- Name:
- Lauren + Kyle
- Location:
- Seattle, WA
- Square Feet:
- 970
- Division:
- Small
- What I Love About My Small Home:
- Our 1910 home was dark and cramped when we moved in, but now it's open and filled with natural light. We love that it's modern while also celebrating original features, like the exposed joists in the living room. We also love that everything has a purpose and that many elements serve double duty. (For instance, the studio loft doubles as a guest sleeping area, and the guardrail for the stair doubles as a storage "fauxdenza".) Our house is now more functional, more efficient and a reflection of the way we live.
- Biggest Challenge of Living in a Small Space
- The biggest challenge of living in a small home was to transform the original layout to meet our current needs (while living in the house and doing the work ourselves!). By removing walls and reconfiguring spaces, we were able to add a second bedroom without increasing the overall footprint. We also took advantage of every square inch - a small studio space was carved out of the attic, the porch was closed in to create a mudroom (so important in Seattle!) and the ceiling was vaulted over the kitchen and dining area to create more volume. A wall of sliding doors maintains privacy for the bedrooms and bathroom without taking up precious floor space, and carefully placed built-ins provide valuable storage for a house that had not a single closet! Because everything is so open, we chose a cohesive palette of bright whites, warm wood tones and pops of color to create a cozy yet modern space that we call home.
Categories:
Style,
Main,
2012,
Seattle,
Small Cool,
Small Spaces
Like this Small Cool 2012 contest entry? Favorite it below!
Small Cool Lessons: Discovering Small Space Design Ideas That Really Work
Marisa and Peter's Playfully Eclectic Home
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sheex Bedding
A Work Week Menu Plan That You Can Do
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS!!
Aaaaaaand I'm now moving to Seattle. This place is perfect. Love.
LOVE IT. It feels so much bigger than 970 square feet. You did a fabulous job setting up the space. Love the finishes - the wood accents everywhere without making it overwhelming, the floors, the colors, and I love the loft - can I move in?
I LOVE this house. I must have seen it on a different (their?) blog, when it was in progress. All the design choices are JUST RIGHT.
WOW. Love. So streamlined. Are people living here? :) I want to see a full house tour!
PS I don't think the favorite button is working on this one
This place is about the same size as mine, yet so much bigger! The kitchen is the best part. I would love to have that much counter space.
I love your bathroom!
Super inspiring. This is what I want my house to look like when I'm done.
When can I move in?! Seriously, this place is GORGEOUS. The architectural details are stunning.
Beautiful -- and so TIDY! ;^) (I'd have problems there, I admit!)
omg. I want I want I want.
LOVE this place. (high five from Redmond!)
Where are the bedroom pictures? How do you deal with such little storage space in the studio/loft? I've never seen a sewing area without tons of storage at hand.
One of the many things I love about this place is that you don't seem to need a lot of stuff on the surfaces to make it feel warm and cozy. Great materials choices!
Also, I believe the storage in the sewing area is in that long row of cabinets along the lefthand wall. You can see it in the floor plan.
My favorite thus far. You've done a great job at using the same palette and materials througout your space, which gives it cohesiveness. This makes it feel larger and open. I could defintely live here!
I love this home. (the exterior is pretty great too)
I'd like a house tour please!
I've been watching this transformation almost from the beginning. I, too, have a 1909 bungalow across Greenlake from them and have been making smaller changes to it for 25 years. I love the clean lines and openness.
Love it! I'm going to go to bed tonight and dream about that sewing loft.
Love love love this place! I live in a tiny home in seattle, I want mine to look just like this!
This place is amazing. I love everything about it even the dog and cat (you can see it, but there is someone), I know for sure. Love it!. This is my fav!
Inspiring, warm, modern, just about perfect.
.....
(Speechless!!!)
970 feet is considered small? For a one bedroom? That makes it bigger than any home anyone in my family has ever lived in. Great layout though.
simple and warm. It's a great place with lots of smart design choices.
These folks have a great blog where you can see more.
http://chezerbey.com/
You never go wrong with white and earthy colors. Add to that natural lighting, open spaces, space saving elements like sliding doors.
Clean,minimal, functional and the best so far. Wonder what the living room floor is?
Wow, this is really stunning.
I've been following this blog for awhile - they do AMAZING things. Love this place.
Really lovely.
There needs to be a division here between people who are decorating a rental apartment and people who are remodeling a whole house, even if it is small. How can you compare "we tore down the walls" with "I'm not allowed to hang anything permanent on the walls"?
Love your place!
@aurorava, it was almost impossible to show everything in just 5 photos, so we didn't get a great shot of the bedroom. As for the loft, I'm just learning to sew, so I don't really have much yet! We still have room to grow up there though and can add more storage as we need it.
@madhu106, the flooring is cork!
