about efficiencies in life”.
A Small Space that is Anything but Limited
A visit to Reynolds’s home makes it easy to see how his friends might be onto something; that he really may not be quite as at-home in a larger space (even if his love of collecting might betray otherwise). As for him, living small inspires the creative problem-solving that makes him tick and allows for a more intentional, fulfilling way of life. “It keeps a cap on how maximalist I might be,” he said of his space. “But it also helps me live the life I want to live. I’m sure other people couldn’t live in this home the way I live in it, but things are designed to specifically suit my needs”.
