apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

NOW we are getting somewhere.

But I could really live another day without seeing (either here or in Domino) high-heel shoe storage...

(and the floorplan labels runs a little high on the pretention side...)

What a weird shape for an apartment. High rise living is not my bag but I do like the grey tones, the furniture and layout. I would have liked to see more of the apartment and less of the shoes though (even though they are cute)!

nice and unusual floor plan! but i don't understand why you included a picture of your shoes?

wow. and could it be more appropriate to have a religious icon among a shoe collection? I don't think so.

Yow.

I adore all of it...right down to the heels. If I were single and didn't have my three kids, this would be my dream come true!

i dont understand the 'heads of animals/antlers on the wall' hunting-lodge trend.

could someone clue me in, please? this is suddenly everywhere.

This is feminine and very sophisticated. You sure are extremely lucky to acquire so many fabulous finds.

Really, the floorplan labels were pretentious? I don't think that was her intention. I thought it was kinda cute.

It's a weirdly shaped space because this is in Marina Towers, I take it? Nice to see what life is like in such a landmark.

The antlers over the couch kinda creep me out but the view are stunning and I love your shoe closet (shoes ARE art, godamnitt -- well, at least I think so). Beautiful use of a limited space. And I love the first non-furry friend (aka, human) sighting for the entire contest. Super-cool!

Oh my god...do you live in Marina City?! Amazing. I've always wanted to know what those apartments look like. It's hard to believe all of your furniture is thrift/street finds. I have to admire your go-getter-ness! I especially like the first shot of your living room; it looks so plush and relaxing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_City
I call it the WILCO building - because I never knew what it was called before...

Me like. Not my style in many ways but I could take on a new persona.

I would have loved to see a shot of the outdoor space ("lounge") over the shot of the shoes...so nice as they are, and all.

overall, very chic.

I love that you've designated a "dance" space.

Cool to see inside such an iconic building! You've done a great job - looks put together, stylish and livable.

I agree with bethanylemony, I too don't understand the trend of the deer antlers in home decorating...guess it's not my personal style. Other than that I liked what I saw. Interesting floorplan.

loveeee ittt...

Sparkly and sophisticated.

I loved it!!! I'm impressed by the shoes too cuz I'm a girl! haha! Want to see more pictures, especially the lounge.

Where is your bed from?

If you take away the dead animal items...this would be one of the best I've seen.

LOVE IT (minus the non-moving furry things). Super glam yet surprisingly comfy looking. Sort of champagne & tea.

Please tell us what brand/shade of paint you used in the living room.

I love the idea of a corkboard in the shoe closet. Kudos!

Ugh. It's like a magazine. In a good/bad way. It shows style and taste and (apparently luck?), but no personality. And the antlers are creepy and gross. I would not want that karma literally hanging over my head.

I've finally seen a studio space that makes me reconsider why I'm living in my one bedroom sooo far north when I work downtown. Chicago too! Your place is wonderful. Some of the furniture pieces aren't my bag of tea. BUT the arrangement and feel of the place. WOW!!! So airy, clean, yet not sterile or over modern. I keep going back to look again.

I appreciate your closet shot. The cork board for a bulletin board in the back is simple yet so ingenious. Avoid a clutter look in the condo, but still allows for a free form every changing array of ideas. The shoe portion of the closet does make me curious about the rest of the closet and the amount of space. The photos and floorplans are fabulous and very thorough. Your place really got me thinking as I'm contemplating a move this summer. Thank you for taking the time to share! I loved seeing the inside of a Marina Towers unit.

P.S. I always dig seeing cool shoes. You have some great ones!

sophisticated and elegant!

I have been following along with the entries over the last weeks and have enjoyed the chance to see how people live and interpret 'small' 'cool'. would I want to live in each space? no. have I been inspired? yes. but as for pretentious, I have never seen such pretention as some of the views expressed in the comments section. criticism doesn't have to be judgmental.

I'm impressed by the shoes too and I'm NOT a girl.

Um... anytime you want to come visit San Francisco and want to do an apartment swap, just let me know. (check out "Dave and Rob's Small Dark and Handsome Apartment" in the Northwest region list of submissions to see what we have to offer).

Great job! Love it love it love it.
Bertrand Goldberg would be proud.
So do you live in the Marina City building or the River City building?

Don't listen to them - anyone with the right space to store their shoes like the objects of are they are should show it off. ;-)

Cool floor plan...makes me jealous of the real estate in Chicago.

