Will a smart loft ever cease to be our small space ideal? In many ways Monty Collins and Jerry Dark are living our dream: a loft next to a coffee shop in Queen Anne. The Palm Springs-based interior designers (their Seattle rental is a pied-a-terre, alas) enjoy a 20-foot window-wall, bamboo floors and a recycled-wood ceiling.

The new-construction loft was designed to blend into the much older structure that houses the coffee shop next door. In keeping with that theme, the article also has a quick little guide on how Monty and Jerry mixed high and low design.

Images: Benjamin Benschneider / The Seattle Times.