A Global Sweep on a Tiny Budget

WHEN Suchitra Van and Nette Gaastra sent out invitations for their October, 2005, wedding, they wrote on them “No gifts.” What they meant was: no toasters, no blenders, no coffeepots.

THE BABY’S ROOM The couple’s son sleeps in a sling.

What they wanted instead was money to transform the 435-square-foot apartment in Greenwich Village they had just bought for 6,000. They planned to turn it into a one-bedroom from a studio.

They received ,000 in gifts, including ,000 from Ms. Gaastra’s father, Piet Gaastra, an architect in Hoorn, the Netherlands. “He saw our struggle,” said Ms. Gaastra, who is 30, and works for the Abelson Company, a Manhattan graphic design company.

Mr. Van’s mother, Champa Van, a cook and baby sitter who lives in Queens, and his father, Sumatimohan, an artist who goes by one name and lives in Manhattan, are divorced. “So my father gave us 0, and my mother gave us another 0,” said Mr. Van, who is 42, and has his own design firm, Van Studio, on the Lower East Side.

Between the gifts and their own savings of ,000, they were able to renovate the apartment and finish it early last year, just in time for the arrival of their son, Sebbe, who is now 1. Although the apartment has only one window, which is in the living room, it is a surprisingly airy, serene place.

The couple have combined pieces of their two cultures — Indian and Dutch — into a distinctly modernist home, where they mixed high-end appliances with inexpensive furniture — some bought, some found, some handed down.

What makes the very small apartment appear spacious is the liberal use of glass. The bedroom has glass doors, as does the bathroom, although curtains can be drawn for privacy.

Danny Abelson, the founder of the graphic design firm in Manhattan where Ms. Gaastra works, described the apartment as cunningly conceived.

“To me, what’s lovely about this space is that someone born in India and someone born in Holland, both with a design sense, have created a space that feels very Japanese, that reflects the Japanese ability to live in small spaces gracefully,” Mr. Abelson said. “Each space — for sleeping, cooking, eating, and socializing — is separate, and yet it flows together seamlessly in what anybody else would call a very small space.”

Storage is crucial. But it is the couple’s ease with one another that allows them to live comfortably in the small apartment.

They met in March, 1999, at a friend’s dinner party in Manhattan, where Mr. Van lived and Ms. Gaastra was visiting. Soon they were flying around the world to see each other.

She had previously dated only Dutch men, and found him exotic. “He was subtle, he moved beautifully, he loved art and architecture. He was funny,” she said. He had a light touch, as did their relationship. “There wasn’t any tension,” Mr. Van added.

On his part, he was attracted to her intelligence, and her sweetness. “She’s smart,” he said. “She’s smarter than me.”

The family pads about barefoot on the dark reddish-brown hardwood floors. Visitors are asked to do the same. In the small space, the sound of high heels clicketyclacking on a wood floor would be harsh.

Mr. Van, whose varied projects include working with Tillett Lighting Design in Brooklyn on new lighting for the meeting house at Friends Seminary in Gramercy Park and a 1,000-square-foot addition to a house in Sullivan County, had been wanting to design a line of porcelain enamel furniture photo-printed with designs. The kitchen counter and backsplash were his first try.

He and Ms. Gaastra pored over books of patterns and textiles, and finally chose a Victorian design, which she sketched and enlarged. Then they had to choose the colors. “First we thought of total black and white, and then went to white on white,” Ms. Gaastra said. Finally, they chose a gray-blue, a shade that is lighter than Delft blue, but hints at her Dutch heritage.