apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Love it! Feels open and spacious. The walls of glass are stunning; and the yellow wall color is a really nice touch. (Where in downtown is this? In the Pearl or closer to Whole Foods/Powell's/West Elm?)

Enrique - I'm on the other side of downtown, over by the South Park blocks.

I'm one of the people who urged Rob to enter the contest. Rob, I worked for the Oregonian about nine years ago and know your area well. Glad you're in the contest!

Great place, Rob! I really like the floor plan and how you put your bed on the angle. It looks cozy and modern all at once. Also, it's nice to see a fellow Portlander on AT!

i don't understand the juxtaposition of the bed.... seems to take up more of the space then necessary at that angle. or is it just me?

excellent place and wohoo! A fellow oregonian!!!!

I think this looks wildly amazing, and I'm kind of glad that some hot stuff is happening outside of the obvious places.

Nice place, Rob! It appears there are a lot more Oregonian lurkers here than I ever imagined...
Can Portland be next in line after Chicago and SF are up and running??

Is this rob with the two cute kitties? I remember you from an earlier thread where you posted pics of your bed with the kitties curled up on it. looks great - I think i would have given into traditionalism and placed the bed against the wall in that far right alcove.

Yep, I'm the Rob with 2 cats. In fact, that's their litterbox concealed behind a CD rack in the upper right hand corner of the floorplan. Easy access for scooping, but completely out of sight.

As for the bed, it took time to figure that one out when I moved in. I actually have a lot of stuff, and it was hard to find a way to make it all fit. On the floorplan I posted, the bed does look odd. But in person, it looks like it's supposed to be that way - especially since the angles of the bed and the rolling-closet line up with the angle of the odd wall. Plus, the bed is curtained off, so it looks more like a short red wall.

A big part of my goal was to create a corner with lots of hidden storage since the only storage space in the entire loft was that one small closet on wheels, and that barely holds my clothes. The bed's raised to create storage, I've turned the back corner behind the closet into six foot stacked shelving for storage with a triangle of dead space behind that where I've stacked boxes and boxes of more storage (hidden by an asian-screen and drawn above as a circle).

I didn't want my office near the door since I produce audio for a living, thus it went into that far corner. My office is against two non-shared concrete walls. And I didn't want the bed next to the door either! You know how some loud sleepers can be :)

I'm a quiet sleeper of course...

Grin.

Oh I think the bed looks great and it's a really cool idea. I just would never have thought of it and would have automatically put it against that other wall. Besides, I don't work from home so I don't really need office space.

I found the other pictures of the apt on your blog and I thought you dealt with the storage issues creatively. Again, I would not have thought of angling the wardrobe

I think they are raising the number of pictures you can submit for the competition to five, so maybe you can add a couple more.

Rob, I live here in Portland and was wondering how I can find out about these warehouse sales.

Wonderful space! I love your gleaming kitchen and I really want that loveseat for my small living room. Where did you get that one?

This is the first entry I've seen with great color. I love it.

I am also cursed with angled walls and signficant window coverage (which is great, just limits furniture configuration). You've done a great job with these challenges. I hope you post more pictures just because I would love to see the rest of the place.

"The most expensive piece of furniture I own is a $300 loveseat."

My kinda guy!

Jeff - you DEFINITELY want to check out those sales! They're local, and they're awesome people. Email them at their site and ask to be on their email list. They also post on Craigslist (that's how I found them). They tend to have warehouse sales in the summer.

Jen - what's really cool about my kitchen is that it has a wall of windows with a breakfast bar sort of built into them (you can kind of see light coming through in the pic. The breakfast bar comes out of the back side of the fireplace-wall). My loveseat is from City Liquidators (just across the river in SE PDX). A friend bought it for me in exchange for web design work, and then she bought herself the couch version in bright red. It's microfiber, which has been great with my cats. Fur wipes off pretty easily.

Rob--What? No picture of the mattress-eating bathroom? ;-)

Beautiful apartment (love your cats). The windows really expand the place visually. Are you anywhere near Powells?

Where the heck did you get a loveseat for only 300 bucks??

I saw his apartment through another website a few months ago and thought of this contest. Perfect use of space and very colorful. A contender? Of course!

riye - the rogue mattress story is from years ago when I lived in Dallas. There was a clause in my apartment lease that said I could have a free carpet cleaning once a year. Needless to say, I only took them up on it once. I wrote out the whole story on my blog (click my name).