Oh, and I love that the Masters is on in the background...my mother would SO appreciate that.

Love it and the shoes. I didn't find your floor plan pretentious at all. It just struck me that you enjoy your life.

Oh my gosh - now REALLY jealous. The rents are so reasonable.

http://www.marina-city.com/Studio/studio.htm

Now this is how it's done, classy, yet not sparse or anything like that. It does have that touch of glam/sophistication that I find often lacking in many places.

The idea that you've had to shove things up against the wall to help compensate for the pie shaped space, you did the right thing and didn't put EVERYTHING up flat against it, like angling the wing chair into the room a little to help keep things friendly and cozy.

Love the furniture arrangement, the style of it and all of it, could use a touch more color but otherwise very well done.

BTW, the antler thing, while not my bag either, they are hung too high, another mistake many people make, the bottom edge of the bottom row needs to really only be 4-6" at most from the top of the sofa's back because most of the time, you are sitting to view when in a home, not standing, therefore eliminating the need to crain one's neck to view from the position of the chair.

Great job and Oh, Seattle has a similar round apartment building on the edge of it's downtown as well.

Funny, once I realized that the "arcs" were structural, not paint and not a doorway it was instantly - Marina City.

I realize I am TOTALLY in the minority but I would rather see shoes and antlers than live animals in a small home this makes totally no sense to me. Do not get me wrong I love animals.
Built space=humans
Natural space=animals

Antlers in general do not bother me, just wanted to put that up front. They look misplaced there on that whole wall by themselves. Too high, too far apart, wrong sized and/or wrong color plaques, they just don't make that room look better. I know in a contest like this, people are looking and digesting apartments with their taste, but I find myself grading well for well-placed things, objects with some sense of proportion and connection and direction, and grading more harshly for (plausibly nice or useful) objects that just don't make sense spatially, awkwardly placed, etc. Tweak this vision and it's there, but it's just not there.

I LOVE it! What a great job!

I don't care about the antlers. I love your space and I can't stop looking at it. I envy your outdoor space and wish I had it.

I love it - and envy envy envy you! I called them the Wilco buildings too because that's all I knew about them. (for those who don't know, they're on the cover of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - one of the best albums ever).

Wow - I love how everything sparkles at night...
...even the vintage metal kitchen cabinets!

I live in a round building here in SF - so I totally understand how challenging it is to work within small pie-shaped spaces, and you've done a great job! Congrats!

Gorgeous. If I lived here, I'd want to dance too.

And while I generally hate the decorating-with-death antler trend, for some reason I love yours. The grid format is brilliant.

I like the cork board behind your heels! What a fun way to add to that type of space!

I agree about the lounge area though, I'd love to see photos of it!

Best one from Chicago so far!
(And I really loved another one, very colorful, a girl's... can't think of her name.)

I thought this was amazing, and it is really great to see what a place inside Marina Towers looks like. I think your place is very sophisticated without being stuffy. And I also thought your floor plan designations were cute, not at all pretentious.

I suggest featuring a shot of The Masters on your TV replace the requisite kitty shot most homeowners show. Extra points, Stephanie, for showing Brandt Snedecker.

Great apartment.

I work right across the river, and a few days ago a co-worker and I were wondering what the inside of those apartments look like. Great timing! Your home is lovely. Everything in that first shot is absolutely perfect - scale, proportion, color, texture... don't change a thing.

Great place Stephanie -- must be pure bliss to come home to -- especially at night with the city twinkling as a backdrop.

One question though, where did you find the fab couch? Currently looking and you're is the first one I have felt envious about.

love the outdoor space, wish we could have seen more of it!

I would love to come home here, and ditto the request for more photos of the outdoor space.

What fun to finally see the inside of the "corncobs"! You've done a nice job maximizing space and creating an inviting look. I love the antlers (power in numbers), but personally I'd like to see neater/more accessible book storage. Still super-cool!

Yeah not loving this one. Pretty, but boring. Too tone-on-tone. The antlers bug me a little. The dead thing draped over the wing chair is creepy and gross. The buddha/boddhisatva in the shoe storage is plain offensive.

Very snazzy!

Dead things...antlers, skins...bring it on!
The more the merrier....if it's what YOU like, it's all that matters.
Oh, and the spacing of them is just fine the way they are.

I think I have antler envy. Kudos!

