Nice use of space, but I thought the photos were done in black and white...until I got to the 3rd picture. Needs some color to create energy!

How awesome is it to have a fellow Haligonian submit their place in the contest... I was just wondering how long it took between your submission and having your place posted? In any event, your pad is spectacular... congratulations!!! The fact that you've pulled it together so beautifully on a student budget is perhaps most impressive of all!!! Kudos :-)

love it! i miss a nice place to eat but may be you need that office more than me... simple and couzy. First i thoght they were black and white photos! jaja!

I have to support a fellow Maritimer/Blue Noser!
Great place - great use of space.

you have 2 bathroom doors like carrie bradshaw! (sorry had to geek out about that) beautiful apartment!

Not only is this a nice use of space but it's a pretty well designed floor plan. The angled walls actually work. So often those are silly design details that create odd spaces.

Lovely!

I like the layout and the furnishings, it all is really quite lovely ... but I could NOT live in a black and white photograph. Totally bizarre. I've never seen a place photograph like this.

I love the color palette - so calm and serene (maybe that would take away some of the pre-exam anxiety?!). I think some bright or even dark/moody color could be nice, but not necessary. There is something so tranquil about this space... Also love the floorplan - great use of the space!

Nicely done; it looks a lot bigger than 520 sq. feet.

I had the same impression...thought the pictures were in black and white. Nice, but at the same time weird.

Wow, the lack of color is actually really interesting. Hmm...

I've never seen a piano double as a media console, awesome to the nth degree! This is a very lovely, very well edited abode and I would have never guessed that it belonged to a student (yes, I got stereotypes stuck in my head). Color me very impressed.

I agree; the color (or lack of) definitely gives the photos a surreal quality. I like it, it's just....disconcerting. I love the piano/media console too. Very awesome.

I'm with the rest of the commenters; Your space is beautiful, but the absence of bright colors bothers me a bit. It's way too monochromatic for me. It is gorgeous though and you did a great job on a student budget.

I like the color scheme! And if you look closely you can tell from the first picture that it's not B&W - the brass lamp and accessories and wood side table. I think it's well-edited, and doesn't look like it was put together by a broke college student.

I like your details-- the flowers in the vase, the painting on the wall, the edging on the bedspread. However, I, too, find the space cold from lack of color.

Gorgeous! Love the colour palette. So glamorous.

I love it! Very calm and serene.

On the one hand, this is beautiful, and beautifully composed, especially on a college student's budget. On the other...the only warmth in the whole place seems to come from the wood of the piano. And you live in Halifax? I feel as if you must be freezing all the time.

I love that you got a piano into this space without making it look crowded.

I'm a Haligonian too! I love your home. I don't find it cold AT ALL. On the contrary, It looks very cozy, glamorous and peaceful (this coming from a color addict). And Cassis... freezing all the time? Really?

Really like the clean lines and good use of design in your place. I like the color scheme but I agree with other viewers little pops of color could make this space really come alive. Maybe at a bright throw pillow or hand towels in the kitchen, doesn't have to be a lot just a little.Good luck in the contest!

I couldn't live here but I love it that YOU love it. That is totally what's important (obviously!)

I think these are in fact b&w photos in which just a few elements are in color. I know there's an application for that on my camera.

Love this so much! So sophisticated and calming. Great job!

At first I too thought the color scheme was a bit too surreal. Then I realized that's because there are no people in it. This would allow people (me, if I lived there) to be the "pop of color". How cool is that? Shouldn't a home make its owner look (and thus feel) good?

What a great place, and I'm impressed you did all this as a student. Bravo.

I totally thought these pictures were black and white with a hint of sepia tone. Your place is almost completely devoid of color..................and I love it. I think this is one of if not my favorite black and white dominant space. I like it call it black and white done right!

Lovely apartment, where is your couch from if you don't mind sharing!

Usually, I would complain about the lack of color. But the decor is so purposed and I really like it. The basic palette would be a great place to rest & relax.