Aquarabbit: The store is a Portland treasure called "City Liquidators." It's a huge warehouse converted into three stories of home furnishing chaos.

I like this space and I like that kitty. The one thing I'd like to see here is a rug in front of the couch to sort of define that space a little more. And maybe a low coffee table instead of the higher side-table would add definition there too.

And how do you keep the cats from destroying the bed curtains? My Tallulah would shred the poor things in a nanosecond. Perhaps your cats could give mine a behaviour lesson!

Rob:
I first checked out your photos when you were wondering whether or not to enter. I'm happy you decided to jump in - it's such a great place. Congrats on the beautiful entry.

Wow, Rob! I love what you've done with this space. [small world alert] I think I looked at your apartment the last time it was for sale. :) I really love the light and how spacious it feels for such a cozy studio.

It's a wonder that Ron arrived at this state of grace on the cheap and a relief to know that all the stuff is camouflaged somewhere. The devil is always in the stuff.

The canopy bed adds a delightful bit of romanticism to the space. And the light! What a great apartment! Thanks for showing it.

i might have made different color choices, or opted for other "accessories," but i think this one is really livable. and - perhaps something we might keep in mind? - i think this place will evolve over time. no "decorating" is ever really "finished," is it....?

Rob, where did you get that little fireplace?

Hi rob! Just returned from pdx. Stayed in the Paramount and could see your building out the window, so I know which one you are in now. Great location, nice living-friendly architecture, fantastic apartment. Your place looks modern, yet still warm. Great job with 488 s.f. Thank you for including the floor plan. Really helps understand how everything fits in.

The cat in front of the Fireplace did it for me.Very cozy.

The fireplace is built in. In fact, it's the only heat in my loft. It's a gas fireplace, and it's on a thermostat. Here's the nutty part: The thermostat is on a remote - meaning that I have to be careful where I leave the remote at night because it needs to be within sight of the fireplace sensor.

It's a cool system!

As for my colors - pphillipp really nailed it when he said the place will probably evolve. Oh, will it ever. That's the fun of it for me. I'm hoping to incorporate more orange to bring out the copper trim on cabinets and such. You can see that in the kitchen pic. I'm also planning on replacing my current art (black and white prints from the Apple "Think Different" campaign) with my own photos, printed and framed.

One trick I've learned about making the place look bigger than it is: little, bold accessories, and go vertical.

Aquarabbit: Do you have a place called World Market near you? I'm debating a living room rug from there. I like the splash of color, but then again, I hate trying to get the fur from two cats off of a vibrant rug! Also, my bamboo and wicker basket stuff is from World Market. The junk I couldn't hide, I stored with better boxes thanks to that place.

Very nice, Rob. One question--where did you get your CD rack? I've had a surprisingly difficult time finding something simple that holds that many CD's.

The bed looks familiar. Wasn't this one on SSBS too?

I hope this doesn't sound like a dumb question, but I'm not in the design world - I'm just an AT fan who comes here for ideas... What's SBSS?

My bed is just a cheap canopy, dressed up with curtains from Target (machine washable! woo hoo!) The douvet has a bit of a stripe to it, but it's hard to tell in the pic. And my sheets are now the nearly impossible to find Nautica Navigation Stripe set. I liked them so much, I bought 'em in red too. (it helped that they were on clearance at LNT)

Winston - my CD rack is the oldest thing I own. I bought it ten or eleven years ago at Montgomery Ward.

SSBS = Small Space Big Style (HGTV show)

I could've sworn I'd seen your bed on some other forum/medium, but perhaps it was just a similar one.

You might have seen it a month or so ago here on AT? I posted a link to my blog with pics of my place. My place definitely hasn't been... uhm... featured on TV (or anywhere else for that matter). But wow, thanks for the compliment. Cheers!

Rob,

I wrote about your space in my design blog, decor8 today - I love your place. Click on my name to peek at my comments...

By the way, what is the name of your cute cat???

Holly

Very beautiful, but perhaps a little on the dramatic side. I understand that the curtains around the bed help break up the space a little, but that's why they use them in hospital rooms, too. These seem more sinister, or else (gasp) a bit bordello-like.

I like the Wall Colors, Wine Rack, Fire place, Kitchen, floors, scenery, huge windows, great idea to get privacy in bed. Just say the word and we can trade apartments!!

