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Small Cool 2009: Adam's Edited Bare Essentials
Little Division #37

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Who Lives Here: Adam
Location: Houston, Texas
Size: 710 square feet

What is your one favorite element in your small, cool home? It is hard to choose a favorite element.  I love the beautiful old windows that over look downtown Houston.  I love wrought-iron window between the bedroom and the living room.  I love the original sink in the kitchen from when the building was built in 1929.  I love the beautiful non-working fireplace.  But I would have to say my favorite element is the beautiful wrought iron staircase in the living room with the butterflies sculpted to match the lines of the stairs.

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What was one of the biggest challenges you faced in furnishing your small home? This apartment had several design challenges.  First, the front door is through the kitchen so the first thing guests see is a stove and a refrigerator.  The apartment has high  ceilings so I decided to draw the eye up and created an alter above the stove and utilized the space above the refrigerator as a display area.  Now when guests first enter their eyes are drawn up to a fun whimsical display.  I was inspired to paint the walls Mountain White as a reference to the the time period of the building a Spanish Colonial building from 1929.  The color is a modern interpretation of a mid-century kitchen.

The second design challenge was the split-level apartment.  The living room is made even more narrow by the staircase.  To solve this problem, we decided to paint the rest of the apartment the same color - Finesilver Gray.  We chose Finesilver because most of the furniture had white trims.  Furniture placement was done to make the room wider - the couch is under the windows to give the impression of a wider space.  Finally, since the living room is so small, we decided that there was no room for a traditional entertainment area and instead chose to hang the tv on the wall.  The VCR, DVD player and Apple TV are hidden in the side tables within coffee table books.

With small spaces, organization is always the key.  We edited and reedited until only  the bare essentials were left.


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Tags

Houston, Texas, staircase, Little, wrought-iron

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Comments (40)

i like the brown sofa!

posted by ss622 on April 15th 2009 at 8:26pm
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Where did you get that neat cabinet next to the fridge, the one that is holding the microwave?

posted by morina on April 15th 2009 at 8:29pm
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what's on the wall above your bed? and by the stairs? i'm intrigued.

posted by creativeneurosis on April 15th 2009 at 8:37pm
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What is that on the wall? Do I need new glasses?

posted by ftpansy on April 15th 2009 at 8:51pm
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Yea for Houston! I like your home, too.

posted by Brandyjane on April 15th 2009 at 8:55pm
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Lovely.

posted by theserovingeyes on April 15th 2009 at 9:30pm
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What is the brand of paint? I love it with the green window coverings in the bedroom. And the fan looks great--I'm wondering how you have managed to make it look decent. Mostly they are an ugly Southern necessity.

posted by kelleyk on April 15th 2009 at 9:55pm
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I love the layout of the space, along with the furniture and decor.

creativeneurosis - Hanging above the bed are Inhabit Wall Flats squares.

http://www.inhabitliving.com/detail.aspx?ID=850

You can find them at many stores...the above is just 1 link to them. They range from $80-$86.

They look great above the bed!

posted by AprilAries on April 15th 2009 at 10:23pm
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We edited and reedited until only the bare essentials were left.

Who is "we"? The profile says that only one person lives there.

I like the living room. It took me a while to work out why, but I think it's the multiplication of rectilinear forms (or the bunch of rectangles, to put it a less pretentious way). It's very subtle but it provides a lot of cohesion and structure.

posted by Blandwagon on April 15th 2009 at 10:49pm
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love this!

posted by jerseyfresh on April 15th 2009 at 10:52pm
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I absolutely love the layout of your living room and your sofa! And have a random question- where is your coffee table from? I have been looking for something just along those lines.

posted by maybemanda on April 16th 2009 at 12:11am
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Oh! I love the butterflies! Where did you get them or is this an DIY?

Besides, very nice living room (what great windows).

posted by Lillian on April 16th 2009 at 4:08am
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I love the kitchen. Where's the shelving unit next to the fridge from?

posted by Gvinton on April 16th 2009 at 8:35am
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coffee filters? haha, i love it just the same.

i like the idea of something fluttery like that on the wall. is that hard to clean though?

posted by s2k on April 16th 2009 at 8:49am
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i really like how you set up your front room. it's giving me some ideas of how to re-set up ours. thanks!

posted by s2k on April 16th 2009 at 8:52am
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Airy. Liveable. Lovely.

posted by leotam76 on April 16th 2009 at 9:02am
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Great arrangement of furniture! I may have to steal some of your ideas!

posted by suzy8track on April 16th 2009 at 10:08am
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So creative! I wouldn't have thot of putting up those things you have on the wall...super cool.
plus that coffee table...is that marble top? Looks divine!
Where is it from?

