Name: Ila & Nate
Location: Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
Size: 700 square feet
Years lived in: 4.5
When you step into Ila and Nate's 700 square foot condo, you can see from one end of the space straight down to the other. However, they brilliantly mitigated the alley effect by using a different saturated color in each room, causing the eye to want to stop and take stock of the visual delights in each distinct space. But they didn't stop there.
After your eye peruses the color corridor, from red living room to blue dining room to yellow kitchen to plum hallway to green bedroom, you land on a giant vintage mirror leaning on the bedroom wall. The genius placement of the mirror then sends your eye back into the rest of the space, seeing the reflected colors of the rooms in reverse. The effect is an infinite delight of color and a space that feels grander than 700 square feet.
Our favorite elements: the aforementioned use of color and reflection, with a specific shout-out to the delicious blue in the dining room; the artwork, especially the giant framed print in the dining room; the dining room chandelier (clearly we had an extra special crush on their dining room); the green curtains in the kitchen (Ila scored these in the bottom of a sale basket at Anthropologie for $5!!); the wall of books in the bedroom; the juxtaposition of traditional and modern style; and the copious natural light. Ila and Nate have created a wonderfully inviting home. It was hard to walk away.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
Our style: Whimsical Modern Vintage
Inspiration: My sister Anjali's art work hung up in almost every room in the house, and our travels to different places around the world
Favorite Element: My sister's painting hanging up in the dining room — the whole space was decorated around that piece. Also the deconstructed chandelier hanging in the kitchen picture window.
Biggest Challenge: Making the most out of what is really a very small space for two people
What Friends Say: It's so you!
Biggest Embarrassment: An unpatched spot on the ceiling — so hard to find the time to fix it!
Proudest DIY: Installing our own light fixtures (a lot easier than it seems!)
Biggest Indulgence: Handpainted wall treatments by Chroma Lab
Best advice: Invest in a few showstoppers — they make a HUGE difference!
RESOURCES OF NOTE
- • Chroma Lab - wall treatments in the hallway and colorful, bold, refinished furniture pieces in bedroom
• Interior-Deluxe
• Design Public& Velocity - unique lighting fixtures
• Anthropologie - interesting accents
• Marimekko & DwellStudio - textiles
• Design Within Reach
• antique and vintage stores all around the region
• textiles, prints, wall hangings from our travels
Thanks, Ila & Nate!
Images: Kyle Freeman
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Normally i'm not a fan of painting each room a different primary color... that having been said, i think you were very successful in your execution! I love that blue especially, what is the name/brand? Also, I must know, where are those curtains in the bedroom from? I've been looking for a large leafy printed curtain FOREVER. Good job!
http://www.tangiedecor.blogspot.com
Where is that cute little green wire chair from?
There's no way that place has 700 sq ft. I currently live in a 720 sq ft apartment, my bedroom is smaller than this, and if we had a separate dining room, the chairs wouldn't fit around the table (and theirs is so roomy!).
Said that, love the colors, etc, it's just not 700 sq ft at all.
Wow! What a great house tour. So colourful and fun. Well done!
PurpleIngrid — that chair WAS available from Anthropologie but is no longer on their site.
Love, love, love this! You should have entered the Fall Color contest. I think the reason it works is that the colors are the same intensity and there's a lot of "relief" with white paint and neutral furnishings. Good job!
Very lovely! Great color, great energy. Looks like a happy place.
Definitely one of the best house tours I've seen on AT. Kudos to you for being so unafraid of colour.
I am in love with this! How I wish I knew how to use color like this. I am always afraid it will be too much or too bright and that I'll get sick of it quickly. But I think I could happily live with this forever.
fuuuuuuuun. but what about the kitchen? i'd love to see it! those colors are done so well together.
shameless plug: see my kitchen renovation here on my blog! http://hishouseherhelp.wordpress.com/
These photos really capture the warmth and vibrancy of Nate & Ila's home. It's been a true pleasure to work with them and their sweet kitties on various colorful projects!
@ Beach bum, I have 700 square feet and my place feels very spacious. Dining room, living room, 2 walk in closets, a large kitchen, bedroom, etc. I think it all depends on your layout. 700 sqft can mean a number of different things depending on a. the layout of the space, b. the way you arrange furniture c. how much stuff you have d. how much light you get.