Their house is inspiring. Have followed their blog for a while and continue to be amazed at how much they do on their own. The beauty here is really the problem-solving solutions they devised in order to have a sleek, functioning home. Lots of the infrastructure is not shown but is equally awesome. Cute dog as well.
great space =)
The decor is not particularly my style, but it is clean as a whistle! Also (sadly) not my style ;)
i checked out your blog and found the process fascinating. beautifully done! even though i now live in brooklyn (and love it), a bit portion of my heart is still in seattle. best of luck.
Love it. All in fabulous taste.
If I could favorite it again, I would.
A wonderful place. This is why I love small cool. I look at these lovingly and carefully planned living spaces, and wonder why some people can't be satisfied with less than 2,3,4 thousand square feet. When is enough, enough? Small cool defines "enough".
Hey! Chezerby!
I've been anxiously awaiting my entry to post, but now that you guys have entered the "small" competition I may as well hang it up. Your place is fantastic. Bummer :(
I bet you guys are probably interior designers or architects or something.... very cool pad. Not very kid friendly tho(only negative).
Also, what's your teal paint color?
simply lovely!
question, though: does loo roll art not get soggy in the bathroom??
@SGY, good observation but no soggies, it's coated with 3 coats of spray polyurethane and we have a really good ventilation fan and highly insulated walls, so no condensation in this bathroom!
@ Christineoc, the color is Benjamin Moore "thunderbird" I think the color is named after the car color of the classic 1955 ford thunderbird. Has your home posted yet? Thanks for the compliments but of course you should post.
@orangepower32, haha, yes architects, getting ready to have our first kiddo in July, already designing custom baby gates for the loft ladder/stair ;) I have a feeling our speakers and record player will be the first casualties
@ thorndale, funny we actually do get CSA boxes once every 2 weeks;) I think I understand your comment though, we're slowly adding pieces to make it more homey. Right now it's more like a blank slate to add special pieces over time
@ everyone else, thanks for the kind and supportive comments, its great to see all these small homes in one place
i love the natural light, open airy feel, and loft area!
@ sporadic, laurens actually in the loft right now doing something crafty;) thanks for the compliments
Love Chezerbey, can't wait for Zerbebe and all the new updates/changes. Best of luck!
Wow. Just wow. I've saved a couple of these shots as inspiration. Love the blog and how you show the process of everything. Kudos!
Amazing open space! I like your bold choice of cabinet door color. What material is it?
Also love the rich, warm wood cabinet though out the space, even the tide in the ceiling beams. Lots of light from the kitchen and other windows make the space look even bigger. Very well done!
Oh also what kind of flooring material is it? <3
I'm bias because I'm related to the architects/owners/builders. : ) But there house is pretty amazing.
@ YUVING, the cabinets are Ikea Abstrakt in dark grey although somehow they look like a grey blue to me. The ceiling beams are original to the house and over 100 years old! the flooring is a dark brown cork that is steam colored so it's the same color all the way through, much better with our big dog bailey's claws so when he nicks the floor it's still dark brown;)
@ Rob, thanks sis, love you
thanks to D2 an CT as well;)
I love that your house isn't filled with crap. It seems like so much of the aesthetic on this blog lends toward the "stuff everywhere" look, and I hate clutter, so your place really appeals to me.
Love your place! I'm considering getting the Abstrakt cabinets in dark grey, too, so I'm wondering--are you saying they look grey blue to you in the photos, or that they actually look that way in "real life"?
Good luck!
You have an excellent home. Exaclty the kind of space I would live in..and kind of do. Keep up the good work.
All the planned flexibility the owners built into their smartly conceived & beautifully executed renovation makes this entry a winner in my book, so I voted for this wonderful double duty (soon to be triple duty!) house in the finals.
Good luck Lauren & Kyle!
Are there no size restrictions in this competition? I don't know what your American standards are, but here in Sweden, 970 sq ft is considered huuuuge for two persons!
The best lines of the bunch.
@THERAPIZEME, we think the IKEA Abstrakt cabinets do read as a blue-gray in real life. We love them!
@LEILANITEXAS, thanks for your thoughtful comment!
@EMMASDESIGNBLOGG, we live in a single-family house, so something under 1000 SF is actually very hard to come by and was probably built in the 1920's if not earlier (our house was built in 1910). And yes, there were size restrictions for the contest, 1000 SF.
Lauren and Kyle: I love your house! My boyfriend and I frequently creep your blog for ideas and inspiration (Jules really really covets your bathroom...it's so fantastic). I love that you've managed to do all this yourselves with Bailey and Felix in the mix! :) Good luck! I'd vote for you guys a hundred times if I could! :)
Lauren and Kyle!!! when I first saw your entry I told myself there was no way you did everything yourselves!I LOVE EVERYTHING!!! then I stalked your blog and i'm even more in love!!! you guys are awesome and Bailey is such a sweetheart!!! ! I even asked myself if i should have taken up architecture rather than finance! haha
This place looks unbelievable. Could you let me know where you got your kitchen stools? What about the light above the kitchen counter? It's gorgeous. Thanks so much.