Awesome place. I wasn't aware of the "sex- van" line of carpets but I'll be sure to avoid it. Joe, I love your answers to the survey, especially about making do in the meantime and turning off HGTV (which will be hard). Bravo!

+1 for the Schnitzelbank poster!

love the fireplace vignette of curious items!

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing your home, Joe. You certainly did "artfully arrange" your select findings. The chosen colors and textures make even the most ordinary, such as seashells, paper clips, coins, safety pins and so on, quite interesting in your arrangements. I did want to observe even the smallest detail. Thanks for sharing! and for inspiration!

A quirky, personal space. Though my tastes run along different lines, I appreciate seeing the warmth of a collected home that doesn't look like a catalog spread. I love a lot of Pottery Barn, West Elm, and all those, too, but spaces modeled on their pages seem devoid of personality, just mix-and-max homogenized decor. This home seems cozy and real. Thanks for sharing it.

Joe, your home is so great !! I love the colors, the warmth, the wonderful organization of everything --the display of items on the fireplace is so much fun & just well done. I love the boxing print and the squirrel. I would love to look through your kitchen, get a better look at the art above your desk. I love a lot of AT tours, but I rarely want to step into one of them. The place looks super comfy and super interesting. You made your 625 sq ft space look like 925. Organization really pays off .

My gosh! Where did you get the red knit blanket/throw ??!! love it!

going to need the source for the red cableknit throw ASAP!

I love that you can tell this apartment has some of those not-so-great apartment features. Standard kitchen cabinets/countertop, the sex van carpet, etc. But he's managed to highlight the great (exposed brick, wood floors), and incorporate/hide the less desirable. The result is warm, inviting, and very real.

Love your space and how you've managed not to make cluttered, but rather, homey and comfortable.

thanks for the inspiration! i'm curious as to how you put the brick in. i've always wanted to live in a brick building (i love the character) but it's hard to find something like that in vancouver, canada.

Wonderful representation of a very unique and creative neighborhood in St. Louis. Shout out TGS!

That taxidermied squirrel is the stuff of my own personal nightmares, but its hat is is adorable.

Add me to the list of people who want to know about that red cableknit throw. As someone who is just starting to learn to crochet, all I can picture is the gigantor hook or needles that must have been employed to make it.

My favorite survey answers from any tour ever. And they actually seem to match up with the feel of your home, which is great.

As requested previously, please please provide the source for the incredible knit throw in the bedroom! it's now at the top of my wish list.

I enjoyed this home tour...although, the squirrel creeped me out. Completely original and I'm coveting that green chair.

Was that knit throw/blanket made or purchased? I'm absolutely in love with it... Lovely home thanks for sharing.

hah! I want that squirrel!

What a darling home Joe. Bravo!

Oh! Me, too! Cable knit throw? Please?

And I am not one for dead animals in my house, but I would totally make an exception for the squirrel. I love it.

did you ever know that you're my hero?

Wow, great place, great guy. Your "best advice" really is the best advice I've ever read on this site!

Trying way too hard to be quirky...

ApartmentTherapy published a roundup for chunky cable-knit to buy and DIY back in 2009. I love AT. And if you're buying, please do support Etsy handcrafters.

And Joe, your home is lovely, fabulous, and handsome. Thanks.

Glad I don't have to dust that place.

Good job on the fireplace!
And turning off HGTV.

Above your desk there is either a Lee Bontecou piece or a weird, shall we say, "homage", to her work. I am curious about which it is. I would assume the latter, because I know if I was the owner of her work, I would be mentioning it like whoa in the post.

Hey, I'll pipe in here for Joe, since everyone is clamoring for that red blanket. If I remember correctly it was originally from Anthropologie, but someone gave it to him when they could no longer use it (crazy, I know). Joe might correct me if I'm wrong.

As for the piece above the desk, it was a project that his sister Chris did in grad school. She also did one the the pieces in the living room (and is super talented in general).

Read the comments before I saw the giant red cable blanket. Love it. Actually, I love a lot here. And "sex-van carpet" is hilarious.

I have always wanted to see the inside of a St. Louis Shotgun house! Beautiful!

Interesting and well done on the home and your survey put a smile on my face. Thanks for sharing all of it.

Man, that cardigan looks comfy!

Love your house, you have a really good eye for things!

If I were a dude, this would be my dream house. The wee army men just kill me.

Really love all of the little vignettes! Great job!

Masculine Whimsey. What a fun place.

1. I like the squirrel.
2. Nice plant on the desk
3. I like the photo with the apples and the picture in the background.
4. I like the translucent. curtains in the bedroom.

I actually went to high school with Joe, Mrs. Vodicka, his Mom, was my art teacher, actually one of my favorite teachers growing up. I remember seeing his art displayed in the studio from time to time and he was very talented. It is nice to see some things never change and you still have a unique and wonderful eye.

Great place! You did so much with such a small space. I for one can go without the famed red throw as I love the desk set up. I see you have a kind of knitting carrier thing on the desk but on its side as an organizational unit. Love that. Love the boxes too. Where are they in your home? Can't see them on your desk. Very organized.

You did a great job!! I am even willing to say the squirrel is cute this one time.

