Russian architect Peter Kostelov and his artist wife, Olga Feshina, wanted private rooms to work from home in their aging New York City apartment so they tore down the interior walls and rebuilt the 700-square-foot space with not just a living room, kitchen, bathroom and master bedroom, but two flex spaces which serve for work and guests (via slide-out beds).

With the help of Kostelov’s carpenter father Vladimir (who flew in from Russia to help) they used plywood to craft sliding tables, benches and beds, as well as cabinets, closets and some walls and ceiling finishes. “This is the biggest advantage of plywood: you can make shapes that are custom made… this is how you can save your budget and use as much space as you can.”

In Peter’s office- a plywood-covered cocoon-, he raised the bed to leave room for a table to slide underneath from the adjacent living room. Crafted from just one four-by-eight piece of plywood, it slides out of the wall and can be adjusted to serve as a table-for-two, dining for 12, a drafting space (for Peter) and fabric-cutting surface (for Olia). The matching plywood benches slide out to match and open for horizontal storage.

In the kitchen, there’s a breakfast table that folds down from the brick wall, as well as two plywood cantilevered stools that appear fragile, but hold up to 330 pounds (thanks to the yacht hardware and long anchor pins).