posted by tdeb on April 16th 2009 at 10:23am
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Angled rug is awesome :)

posted by alisaan on April 16th 2009 at 10:27am
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Great use of space. I like the symmetry and order of things, very clean and well thought-out design.

posted by PrinceGnarls on April 16th 2009 at 10:43am
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Beautiful.

posted by shannonhall on April 16th 2009 at 10:52am
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I didn't notice your fireplace at first, but I love it! Lovely home.

posted by theresaclare on April 16th 2009 at 11:58am
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those butterflies remind me of the umbra wallflowers, they are little magnet/tack things that you can put on walls or any metal surface. Plus, they're plastic so if you're worried about dirt you can just wipe them down no problem. I've been looking into buying some and they run about 30-40 bucks for a set of 25.

posted by Cambra on April 16th 2009 at 12:03pm
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Go Houston!!!!

Adam, did you prime then paint your Wall Flat squares? How did you hang them? I've been debating whether to affix mine to another surface (plywood or foamcore) and then hang or attempt to hang directly on the wall.

Please tell us more about the butterflies! They're awesome!

posted by Heather C on April 16th 2009 at 4:45pm
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Your house is so beautiful!

posted by mvitav on April 17th 2009 at 2:24pm
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I was thinking the same thing about the butterflies, Cambra. I just saw the wallflowers in the new Umbra newsletter. These look more sophisticated though...I didn't realize they were even butterflies.

Those windows are incredibly gorgeous. Score!

posted by estydesign on April 17th 2009 at 3:05pm
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love this apartment--where did you get your sense of style?

posted by bettygibson1 on April 17th 2009 at 3:08pm
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He was born with a great sense of style! Love it!

posted by lsalinas on April 17th 2009 at 4:15pm
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this is really nice. clean and refined yet still looks like someone lives there. most important of all not all one note. it has a nice blend of eclectic pieces that makes it feel more personal.

posted by raddlesnack on April 17th 2009 at 5:20pm
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are the butterflys really coffee filters. They look like oragami.
Please tell us who you made them.

I bought wall tiles on sale $4.50 each and I can't wait for them to get here. How did you install yours?

posted by denverdigs on April 17th 2009 at 10:01pm
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amazing...where in Houston do you live? I have been looking everywhere for a place with this much character.

posted by Paige Pleasant on April 20th 2009 at 12:41pm
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Thanks to everyone for the really great comments! I need everyone's vote for the next round!!

I will try to answer a few of the questions...the butterflies are origami and were handmade for me. They are attached to the masonry walls with sticky tack.

The shelving unit in the kitchen is from IKEA. I added doors, drawers and my own knobs to dress it up.

The paint is ICI Dulux.

I was lucky enough that the bedroom ceiling fan was black with reversible black blades, so it ends up looking like the fans that were original to the building.

Blandwagon: you hit the nail on the head; the space needed to be clearly defined and the rectangles serve as the guides.

The coffee table is a vintage piece from my grandmother's store with chrome base and marble top.

The wall flats in the bedroom are not primed or painted and they are attached using the stick-on backs directly onto the wall.

Thanks again for your support!

Sincerely, Adam

posted by adamgibson on April 21st 2009 at 10:40pm
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Looks amazing! I am proud of you!

posted by haileykahn on April 22nd 2009 at 1:30pm
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where did you get the white chair?

posted by wukemon on April 22nd 2009 at 1:39pm
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Can I move in? LOVE this space!! Love the stairs, love the windows, love the floors, love the furniture. I especially love the Florentine guilded demilune table against the stairs. A very unexpected and sophisticated touch. Especially with the contrast of the stark white wall and black wrought iron stair rail. I just got back from Italy and it makes me miss Florence very much (tear). Oh, and I'm heading to the grocery store tonight to get some of those candles you have in the kitchen. I always stop to look at them but I must have some now because I see how very cool they look in my new place ... uh, I mean your place. Eh, eh.

You got my vote!!

posted by SweetRosieBrown on April 22nd 2009 at 3:37pm
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Hi Adam! The apartment looks amazing - I am so happy for you. Hope you win :o)

posted by CCJ on April 22nd 2009 at 5:42pm
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Very well done. Interesting scale and if I had a nice dressing room off the bedroom the size wouldn't matter to me.

Great work.

posted by jkscgs on April 23rd 2009 at 7:48pm
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Is that one of Dale's paintings above the table?

posted by hktrac on April 27th 2009 at 12:29pm
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oh those butterflies are amazing

posted by Olha Pryymak on April 28th 2009 at 4:02am
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Espectacular!!! Pero ésta no es la casa que yo conocí!!! Está increíble!!

posted by CaroRguez on April 28th 2009 at 3:51pm
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