If you live in a small home and still love to entertain, you know that hosting dinner parties requires a bit of space planning. Do you borrow a few extra chairs? Haul out a card table from your storage unit? Set up a few cushions on the floor? If you had Orla Reynolds' brilliant shelf, you'd have two tables and four dining chairs conveniently at the ready. Can you spot them?

Orla Reynolds' As If From Nowhere shelf design is so smart. The functioning bookcase hides two tables and four chairs that easily slide out when you need them. Reynolds is a former ballerina, and her design (which is "for small living spaces or for those who wish to cater to the unexpected guest") was inspired in part by her previous work on the stage:

The movement from bookcase to dining is like a scene change. It transforms the space like props on a stage. The dancers can be seen in the chairs and tables. These are made of such strong material that there is an expectation that they are heavy. But they are lightweight. They are streamlined creating an elegant silhouette... The bookcase is the nucleus of this production. It houses everything, awaiting the performance. The four chairs are like the four swans in Tchaikovsky's, Swan Lake. The tables are the corps de ballet bringing the production together. Furthermore the bookcase works independently itself, dressing the home.

Reynolds is a recent grad of the Dublin Institute of Technology, so this design is just a prototype. But man, would we love to see this come to market.

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Via Dezeen

(Images: Mark Duggan for Orla Reynolds)