Plan, Model and Render a Micro Apartment

As a student, I have experienced that the available space for living is becoming less and less with time (because people don't want to burn through their pockets just only to live-). That's why I'm interested in mini and micro living space and thinking of plan, modeling and rendering one to see if it's possible to build realistic micro apartment. This apartment is 3*3.5*3m, equals 10.5m2 to live. I modeled all the furniture by myself also. The total working time was around 17 hours. I added my Inventor files for each step as references.

1. Autodesk Inventor Professional: I got to know Inventor because of my module. Despite it's said to be more for modeling mechanical parts, I wanted to try modeling something architectural with it.
2. An okay-ish PC to render otherwise *explosion*

Firstly, sketch out a house plan. Mine is in scale 1:10. One small square is equivalent to 0.1m, one big square is equivalent to 0.5m. While modelling there will be some adjustments when I realize it, but still the house plan should be as correct of scale as possible.

1. Import house plan
2. Calibrate units (I use meters: Tools > Documents Settings > Units > Length > Meter) and scale the plan to have the right dimensions.

1. Making sketches following the plan and then extrude them to make floor and walls. I extrude the floor to the other side of the plan so that it doesn't cover the house plan. The walls are 3m high and 5cm thick.
2. I made a sketch for the connecting part between the wall in the middle and the frontmost wall (0.3*0.8x*0.05m), then extruded it, fillet 0.3m to make the edge round (makes the way to the kitchen feel less cold).
3. Similarly, the doorway is extruded (0.5*0.8*2m). The position of the doorway in the model is different from the house plan because I realized there is more space in the kitchen :) No need to squeeze everything in one place.
4. The window of the kitchen is placed 1m high on the middle wall with dimensions of 0.05*1.5*1m
5. Making the shower by tracing the house plan, one blue glazing glass finish side is 1*3*0.01m, the other side is 1.5*3*0.03m with 1.5in Square - Medium Blue finish.

The bed is a loft by itself, serving as a separate space from the communal space of the kitchen and living room.

1. Making the bed floor (2*2.43*0.05m) and bed (1.5*2*0.2m).
2. Making handles to prevent people rolling down from the bed to the floor by sketching 4*4cm square and then using a rectangular pattern to have 6 of it. Select these 6 squares and extrude them. Finally, sketch and extrude the horizontal pole. Fillet all the edges.
3. Making nightstand (0.5*0.5*0.3m) and lamp (dimensions are in the image). I drew the sketches for the side cut of the lamp and then revolve the sketches 360 degrees to get the full lamp.
4. Create a new Assembly then assemble the bed by using Constraints on the furniture.

Kitchen storage dimensions: 0.4*0.92*3m

First made the sketch then extrude and shell it (thickness 1cm). The big space of the lower part is for the fridge (1.5m tall). I chose birch natural finish for the shelf.

Making the fridge by importing a png picture of fridge, scaling it to fit the space of the kitchen storage (<1.5m tall). Then sketch over it and extrude. Finally, create another 2D sketch then import and scale the picture again to put it as decal on the front of the fridge.

Living room storage dimensions: 0.4*2.42*2.5m

Create a sketch 4 rectangles 0.3*0.59m with 0.01m spacing, then copy them to have 8 rectangles. Extrude them to cut the shelf by 1mm to get 8 compartments. Make a new sketch in form of slot, using rectangular pattern to get 4 slots, copy them again to get 8 slots. Extrude them inward by 2mm to get 8 handles. Use shell to hollow out the upper part then make shelves with sketch and extrude.

Making the sitting of the sofa (0.8*1.2*0.2m), fillet the 4 side edges by 0.05m, fillet the upper and lower edges by 0.02m. Making the back part of the sofa (0.15*1.2*0.4m). Fillet the edges. Sketch a circle then copy and extrude in order to get 4 feet of the sofa.

Making the sit of dinner stool (diameter 0.4m), extrude and fillet 2 edges by 0.005m. Create a rectangle sketch then use Circular pattern to get 4, extrude and fillet by 0.005m to get 4 poles.

Making the dinner table (0.7*1*0.015m) and fillet the corner by 0.05m for safety. Making 2 feet (because the table is foldable so that when not uing it saves space).

1. Making the kitchen island (0.5*1.5*0.8m), fillet the upper front edge by 0.02. Cut in 2cm thick of a rectangle 0.05*1.5m. Cut in 2cm thick for the 2 door trenchs. Cut in 1cm thick for each of the cabinet door. Making slots of 3mm thick cut in for the door.
2. Making the stove by extruding a rectangle 2mm, sketch a circle diameter 0.15m then copy it for receive 4 cooking places. Extrude the circle by 2 mm.
3. Making the sink by extruding a rectangle inward by 0.2m and fillet the edges by 0.02m. Making the faucet body and tap each by extruding a rectangle 0.1m the fillet the side edges 0.01m. The water way is a 2mm extruded circle at the under side of the tap.

Making 2 vertical poles each 0.04*0.04*2.1m, the distance between 2 poles 0.3m. Making horizontal poles, each 0.04*0.04*0.3m, distance 0.2m. Cherry - Natural Low Gloss finish.

Making the shower head following this tutorial.

Making the toilet lower part by extruding a rectangle 0.2*0.24m, fillet by 0.05m. Select work plane and move up the plane by 20cm. Sketch the upper bigger part 0.38*0.5m, fillet 2 front corners by 0.19m. Using loft to create toilet shape. Thicken the upper face by 4cm.

Door dimensions: 0.8*2*0.02m. Make the door handle and key lock (see picture for reference): Extruded Slot, Extruded (Cut-in) Circle, Extruded (Cut-in) Rectangle inside Circle as key lock, 2 extruded and filleted rectangle as the door handle.

Using constraints and joints to assemble the house. I include my assembly as a reference for the position of the furniture.

Enable Ray Tracing with GPU (Tools > Application Options > Hardware > Enable Viewpoint GPU Ray Tracing)

Then move around, change visibility of some parts and click Ray Tracing. I screenshorted the final renders.

This is the final step, thanks for following my Instructable >:3

I myself learned a lot more about Inventor through the project, and also how documenting what I did is extremely helpful in making this Instructable.