I have windows facing another house and have used semi transparent roller blinds from IKEA. You still get light into your apartment, can see out, but no one can really see in. Maybe an option for you

He has a great open space in the middle, yet everything is pretty much pushed up against the walls. I don't care for the placement of the bed in essentially the middle of the space.

I think the bed should be tucked to the side in that nook, and the middle space be made into a living area for seating. Perhaps the curtains could create a wall between the nook and the rest of the living space for privacy.

Loved this place! The lighting, colors and use of the space. I'm ready to move in ;)

Thanks Chude!

Joe - thanks for the tip. We're finally getting an Ikea in Portland, and I can't wait. I believe they're building it as we speak. It'll be on a light rail stop too.

The one thing I wish I could have captured in photos is how the place dramatically changes from day to night due to one whole side of the loft being glass. The dining room pic sort of shows dusk, and the living room pic is late afternoon. If I were posting more pics, I'd have added a night shot of the living room. It's really spectacular since the 'room' is surrounded on three sides by glass. At night, it turns very black with bits of light from other buildings plus cars from several stories below. That's also why the dining room is against the windows... at night, it's really cozy.

This place is definitely not for people with vertigo though. I had a friend weirded out by that once. But I love it.

Great use of space and colors on the walls. However, given the overwhelming manliness of the apartment, the curtain around the bed seems like an unnecessary frill. I'd also echo "Anon's" recommendation to move the bed into the nook at the right.

While I like this apartment, much of what makes it look so great seems to have come with the apartment (i.e., the big windows, the fabulous kitchen, the hardwood floors, the fireplace, etc.). I don't feel this entry reveals much individual personality.

i agree with theresa.

Rob - your apartment is gorgeous!

i have always wanted a tall dining table just like that (which looks awesome next to the tall windows).

i have also always wanted to do a bed like this (it's like a sophisticated fort).

love the color scheme & wine rack

ps: you seem like you'd be fun to hang out with too..haha

Rob-

I love your place and have to disagree with Teresa--the apt may have had good bones to begin with, but your use of color and texture makes it rock!

Steen (NYC)

well, it looks like someone likes to shop at ikea...they do have great prices and a hot swedish spokesman

Actually, I don't own any Ikea stuff. We're still a year away from getting one in Portland I believe. (hot swedish spokeswoman? YUM!)

I luv the fact that everything was done cheaply. Nice work.

This loft kicks! The canopy bed is brilliant! The whole place is just too cool. Spare without being cold. Lurve.

Killer pad! The windows are amazing. Great use of color on the walls. Love the high dining table at the window and the arrangement of the artwork on the wall behind it. The bed looks . . . inviting (someone else mentioned Bordello-like which is sometimes a good thing)! Putting the bed at an angle with storage behind is a great idea and not one I would have considered. Also love the grey wall and the table in the entryway and the kitchen is awesome as are the wine and cd racks. You must really love living here!

It's hard to tell in the bed pic, but the head and foot of my bed run parallel with the silver vent pipe in the ceiling that stretches across half of the loft. The closet also follows that line, and all of those angles match the angled odd wall behind the head of the bed. Hhmmm... if I'd posted a pic that better shows the pipe, the odd angles here would make more sense. In person, the angles line right up with the wall and pipe.

Interesting note about the art. It's a birthday gift from years ago - ten Apple "Think Different" black and whites. Hanging them here took some work because my ceiling varies between two heights that are ten inches apart. It creates an optical illusion that made some of it look too high or the others too low. I ended up hanging the art at two different heights. The four pieces in the dining room are hung in that plus-sign arrangement to bring the height differences together. The piece on the left matches the height of art under low ceilings and the higher piece next to it matches the height of art under my higher ceilings.

O.C.D? Yeah, that'd be me :)

Love it! Love the place! Love the colors everything!!! Whoa this one is a winner!
I also like the ceiling with the tubes and the lights amazing!

Mah-velous, dah-ling! Love it!

Gorgeous! If that's where you eat meals, can I come over? What luxury in a tiny spot - making you feel like you're at the chicest little bistro.

like your taste, but doesn't look "human" enough. needs some warmth and personal touches.

Very good use of wall color, and angles. Clever arrangement for the bed (though I would have put the curtain further away from it). Too spare for me overall. The furniture does not look comfortable. Add a soft chaise by the fireplace, and you'd be closer to the mark for me. One couch floating there is uninviting.

I've definitely learned a lot by entering my place in this contest. That picture of my living room makes the room look naked and huge, when in reality, the room is pretty small and tall, and filled with stuff. It's a semi-circle, but in that shot, I'm standing next to one end of the half-circle and facing the other end. I should have taken the pic facing straight in so you could see the whole room.