Bold but also quite homey. Great pictures (loved the shot with the cat almost blending into the white sofa), fearless use of color (I love how the different-colored rooms contrast with each other), and attractive but also attainable mixing of modern and traditional elements.
Beautiful! I'm glad I'm not the only one with such a colorful house - though mine doesn't have that huge, gorgeous white trim:(
I agree with Sally305; you should have been in the fall color contest. LOVE your sister's art in the living room! The whole place is wonderful.
Where is the piece of art in your living room from? I love it! Love your entire house, but the artwork from slide 8 (I think) is fantastic!!
1. Color in your kitchen?
2. That deliciously red bookcase?
your place is perfect. just lovely. wish you were in the color contest.
Rug! In the living room! Where did you get it?! Sorry for sounding so much like a caveman lol
this cant be 700 sq ft... its huge!
Love the balloon?rubber ball? light fixture! I'd love to DIY that! How did you do it?
Wow! So many different colors...and they work so well together! This place brings happiness...like a rainbow. Wonderful home!
I think @sally305 is right - this works so well because the colors are all of the same intensity and saturation. Just gorgeous - so lively and fun, yet it's a relaxing space. This shows that taking risks with bold color can be sooo worth it. And I too lurve the rug in the living room.
What I like about this is that it is such a modest place, but it looks really nice. I bet nothing in the place cost over $100, but the way it's all put together makes it look not like a junk shop or frat house, but like a lovely, solid middle-class home for a family. Which goes to show that if you have a little money, a little time, a good eye and you care about what you're doing, you can make a lovely home out of very little. (And a can of paint goes a long way!)
Love this place--especially the blue in the dining room and that round wood clock--where did you get it? Thanks for sharing and props for original (and awesome) art.
I love all the colours and how they are used, it's so vibrant but it looks like a really easy and relaxing place to live. I think this is my favourite AT house tour ever
Love love LOVE this! Sometimes bold colors can be really overwhelming, but they just work so well here. I love the mix of different furniture styles and of course the colorful furniture. Thanks so much for sharing!
I agree that this could easily be 700 square feet. I live in 630 right now, and we have 2 bedrooms, one of which, if omitted, would leave plenty of space for a dining room. I think this sort of railroad layout just lends itself to feeling larger because it almost ends up feeling like one big space with the continuous doorways.
and Kyle, awesome photos! For once I actually have a real sense of the space in a house tour, and then you've appropriately peppered the tour with vignettes instead of using them almost exclusively. THANK YOU!!
What a fun tour. Great use of bold color and what super taste you have, love the furniture! And LOVE the green in the bedroom, is it Dark Celery?
Well done, thanks AT for an inspiring tour.
yeah colorful JP! the white trim really makes the vibrant colors work for me.
and, to 'eiw', was that meant to be a compliment? .... "a lovely, solid middle-class home for a family".
it is so much more refreshing to see a collection of original art mixed with furniture pieces gathered from antique stores, sidewalks, friends, etc... than to see a sterile house full of 'high-end' brands.
Yes, thanks AT for yet another inspiring tour!
Love the colors used here! You really did a fantastic job!
smart to have a white couch when you have a white kitty!
great use of color..so easy to look like a preschool if not carefully edited/executed. Most people couldn't pull this off, much tougher than neutrals. bravo.
Really well done. Would love to know the green paint color/brand.
Hi everyone,
Ila here. Thanks so much for your kind comments! I am checking on some of your questions, but here's a start. Leafy curtains in the bedroom are Marimekko. The color in the dining room is "Academy Blue." It is from Tags Hardware in Cambridge, but it's not Benjamin Moore. I can check on the brand as well as the colors in the bedroom and kitchen later on in the week. That round wood clock came from the Ithaca farmer's market, and the rug in the living room is a family heirloom from India.
All of the art in our place has been created by people we know. All of the paintings and the large digital print in the living room were done by my sister -- you can link to her bio and some samples of her work in the survey above.
I promise I'll get back to you on the other questions later on this week (after the holidays!). Thanks again!