I agree with @MelissaDC, these are B&W photos with just a few elements in color (I guess tan/gold). Yes, my camera has that feature it. I just wonder why Kristi decided to use the feature at the first place.

Bravo for getting a piano in a small place.

Color scheme makes me feel weird. That's the best I could describe it.

Hi all! Kristin here. :) (Okay, really hoping I wasn't a huge moron and spelled my own name wrong - because that would be SUPER embarrassing - and that it was just a copy/paste error when this post was done up.)

Just wanted to say a thank you for all of your kind & constructive comments/suggestions/etc. (Especially my fellow Maritimer/Halifax peeps! So great to see other Haligonians around AT. :) Hi! And thank you!) To answer a few questions that have come up thus far:

The photos are not black & white. They're just your run of the mill digital camera pictures. Nothing fancy folks, sorry to disappoint! The colours aren't quite what they are in real life (like I said, I have terrible lighting in this apartment), but the piano one (3rd photo) shows the range of neutrals throughout well and is pretty close to reality. The 2nd photo is the least accurate colour-wise (hard angle to shoot since the bedroom gets way more light than the rest of the apartment.) I wonder if it's the weird wall colour that's throwing everyone for a loop? It's this grey-ish white-ish beige-ish mash-up. Not something I would have picked if I'd had the choice.

Ah, the great colours versus neutrals debate! I know white and a lack of colour can be pretty polarizing. It's not for everyone. :) Just as pops of colour is not my cup of tea. I'm not a colour kind of person. So the white + grey + black + metallics palette (though the metallics didn't read very well in the photos - sorry about that) is very true to me. But that's what this contest is all about right? - celebrating your own personal style.
(Loving all my fellow white/neutrals buddies. Rock on!)

RE: Halifax weather. It's surprisingly mild here during the winter months. Believe it or not, I leave my window open 24/7, 365 days of the year. Being too hot is more of a concern for me than being cold. ;)

@Kittykatofdoom - I love that you pointed this out - I do have a Carrie Bradshaw washroom! It's one of my favourite things ever. :) I totally get her reasoning for needing two doors.

@Toraloraly - I would LOVE to incorporate some darker tones. I really wanted to paint my bedroom & kitchen walls a charcoal grey or deep navy, but alas, I'm a renter and I'm not allowed to paint. :( Something I want to do in a future space for sure though!

@Cassis - Seems I didn't pick very good photos for showing the browns/wood tones throughout. Was so wrapped up in trying to show how each space fit together into the whole. Man, I wish we could submit more than 5 pictures! Anyway, I do have the wood piano like you mentioned, and also a wood console in the bedroom and a wood/marble side table beside my sofa, among various gold/brass accessories. It's not all black & white, I promise. :)

@Dbreen - Sofa is from Attica, which is a locally owned & operated furniture store. My first and only "grown-up" furniture purchase. Well worth the investment & highly recommended.

Thanks everyone for your comments and thanks all who favourited my place. :) I've watched this competition from afar so many times and I knew future me would be kicking herself someday if I never entered.

this home on a student budget? wow! i'm not sure many adults on bigger budgets could have pulled it off.

I was one of many who thought I was looking at a black and white photo, but I really love it. I love the monochromatic colors that are found through out the entire place. I think it really ties everything together really well and make the place seem larger almost.

Does anyone know where I can get that Hepburn print?

I liked the layout and space but the filter or whatever post processing done on the pictures was so unnecessary. Very distracting and I love grey, black and white.

but well done decorating the space.

I totally understood what you were going for with the whole metallic / wood / monochromatic palette as soon as I saw it. It comes off as very calming and sophisticated. Also, it looks SO well styled. I especially love the kitchen and the layout of the main living area. Thanks for sharing!

@felttipjr Well, I'm super flattered you like the large painting... because I did it myself!