By the way, the curtain is part of the bed. It's a canopy bed.

It is a great apartment, although I agree with earlier posts that Rob did not do much to the apartment. I have been in his building before and it is well designed and the tenants did not select materials or paint. So, what has Rob done? Put some curtains on a bed? Cool, but not award winning.

I love the kitchen! Where did you find the cabinets and the hardware?

Rob- Your place is great! I love you wine rack. Where did you find it?

Hi Jayne - click my name and scroll down the page for the wine rack! It's called a "wine spine." My metal furnishings are by a metalworks artist shop here in Portland called Delia. They're exceptionally cool people, and I love that they're local.

"ME!" The cabinets are fabulous. I really enjoy the red and black tones with orange trim (thus my heavy use of red elsewhere) They were chosen by the building's developer. This building is new construction, but it's not generic in the way so much new construction can be these days. Even the elevator here is ridiculously cool. Living here feels like being in a piece of living art.

Anon: regarding a 'winning entry' - my vote would go to David and IM. Their place is stunnnnnnnnnnnnning!

The furniture arrangement is really strange. I don't like that the table is placed so far from the kitchen - although it looks like the apartment of a non-cooking bachelor. Do you have to walk by the bed (in the middle of the room) to get to the table? I'd also move the media (CDs? DVDs?) rack from right in the middle of the window - it's distracting from the expanse of glass.

Nice space, and pleasant design, but not very creative or unusual... Average is fine just not the coolest of 2006.

This is amazing. I love the idea of the curtains on the canopy! I agree with a previous commenter that a colorful area rug near the loveseat would look great. Good work!

I hate it. I mean, it looks really nice like something out of the pottery barn magazine but it looks more like a house than a home. From looking at your pictures I can't tell anything about the person who lives here.

Rob, your colors kind of reminded me of the colors in this pictuere from Armstrong:
http://www.armstrong.com/home/us/en/images/com03.jpg

I love those colors in the picture, they're a little warmer than what you have currently.

By the way, I mistakenly said to Maxwell via an email that none of the homes pictured here would suit MY priorities, as I didn't see a cat box. LOL!

You proved me wrong, even though I can't see the cat box in your place either, it's nice to know that there is one tucked away, out of sight.

That's been one of my suggestions that I wanted to give IKEA, but perhaps someone will see it here and do something about it...how about a cool cat box for those with modern/contemporary decor?

There are the furniture kinds of cat boxes:
http://www.catlitterfurniture.com/

Or the cute rattan cover or screen here:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/NavResults.cfm?cm_mmc=PPC-_-Yahoo-_-cats-_-cat%20box&ref=OC&subref=BH&N=2002+113307&va=1

Somewhere I'd seen something, but I have no idea where, and all I remember is that it was WAY out of my price range for a litter box.

Any ideas, Rob?

And can I ask a dumb question? How do you do the outside of your windows?

Hi Andree.

Wow - those colors are warm. They're fantastic!

As for litter boxes that don't look like crap - pun intended - you found the same one I found. I also found this:

http://www.lovethatcat.com/cat-furniture-chest.html

I actually thought about buying one of these things. My hesitation is that I don't feel comfortable spending that much money for something I can't see first.

I currently have a typical plastic litterbox, and it's hidden behind the silver CD rack seen in the dining room picture. Those are junk CDs, more for decor than anything else. They serve as a wall to block the litterbox from view. I just hate the sight of a plastic litterbox in my home. Also, the CD rack sets up an obstacle that forces my cats to walk around when they come out of the box, which really cuts down on tracked litter. It helps a LOT.

I'm always dying to know how people in some of the smaller apartments figure out what to do with a litter box. It's definitely something you have to factor into the floorplan.

The outside of the windows question isn't dumb at all. To be honest, I don't know how that works yet. I'm guessing the building hires a company to do it. I've only been here a few months, but that's how it worked in a few other buildings I've lived in.

I just commented on David and Im's space looking retail store-ish, and now here I am suggesting you consider giving your loft the "office" look. Except that Armstrong picture doesn't look like an "office" to me. Not like any office *I* have ever seen.

I can just see those curved colorful dividers somehow worked in a space to shield a bedroom area, a kitchen area, and what not.

You almost have those colors in your place right now. Your wall grey is cooler, and your yellow is cooler, while your bed has more of a red, rather than a reddish orange color.