Such a great job / well done.
I have to add to the common thread in the previous comments: your place is fun and just says "happy!" You have pulled it off and kept it grownup looking by judicious use of accessories so that it doesn't look cluttered. Instead, the wall colors are well balanced and not overpowering. Your use of white is a wonderful way to offset the strong colors, also.
To those doubters, "railroad" apartments do not lose square footage in hallways -- and the ability to look from one room to the other keeps the space feeling open and looking larger than another layout would. Having lots of windows adds to the spacious feel.
Great job. Thanks for sharing your place!
Why didn't you enter the Color Contest?? I would have voted for you in a millisecond. Lots of color is not my taste, but this is done beautifully. Colorful w/o being messy.
Congrats!
just gorgeous! really warm, cozy, cheerful, inviting and well-done. i'm in love! those red shelves....they aren't ikea, are they?
Wonderful! Love the colors, textiles & artwork! Is the picture of the wispy, circles of color on the blue wall your sister's? I went to her site but did not see that one.
I'm with beach bum and little miss ash. That ain't no 700. It's closer to 800 than 700. And stop the condescension, citipearl.
Yummy!
I love this place down to the orange tea kettle! I want to live here; it makes me happy.
Beautiful use of color. I shy away from color, because I don't know how to use it, but this so clean and is very inspiring. Looks like a really happy home.
I agree with every compliment posted. This is beautiful. Thanks for sharing your Happy Home with us.
I'm beginning to think that JP has the best houses out there.
Lovely place. Thanks for sharing :)
I love this home! You somehow manage to pull of red and green in a room without the Christmas effect - which is what I get when I've tried it. Can you tell me the color/brand green paint? I loved the bedroom. I loved all of it, but that was the most unique bedroom I've seen among AT tours.
Agree totally with all posters who said you should have entered the color contest. You would win, hands-down!
(I have the same Anthro pillows on my sofas:)
Lovely place - very cheery! Adore the light fixtures. Really liked the way Ila used branches in a glass vase as a jewelry display. I've been trying to find a way to deal with my perpetually knotted necklaces and will give this very clever idea a whirl.
Gorgeous. I think this is an absolute stand-out.
I agree with comments made regarding the equal intensity in the colours meaning they balance each other, and the way the white trim ties it all together in such a clean, uncluttered manner.
Love, love, love.
This is my favourite home featured here without a doubt.
kushkush, you insinuate that the owners of this apartment are lying about the square footage (which raises the question--why do you care?) and then accuse another reader of being condescending, which she wasn't. Sorry, but I just had to call you out on your hypocrisy.
Why on earth would anyone lie about the square footage of their home? Layout has something to do with how spacious a place may seem, but a room nearly always looks bigger in pictures because our sense of scale is off and we generally can't see the entire room at once. I'm sure if you actually checked the place out in person, it wouldn't seem as large as some of you think it is.
Sorry to see people get petty about something so lame. I think this is a lovely home.
Love the house !!! The colors work perfect, i would love to paint my own house this colorful one day :)
I love brightly colored walls with white molding- looks great!
I loved every bit of this apartment, exactly the kind of colors I like to use myself.
Really great post. Very JP in a good way! Nice work.
Is that an Ektorp sofa?
Crate and Barrel trunk?
They both look very similar to ours:)
Lovely and beautiful home...Walmart ad is very annoying how do you make it disappear?
I never liked ( red bookcases ) until i saw your room, i like how colorful the room is!
washington state
the mirror was brilliant in expanding the space!
nicely done
Beautiful house...
Where did you get your shower curtain?
Hi everyone, Ila here again. The kitchen is Stewart Gold by Benjamin Moore. The bookshelves are actually DWR, but that red color was discontinued a few years ago, sadly! The shower curtain was actually a random pottery barn find! I am still looking into the green paint color - I can't seem to find any leftover in our house! Thanks again to you for your kind comments.
honeyfizz.blogspot.com
Beautiful place! Where did your dining table chairs come from?
lovely home
Ila! Not sure if you remember me, but I had no idea your apartment was featured in AT! How brilliant, doll, and of course, it's so bright and beautiful.