@Kami Kazi The Hepburn painting is based off of the one that was at Ikea (not sure if it's still available?). We don't have Ikea here, so I made a stencil and painted this myself.

Love, love, LOVE that people think the photos are black and white! Your style is awesome and your artistic talent is impressive! Good luck!!!

@lady.green0 - That was a great way to put it! Favorite'd.

I love how you used the little light you have to full advantage! Inspiring!

oh i just love it. it is elegant and does not seem 'on a budget' to me. and i love the piano! most small homes could never find room for a piano! great job! a favorite of mine for sure!

I am in love with this home! The color scheme and decor is exactly what I'm striving for in my home =)

Kristin, your space is just lovely. It is elegant and cohesive, and allows for latitude with accessories (i.e. I couldn't have talked myself into brass lamps with chrome, but the neutral palette makes it work.) Congratulations!

I really like this apartment but honey get a bowl of lemons or M&M's candy in there somewhere. It needs a dose of color. Look too long and it starts to get depressing. Almost emo. Color please.

Love, love, LOVE this. The colours are perfect. It looks like the most relaxing place to spend time.

You know, at first, the colors were throwing me off (and I also assumed that it was due to some camera filter). But, overall, even though it's not *quite* my style, I say kudos for doing a beautiful, curated job!

This is...weird. So, even your books/magazines (living room) all have black-and-white covers? Keeping a place *that* monochrome seems uncomfortably contrived.

But that's just me, I appreciate that a non-colour-lover would really enjoy it.

Moody and shadowy like a film noir. I like it. What I read as a seascape over the sofa adds to the shadowy fluid feeling. I love the contrast of dark and light. And just as with a b&w Turner classic movie the light, shadow, shape and contrast is the "color." And seriously, would you really ask Barbara Stanwyck or Marlene Deitrich to toss down a bowl of m&m peaners to liven up the joint?

I love the design statement that no color makes.

Tough to pull off but lovely and interesting, SWEETROSIEBROWN is right- very moody and film noir.

Well done-kudos!

Sophisticated and calm. I really love the vibe this space gives off.

super chic and cohesive!!! i love it although i dont like black and white too much. favorited!

Very elegant and well done. I love your chandelier. In fact...I love ALL the lighting in your home! :) Though I think the space is a little too monochromatic for my taste, you choices in decor and furniture are lovely. Maybe you could throw in a few pops of color using easily removable items like pillows or throws. Perhaps a bright solid, rather than a print, in one of this seasons funky bright tones? That's just my two cents. What's really important is that YOU love your space the way it is. Either way...you got my vote simply because you have great taste and a lovely home. :)

I have the hardest time decorating with black and white (especially black) and I'm totally jealous of how well you do it!! Don't change a thing - it's magical xoxox

such a beautiful, classy apartment. i absolutely love the colour palette and the choice of furnishings. it's glamourous and chic. yes sometimes it's great to have pops of colour, but this apartment works. Definitely getting my vote!

Love it! I certainly hope it's not a filter that's creating that color palette, because that palette is amazing. Gives the space a calm cohesiveness and allows the people to liven it up without crowding it. Beautiful!

Love the subtle use of color. Very soothing and calming environment.

Yay for Canada! And I love the shades of grey :)

When I went to NSCADU (I'm assuming that's where you are!) I had a box spring on the floor and mismatched plaid furniture that had been left behind by the previous renters! I think this space is amazing, kudos for pulling this all together so beautifully, and on a student budget no less!

Wow! One of my all-time favorites. So serene. I absolutely love the white, black, gray, metallic and wood-toned palette of your home. I use it in my own home, as well. I wish I could vote twice for this space. Great job!

Very, very impressive for a student.

Pure elegance. I love it.

Very Karl Lagerfeld...which makes it look expensive! Good job!

Love this! My apt is in the process of looking very similar with the grays/black/white.

Love the painting behind the couch!! The space is also very well done! I love the grey scale color pallet though out the space with few pop of color! very calm and peaceful.