All I have to add is that I don't really like the placement of the rug. I think if you want to keep it, it could be moved to come out on the front of the coffee table.

i LOVE the antlers

people who think they are creepy are apparently afraid of deer?

ummmm. ive always wanted to see inside of merina towers. and thier much nicer than i had thought. to be honest im going to be moving soon, and i am totally considering being steph's neighbor!

I like the antlers too--but agree they should be lower. I don't ever hear people on here complaining about leather furniture, isn't that just as dead?

It's difficult to believe your space is only 441 sq. feet. I voted cool, because while that's a pretty impressive accomplishment and obviously a great arrangement of furniture, I feel like it's lacking something. It's very monochromatic, and maybe that's not just my personal taste, but I find it to be very similar to every other post as a result. I guess I am just really interested to know where people put their stuff, in addition to having a decent layout of furniture.

Personally I love the antlers, where did you get from?

Love it. I think the shot of the shoes is justified especially because you're mixing up shoe storage with a cork board to pin things up. Though a picture of the outside space would have been great.

Wow! By far my favorite post yet. I had to replay your slide show several times before I believed that this was really a studio in Marina City. You have done an amazing job making this space feel current and modern.

I like it.

Super cool. I like that it's urbane and glam but still has warmth and depth - rather like a good hotel (in a good way). It's just a shade knick-knacky for my taste but they don't overrun the place and the overall effect is very polished.

Glamour! Love it!

I voted on this earlier, and was thinking about it while I was cooking dinner, so I had to come back to take another look . . . it's such a gorgeous space. Classy, and elegant, and fun, and liveable . . . it looks like something out of Domino (one of the good issues, I mean, not the crap they've been peddling for the past few months). I really don't get the negative comments. This place is GORGEOUS.

And I love the antlers, especially in the grid shape.

amazing! the only thing that could have made it cooler would be black glossy kitchen cupboards.

I'd like to imagine that the antlers are from jackalopes or squirrels with antlers that she brought back from a high-heeled hunting expedition.

What a fantastic pad. I can tell an architec lives here. Where is the tarot card table? This woman reeks of class and ultra-hip cool!!

easily my favorite. great job!

I'm not feeling the dead animal stuff, either.
It's also a bit photographic shoot-looking.
That is a good and a bad.

I do love it!
I gave it a SUPER COOL!

Soooooo, less is definitely more when it comes to space (but never, when it comes to shoes). Masterful use of 441 sf, and a slap in the face of all McMasion lovers out there!

My ex lives in Marina City, so I have had the fortune to see the interiors before. Yours is so very nice. It is refreshing to see what can be done.

Sophisticated, casual, comfortable. Super cool!

I want your life.

No, seriously, I do. I've been in love with (what I now know is called) the Marina City towers since my very first time visiting Chicago way back in 1997. My love only grew when I stayed at the Hotel Sax (amazing hotel, by the way) for a couple of nights this past January. All my friends look at me funny because they think they're the ugliest buildings ever, but I don't care!

Beautiful apartment; you make the whole monotone thing work. It looks like something you'd see in a black-and-white movie...Glamorous, indeed!

I think it's awesome and I love the antlers. I wouldn't change a thing.

really great choices and layout.

love the cool grey/white vibe.

still monochromatic is very hard to pull off... and i feel your couch is jarringly tan/yellow and the green rug is off.

you are blue/grey or blue/white/gray reupholstery away from perfection.

Hi Stephanie, I love your place -- I am your competitor, so I can't vote for you :)... but I think your place is great. The colors are really nice and I like your sitting area a lot. And the antlers are a cool touch. Nice work!
-- Lisette

SO psyched that someone's showcasing an apt in Marina Towers--I knew it from your second shot. What an odd, odd, quirky building, but it looks like you've made it work. Your decor is perfect for the style of the building--very chic 1960s. Do you have the original mosaic tile in your bathroom?

Nice job, and I love your rec room. :)

I love IT!!! You go GIRL! :)

Too many dead things, way too drab.

saucy!

my kind of girl! Eclectic, thoughfull, not cluttered, but something interesting everywhere you look.
And as an aside, "dead things" are a lovely homage to the beauty of life.

