Fabulous!

Beautiful. And I love that you guys are showing small places again!

Wow! The stools at the coffee table -- what a brilliant idea. And this gives me hope that one day I'll be able to organize my tiny kitchen so I'm not constantly having to move things around to clear workspaces or get to the things I need...

Lauren - this is awesome! I'm moving into a 400 sqft apt next month an am going crazy trying to think of how I'll set it up. I'll definitely take some pointers from your pictures.

Great use of space and great storage solutions!

What a great place!

Where'd you get those orange sheets? Any info on the floating bookshelves?

Love the shoe rack built into the headboard. Lots of great small space ideas!

Congrats on the new place Lauren! You are off to a great start.

As someone that happily resides in 296 sq ft, I appreciate posts like these which harken back to the origins of Apartment Therapy.

nice set up!

1. I love small spaces and I adore all house tours of small places.
2. I like this place.
3. There is so much beauty in this place.
3. The open shelves and clever storage ideas are not that clever to me if it looks like it has potential to create clutter and collect dust.
4. There are possibilities for creating more comfortable area for dining and even entertaining.
5. Too much brown and not enough white.
6. Don't hate me Lauren.

Hello Lauren, I really love your apartment - especially the bathroom! Mine is tiny too, and I would really like to see a lay out of the bathroom...Is there any chance you could post it??
Thanks!

I can't believe this only took three weeks. Are you kidding? Nice work!

How wonderful! And hooray another "no-rug" person. Great to see another small space tour.

Not sure I could work with that bedroom size, love the storage/headboard.
Would have placed the couch in front of the windows, otherwise everything is really cute!
Love your use of orange!

I'm also glad to see "small spaces". Its irritating to see huge places where each room is larger than my whole apartment.

I love it when AT features small spaces, especially at this time of year when college students are looking for inspiration, too.

I agree with the others -- I love this tour and love seeing small spaces with creative solutions. Great job with the tiny little space!

I move into my tiny space very soon and im so excited because this looks really cozy . sought of like a nest

Clever storage solutions & environmentally conscious! what a great blend!

Tiny living is wonderful, however, this all seems a little prententious to me. Isn't the point of small living going back to the roots, being simplistic. For centuries, poorer familes throughout southern USA have lived in tiny shot gun houses. Often cultivating their own land and using furniture that's been handed down generation to generation or being creative and using everyday articles such as a crate as a table. It all seems pretty priveleged to sit in a 200 foot square house adorned with only the finest lamps and curtains, curated from Europe Asia ... maybe it's just me, but this is nothing revolutionary-- it's just me, but just because some upper middle class well-to-do individuals, decide to leave their oversized condo, townhouse, etc., does not really deserve newsworthy attention. Why don't we show those who live and pioneered this way of living, we (including myself) could all learn a little about simplicity and humility form them.

I like it all except the lack of window dressing, although I know they are proud of the wood. Maybe some bamboo shades...? Really like the kitchen shelving. Thanks for sharing!

As for myself, GERANIA, items to fit my small and deformed body are often -almost always -items that I have to save up for over great periods of time- since it is companies like Eames via Herman Miller that produce chairs with a 13" seat height and now everything is a looming 21" -or on more painful days: another 'saved for' investment chair that I am sure would not pass your purity test, but it's a very rare one indeed (reproduction/floor model) and darn it, one of the extreme few I can settle in totally and still have my feet touch the floor and not pay for it in pain...

I'm not entirely sure why you're here with these broad-brush judgments: what you hope to accomplish with your lashing- but to remark back to you on at least ONE major point - I think it is extremely revolutionary that anyone who could choose to live in a 6,000 square foot house chooses not to. I find this to be the epitome of revolutionary and needed change.

(Whether this applies to a particular individual or any remarks above, I shall not presume.)

One point of small living may be 'back to roots, simplicity': but many, whether you treat them with disgust or not, are living small now out of a sense of global necessity. Maybe out of an honest look at the world's resources and how much America consumes of them. There are a great many reasons to choose to go small, and there are hundreds of times I have seen simplicity and humility in the homes and the people sharing their lives here on re-nest, Apt Therapy & fellow sites.

My windows are covered with pieces of fabric that were samples for a very expensive store, for their curtains: I got these for $5 a piece. Is the cloth too fine for you? Should I remove even them and put back up the Black Hefty contractor bags they replaced?

I'm very happy for families who have owned land, cultivated it, brought us the incredible beauty of the shotgun house- I'm very happy for these loving people you describe who passed things on from generation to generation. None of these things have I ever experienced before:

Except that since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, I've still not stopped in helping to raise money for the people in New Orleans with all those shotgun houses: a huge amount of people who owned their homes for generations and now have lost them & have little hope of ever owning again. I have studied the profound red tape, and tens of thousands of poor families were flat out robbed of the very homes we here adore. I'll just assume you are keenly aware of this.

Yet I have seen on these pages ways to re-use crates and baskets & myriad objects to use to make my small space workable, beautiful to me- and I am grateful to whoever shared it: whether they found the crate in the dirt of their parent's backyard or in a bazaar in Marrakesh.