Fabulous place with a lot of charachter. I love the colours, and the fact that even being colourful the house is clearly a man's home.
And I want the red throw too

fantastic. Unique.
He surely has a lot of stuff. Great colors too,
Really interesting is the way all this adds up to a comprehensive whole.
Never would have thought of using a photo as a backsplash.

AT - I'd say the exposed brick, fireplace and wooden floors are pretty "special" - the carpet only seems to be in the bedroom...

Love your apartment, so many interesting things that catch my eye. Your bed is beautiful love the quilts!
This is the third tour I've seen with a sambo, in this apartment it fits, as Joe seems to be a collector of antiques. However I've seen tours where the apartment is completely modern, without any collectibles and a sambo just sitting on the kitchen table...

Oh dear.

I must be the only one that noticed.

Please don't take this as a criticism but in your kitchen, on the office chairs turned kitchen chairs around the table- there is still the yellow price sticker on the back legs of one of the chairs. Driving me crazy. Unless it's intentional? Even if it is intentional, sorry- still driving me crazy.

But otherwise this is a super organized space with a quirky sense of humor. Love the mantel place display and I am oddly attracted to the longhorns on top of the bathroom medicine cabinet.

Thank you for letting us into your home.

Love it! Handsome environs, lots of interesting vignettes, yet space to rest and breathe. Hard to balance, that. Love the Bontecou-esque piece above your desk.

Joe, Galen and I have unleashed a thorough plan several weeks ago to steal the orange cable knit blanket during the Christmas party this year. She decided that blanket should be taken back from you and given to me, the rightful recipient.

And seeing how the much it is in demand, perhaps i should put it on ebay instead of my bed.

Adorable!

If everyone in the world owned one of those knit blankets; there would be world peace.No doubt. Cover the world in that blanket. For real this was such an enjoyable home tour. I am in owe of the realness. Love the survey answers. I am thankful to be inspired. Even the comments are great! Blanket-napping plans. Mom's students writting in. Boy, you are a total Apartment Therapy stud!

What a nice surprise to see an old friend from childhood on one of my favorite websites. How much fun to see your place!

Less Joe, more Design.

I love the valances in the dining room and the cute little crate basket turned on its side on the desk. What a cute home. The dining room is my fave room though, love the table and the bar!

I love your very personalized home. You have displayed your collections beautifully, without ubiquitous clutter. I love a home where the visitor's eye moves around and wonders "what's that?" great job!

O my goodness gracious me, how cute are u:) Man, there's some serious style going on with your quirk...I really want to see on top of the kitchen cabinets. Guess it's like having no frills pets with all the stuffed animals huh?

Love your place! It has great personality and energy and I like to look at vignettes!
Thanks.

I like it. Looks like someone actually lives there,unlike some other places that somehow have an uncomfortable,unlived-in feel. And I hate HGTV. @Splomo-I just ordered some stuff from Etsy today!

Fantastic! Original, warm, live-in, creative. I love this 1000times more than all the perfectly arranged, cold, lifeless tours we sometimes get.

HI Joe! (Sarah from HS) I love your apt! Joe ALWAYS had the best taste. Quirky, yet sophisticated, with a serious emphasis on comfort. I still remember his bed at his mom's with like a foot thick feather bed thing, so luxe to a 15 year old :) Nice to see your smiling face

Nice job, and, as other posters have already noted, it's different from the average AT photo spread!

Love the throw! Love the quirkiness. Laughing at the sex-van carpet! :)

hey joe- i really like your (past) home. what a warm artistic style. but i totally dislike all that stuff above your kitchen cabinets. that looks cluttered and tacky to me. hopefully your new house does not have that space to fill. thanks for sharing. oh and btw- what is that red vinyl thing in the eating area? i cant tell, but it sure looks kool. wish there was a better photo of it.... did it come with the place or does it move?

nice - lots of personality.

cool repurposed door as headboard. all the other stuff's pretty great, too.

When I read where you get your stuff - thrift, alleys, etc. I was prepared to see another tour that would drive my OCD cleanliness crazy! Your place is so cozy - but doesn't feel cluttered with dirty junk to me! And I LIKE the stuff above your cabinets! Thanks for sharing!

Unique and really interesting.

my first time fully reading all the posts, i loved folks recognizing you. you and your family have a lot of talent, as noted your talent is visible. i was touched that you upgraded your rental by improving the mantel. bravo. such a genuine home.

Joe V. I'm so glad to see you are getting some more recognition for your mad interior decorating skills!

And now onto the haters...
"Trying way too hard to be quirky..."
posted b smarties66

Huh? You, Miss Unsmartie 66 are trying too hard to be mean! He is a quirky guy, as a result his place will be quirky. He isn't trying...he just is. It's called zen. Don't be jealous!

"Less Joe, more Design."
posted by rapidtransitman

What? I don't even get your post! how can one have the design without the Joe?

P.S. I'm glad the squirrel made the entry...she looks great in her new hat!

P.P.S. +1 to mekeh just because you deserve it for that comment!

I was able to locate some information on that beautiful red blanket (well, one like it). Laura Birek, author of Picture Perfect Knits has a blog where she sells instructions (for $4.99, what a steal!) on how to make the blanket. She also sells them in her Etsy store. Here's the site: http://nocturnalknits.com/about/giganto-blanket-faq/
When I have some extra time, I think I might give it a try.

Great place.....love your desk! Love the squirrel too.....although I'd be afraid it would attack me in my sleep.