The minimalist touch

Harvard graduate student Bryan Boyer was facing bigger issues than the tired gray carpet and scuffed pink walls when he moved into his Cambridge studio apartment. He needed to make the 400-square - foot room look and feel light and spacious on a tight budget. He started by removing the carpet and replacing it with laminate flooring that resembles hardwood. It then took Boyer four rounds of gray paint to find a shade that didn't look too cold or too washed-out in the light.

"My style tends to be minimalist," he says. "I'd call it more German than Scandinavian, so living in a small space isn't that difficult for me. The biggest challenges tend to be little things, like finding a place to keep the broom."

To create an office, bedroom, dining room, and living room , he carved the space into zones using book cases. The translucent plastic cubes provide additional storage, and allow light to travel to the back of the apartment. He skipped a space-consuming headboard, and instead covered the bedroom wall with hand-printed paper from artist Esther Kong.

The minimal surroundings are also ideal for Boyer's furniture collection. He has a pair of Konstantin Grcic's Chair One stacking chairs, an Eames plywood lounger, and a Case Study day bed that can accommodate guests.

"Living in an apartment this size would be a challenge for a lot of people," he says. "But I'm not the kind of person who accumulates a lot of objects, I really hate clutter. So it's really not that tough for me. I actually enjoy it."

CHRISTOPHER MUTHER