Quirky, challenging pie space to work with... but amazing how you turned a tiny 441sf studio glamorous and sophisticated looking... and with thrift shop stuff yet. Incorporating nature into contemporary design is chic these days- the antlers are cool. Placed in a grid, its also a playful counterpoint to the sleek modernist context. The visual impact is stunning. Georgia Okeefe thought they were beautiful. Thoughtful people should be more put off by our worship of plastic and vinyl.
Its an urban woman’s apartment, so of course there’s a need for (a lot of) shoe storage! ..a space usually stuffed away somewhere without any thought. I like how you inhabited & humanized the space with the corkboard and figurine. Gorgeous space-don't you just want to lounge there and have a martini? Would have loved to see the enormous balcony.

I also loved the glam look of the apartment, and the great layout (how can it possibly be 441 sq ft?!). I'm not a big fan of antlers but understand that it's an accepted part of U.S. culture.

However, I have to agree that putting the image of a bodhisattva in with your shoes might be seen as disrespectful and offensive. In cultures (like mine) that revere the Buddha, feet are considered to be the filthiest part of the body. Shoes are not allowed past the entryway of most houses and should be keep as far away from a sacred image as possible!

I don't know you, and perhaps you have a good reason for the statue's placement (a lapsed Buddhist poking fun at a sacred image?). If not, then I hope you will consider moving the statue for the contest final -- and I do hope you make it.

Quick FYI for the antler-haters: animals with antlers shed them naturally once a year. They can be found in the woods in the spring.

I can't tell from this photo whether the skulls are attached, which is a different matter, of course. But I still like them.

Great space! Looks professionally decorated to my unprofessional eye.

Are the kitchen cabinets metal/enamel?

The best MW entry I think.

This restores some faith in the US after all the recent amazing international entries.

I LOVE the photos as well - great composition and wit.

Her space is 500 sq. ft., not 441. I live in a Marina City studio just like she does, and unless she shrunk hers, the square footage of them all is 500 sq. ft.

That said, um, antlers? Honey, you live in a midcentury modernist icon, not a Caribou Coffee.

'nuff said.

"'nuff said"?

Honey, you're in 2008, not a Fresh Prince episode.

Nice. Original. A bit weird. But original.

Ok, serious love the furniture in the living room with the sheepskin long pillows! Love it!

The look is absolutely fabulous! Great use of space and found objects - including the antlers!

Fantastic room!

Have been looking for stools like that for underneath my console table..can you tell me where you got them?

Love everything!

OK, this is my second favorite now. Gorgeous. Love the shoes.

The shoes add just the right touch.

I really love this, antlers and all, lock, stock and barrel. In fact, one thing I like is that there are enough of the antlers to make a pattern, so that it's almost as much about the intersection between the geometric pattern of the almost-uniform circles they're mounted on, and the organic variation between the antlers themselves.

So... yeah. I'll take one of this apartment in every color (as people say about shoes, hee hee).

GREAT WISH MY 489 SQFT LOOKED HALF AND COOL ,...MAJ

Sophisticated, yes, but would love a little pop of color here and there to make it sing. And the height of the tall lamp on the tall stack of books really throws me.

I have to say that the bedroom area is a little "hotel-bland" for my taste.

Maybe antlers is a trend, but I love the way you have made it original by doing it in multiple-grid formation. Im a little OCD though and I wish they were centered over the couch!

Snazzy.

Love your place!!! And as one person to another with a limited amount of space and storage, I very much appreciated seeing what you did with your closet, the corkboard behind the shelves is a fantastic idea - especially if this shelving space is visible from the living area.

All those people making disparaging comments about your having included a picture of your shoes clearly have more closet space than they know what to do with. :-) Come on people! Small and cool ideas for jazzing up open shelving should be welcomed!!

I would never make it out of that bed on a rainy Saturday personally--it's relaxing just to LOOK at!

This by far is the winner in my opinion. I don't think that having the Buddha's in the closet is meant as an insult. If you notice they are all over the house. Let's face it we can use a little luck coming from every room even the closet. I just love it. When my children are grown and on their own Stephanie would you decorate my place and make it just as trendy, comfy and sacred all in one. Your place is a treasure chest full of amazing and unique items. Just love it!!! You got my vote.

the monochromatic theme is great, What color gray did you use on your walls?

Very lovely apartment. I'm curious about where you store all the outdoor furniture during the 9 months of the year that it's cold and wet there in Chicago.

As for the animal skin/antler haters...animals die...it's what happens. And they don't die of old age. If we don't hunt/eat them, something else will (a.k.a. the food chain). Ever watch the nature channel? It's an ugly and violent world out there in the wild.