Name: Nik & John
Location: San Francisco, California
Our home is a one bedroom rented apartment. We have a fairly strict landlord who doesn't want us to make improvements by ourselves so we are limited with what we can do. No painting, no changing floors without his approval. Our style is mid-century but mostly California modern.
We end up accessorizing a lot using various vintage pieces throughout the apartment. We've built up (mostly John) quite a collection of vintage items ranging from a Greta Grossman desk, coffee table and a few of her lamps. We also have vintage George Nelson daybed, jewelry chest and chandelier as well as a couple of vintage Eames ESU's where we display some of John's pottery and sculpture collection. Since we cannot paint the walls, we have a rotating collection of vintage fabric panels by Evelyn Ackerman and Barney Reid. We are blessed to have a second floor apartment so we get lots of sunlight in all of the rooms. We also have a great deck off of our bedroom where we can BBQ and entertain friends on nice non-foggy San Francisco days.
Thanks, Nik & John!
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So not my taste, but cute.
Nice pieces, but an incredibly poor furniture arrangement in the LR.
I love the lights in the dining room. Everything looks so fresh, though I admit, not too comfortable. Give me an overstuffed armchair anyday!
You have lots of cool pieces. I especially love the dining table.
Haha! Christmas in July! I love your dining area and the picture hanging above your desk.
I don't understand how so many mid century modern lovers have ended up in San Francisco..well yes there are many factors but I know its hard to work with these rooms with this style the furniture needs to float but the architecture here in SF does not support it very well.
They have some great pieces I love that little desk what a score. Nice job with a tiny kitchen looks functional, tidy and nice.
I'd move the TV to the left of the fireplace (where the console is) and rotate the positioning of the sofas so that the large sofa is facing the TV and fireplace.
I REALLY love this. It looks very 1930s/40s modern. Reminds a bit of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West. It has that same sort of artsy/bohemian vibe. Very, very cool.
Nice! I like the diagonal setup in the living room, it really seems to work for the space!
http://www.notyourgoddess.blogspot.com/
I agree the furniture arrangement needs some work. Typically having furniture angled like that against the architecture of the room is a bad idea. In this case, it would only work if the arrangement was focused on the angle of the fireplace.
The furniture arrangement, by the way, doesn't bother me in the least.
Would love to see a house tour. Hint, hint.
That is a really cool desk chair. The apartment seems very 'crisp' and clean. Thanks for sharing!
I'm just gonna say it... the living is awkward. The yellow print would better serve the space in a horizontal format with the tv under it (if you had to have the tv in the room at all). And a carpet or rug in that room is a must! I'd also bring that sculpture on the right down a shelf or two. That's where I'd start.
Janel--
Thanks for deleting my earlier post - I thought I was being very balanced in my comment, and am clearly not the only person who believes that the furniture arrangement is lacking.
People are clearly thrown because the room is oriented around the TV rather than the fireplace. If the television wasn't there, the room would be angled toward the opposite corner--where the fireplace is located.
Where on earth did you find the Saarinen settee? I lust for that particular piece of furniture more than any other. If it turns up stolen, come looking in Chicago... ;)
sorry...but i am going to have to come to your home and steal the light above the dining table!
You and John have created a most interesting mid-century apartment. John does indeed have a keen eye.
I like your arrangement of furniture in the living room. It's inviting and it seems you have a traffic pattern that works. Also, your solution for storage and work area in your kitchen is terrific. Congratulations on your making every square inch count and look great besides.
Haha! We are a little early for Christmas! I think I sent this submission a while back hence the Christmas items. Woops! It was a challenge for us when we first moved to this place. We moved from a huge living space into a small 600sf apartment. We have accumulated a lot of vintage furniture that we didn't want to part with hence we had to get creative with the furniture arrangement. Not to mention that the wall plugs and cable plugs were not where we would have wanted them. I believe this is the best we can do with the space plus we really don't use the fireplace in sf. If the TV wasn't there we would definitely angle the furniture towards the fireplace. I would love to paint the walls but can't due to landlord restrictions. We've also updated the kitchen floors since then using ikea hacker's idea using Borris mat.
Thanks everyone for your comments!
bepsf--I wish you would write for AT.
At least the strict landlord painted the apartment white. White is workable. Imagine if it was a mushroomy beige :(
I love the grouped lamps over the dining table and that stone sculpture on top of the shelving unit. The vintage wall hangings also add some softness to what would otherwise be a fairly hard-edged interior.
Absolutely LOVE the art collection. My eyes are drawn to it, so I don't really notice the apartment (walls, floors).
Clearly a labor of love. I love those amorphous, off-kilter shapes. I'm eh about the actual furniture, but it fits.
Great desk, art, lamps!
Amazing pieces--Does anyone know where to find the wine holder?
Thanks everyone! The set of vintage lamps is actually a Nelson chandelier (3 in 1). The wine holder has been attributed to Paul McCobb. We found it an a vintage shop here in SF. We also got a larger similar one at a vintage shop in WA. The furniture does look uncomfortable ie. Saarinen settee but it has worked for me great since I'm short. The Nelson daybed is uber comfy though and we've had overnighters sleep on it without complaints. If we move furnitures as suggested, we might have to rework some electrical outlets and cable outlets which I'm not sure the landlord would approve :( Will also need ideas how to hide the ugly cables too!
I love the desk chair. It's oddly sexy.
Less is more, you have way to much stuff in that room. Looks like a resell it shop, sorry.
It seems to me that they are collectors. I understand the less is more criticism but you can't really be a collector if you don't have stuff. Unless what you meant was collect and stick it in storage so no one can appreciate the items. If it was a resell shop, I would definitely buy that Lester Geis table lamp.
The wine holder, thought commonly misattributed to Paul McCobb was actually designed by Arthur Umanoff for Shaver Howard circa 1971/1972 (3 years after Paul McCobb died in fact).
Check out: http://paulmccobb.blogspot.com/2010/06/and-now-wine-racks.html
The womb chair is the most comfortable chair in the world. How is the womb couch? The room is throwing me off because of the location of the fireplace. I also had an apt with a fireplace in a wierd position and I could never really arrange the furniture to take advantage of the coziness of a fireplace but I lived in TExas so it didn't matter much.
The kitchen is so cute.