But if you like the colors in the Armstrong picture, you could get a similar mood. I love how the colors in YOUR space and in the Armstrong space change...depending on the light source location. Armstrong: Is the back wall black or is it grey? Your place: Is the wall more lemony or less, than it appears? Can't tell.

I'm in San Francisco, and I get no summer here where I am located. The mid-afternoon shot from your living room is my weather all summer long. No sun at the coast. And I definitely don't have the window space you do.

You could do that thing in the Armstrong picture, the yellow wall "art" (or whatever it is), and back light it like Quinn's Intriguing International Spy digs (Ready To Move):
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/031406/small-cool-2006-entries/20-quinns-ready-to-move-007079

Doors can be put up vertical instead of horizontal, for headboard, for huge wall art, for screening kitty area, work area, dressing area, and would work for renters or buyers:
http://www.bhg.com/bhg/slideshow/slideShow.jhtml?slideid=/templatedata/bhg/slideshow/data/paintprojectsSS_08152002.xml&page=5&psrc=dg052

And they don't have to be flat or mounted, just leaned:
http://www.bhg.com/bhg/slideshow/slideShow.jhtml?slideid=/templatedata/bhg/slideshow/data/smallspaceSS_10142002.xml&page=2&psrc=dg052

Yeah, you'll get a lot of BHG links from me, as I'm familiar with the site. I've spent a lot of time on that site, and a lot of time on the Decorating Boards. Of course, what they consider "small" is a whole nother breed of cat, compared to my apartment, your apartment, and all the apartments here for the contest!

Posting this, be right back...

I finally gave up on the AOL browser and I'm trying Safari. I hope this works better.

Here's one of the ones I couldn't find earlier, but there are no modern or contemporary designs:
http://www.hidytidy.com

Even in the special order section, no designs for us. That was another IKEA idea I had, that they make an adaptor for their base kitchen cabinets to use as a litter box, so WE could pick out the cabinet size and door style. And it sure wouldn't cost as much as it does at the above place. Yikes!

Depending on how people had their homes set up, the cabinet could match the kitchen or the bath or their other items, so it BLENDED well. With some sort of full solid plastic liner that would prevent any oopsies. Beyond the base of the litter box, you know?

I'd like to see more of the orange and red-orange in there. This one says it's reversible, and I don't remember what's on the other side, I think it's a white print on beige:
http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15594&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&productId=55184&langId=-1&parentCats=15594*15830*15848

Look at the KARLANDA loveseat here, use the pop-up to view the red color:
http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15585&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&productId=10967&langId=-1&parentCats=15585*15770*15944

That would look nice...warmer. I don't know if you WANT a warmer apartment, don't mind me while I whirl around in your space, changing things...just try to stay out of the way...and leave cash on the counter for the new additions...

Art...I like the black and white. Is that Jim Henson and Kermit? I don't remember all the Think Different images.

The Albers "Homage..." items would probably work well with your current colors.
http://www.artselect.com/perl/frSearch?artist=Josef+Albers&t=b-c11074-F

Like this, which should show up with a grey wall for now (unless I do pictures for someone else, and change the wall color):
http://www.artselect.com/perl/frWall?artID=19507&matID=185698&frameID=608&back=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eartselect%2Ecom%2Fperl%2FfrChooseMatFrameSize%3FartID%3D19507%26matID%3D185698%26frameID%3D608%26t%3Db-c11074-V-cmfs%26tab1%3Dmats%26tab2%3DbottomMat%26matCategory%3D11&t=b-c11074-V-w-cmfs&c=555555

Yikes. Jumbo link. It would work on the yellow wall or the grey wall, and pick up the red of the bed curtains.

Hmmm. Let's see, lots of wine, a fireplace with remote control and cute cats to boot. Look out ladies, it's a TRAP!

Rob, I redid a couple of the room pictures with the warmer colors from Armstrong:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96179754@N00/

Unfortunately you now have a cherry red hearth. I was thinking it was a rug. Doink!

Rob,

A friend kicked this link over to me today and I was thrilled. It may surprise people but we rarely get to see how the work is used and even more rare to see it used so creatively. Well done.

And by the way, we just made some cat little box things for a Design Within Reach contest here in town. Not sure if we will win but nobody else is going to have a cat box/zen garden.

Hope to see you at the next sale. We've got a new showroom.

Delia
6524 N. Albina
PDX, OR 97217
www.edelia.com