Yeah, I take umbrage and at great length because I have followed the people who share on here- followed and read along, sometimes learning sometimes not. But each has opened their home up to strangers & if all you can do with that is make vast, vague and insulting assumptions of the people who come here to share? Yeah: I get heated as can be. I saved for years for my Eames ebony LCW, the perfect height Offi table- though before that I used CRATES.

When the roof collapsed and I had to leave and come back when the owner, a friend, could afford to fix the place up (including making it so that I no longer had to live with rats & keep my food stuffed in a microwave for safety) - I got mad for a few minutes when I found all my crates were taken though I knew them to be just fine -and then I figured, well maybe they needed the crates more than I.

My good credit could withstand an Eames Lounger, ottoman too- after being brutally hit by a drunk driver as a child and a distracted elderly one 2 years ago: sinking into this chair is heaven over at the store now and again. If I bought it, would I only be pretentious if I came from money? (I certainly got no settlement for care, so no chair there.) Or is it pretentious because I didn't go to the second hand shop for the finest hand me down from hard working generations before me -when I lost 90% of my belongings and my whole meager $3,000 savings to bedbugs in 2006 notwithstanding. Not buying used ever again if there's risk at all!

You're right: we've learned from these people you speak of. I'm still looking for quality crates to hang on my walls- as I have seen in these pages- for organization for I will not give my money to places like -well, Big Box crap that couldn't be passed down because it won't last 3 years.

I've no idea what pushed your buttons here. Given the chance to even go to Asia or Europe and curate my own textiles etc would thrill me and I'd not pass that up. But whenever 'an upper middle class, well to do individual' decides to live in hundreds of square feet instead of 3, 4, 6 thousand square feet: I think that is progress and worthy of respect and celebration.

Regardless that these are spaces that focus on interior design and people are bound to have occasionally have things that seemingly infuriate you: I'd say that my small space would have done the same without you even knowing the special needs, physical - the amount of time it took to collect, the sales and floor models I waited for - the lack of any family to pass down a lick of furniture to me since my batty parents threw away everything I owned then tossed me when they discovered my homosexuality (Hi, everyone: it's not a choice) ...

Some humility indeed could be learned, and I believe you can lead the pack and we shall gently as possible follow.

this place is so darn cute i almost can't stand it.

I love that bed. I loved it even BEFORE I noticed it has shoe storage behind it!! Wherever did you get it?

Your 'rant' was a fair cop Knifemouth, some folk just live to be a clever critic...

The storage solutions are inspiring in this apartment and there's real style here. I always keep my eyes out for the apartments that are less than 500sq ft. They always make me happy

Beautiful! Love the barn doors - where does one get barn doors?

This is very, very lovely. A charming space which really does show that one can live in style and comfort within a 400sq foot space. Nicely done Lauren!

Gerania:
Your point has nothing to do with why we are here, which is to see how people have designed their living spaces. What people living NYC can cultivate their own land? Just go to Rants and Raves on CL if you want to complain.

There are a few things here I really like. I'm moving into my first home soon and the most i can afford is a small apartment around the same size as this.

Seeing your solutions has been very helpful!

I have found i do like the use of canisters in the kitchen - shelves seem much cheaper than cabinets. Also if i can see what i have i tend to use it rather than leaving it to sit in a dark corner somewhere and forgetting about it.

I like the use high storage in the bathroom too. Shallow shelves there would be ideal for liquid soap refills, disposable shavers etc - all the things you don't need every day in easy reach but need to have space for. Excellent idea! :-)

I also like your seating solution. We hope to have seating for guests but are unsure of how we can seat more than 2 people on the couch. You've manage that little extra without cluttering up your place.

I also love the way the couch appears to have sections that would make it look like it is longer than it actually is - encourages people to just sit down rather than umming and ahing about whether or not they'll fit!

I've got some great ideas from your place so thanks for putting it up :-)

Brilliant design, cheerful and cozy. Thanks for sharing.

Nice job! Pretty, airy and practical. Really like this space!

Lauren,
What a genius you are! Great storage in your bedroom-love the hidden shoe rack.
Sandy

hey! i'm gay and lost $3000 to bedbugs too!

your place is gorgeous! so calm and natural. and i love that little side table on wheels so much i could EAT it!

well done! :)

Knifemouth, i love you!

I think your place is so lovely. I also love the green work you are doing in NYC.

Lovely space, interesting furnishings, very inspirational.

where does she sleep Does she have a murphy bed?

ooops I see now. nice love the burnt orange bedding.

I applaud her for managing to fit so many personal things into so little space yet avoid any sense of claustrophobia. When I have read of small apartments/houses in the past the focus was always 'less is more'. Although I don't own a ton of things - the things I do have come with sentimental value. Even if I never actually use the afgan from my grandmother, I like the thought of keeping it nearby. Finally - a kayak under her bed - wow! You'd never know from the pics.

Finally, knifemouth, your apartment is beautiful. Thank you for putting yourself (your apartment) out there for others to see/gather ideas from.

What a darling space!

Debbie
http://girlwhimsy.blogspot.com

Due to a 'change in circumstances' (real estate speak for divorce) my daughter and I are about to move from a big house to a small apartment. The thing is I'm excited about moving to a smaller space, especially when I see apartments like this one. So inspiring.

This is what I come to Apartment Therapy for and I wish it got back to basics more often. I don't need to see what rich people can do with all the space in the world. Not fun. Seeing what Lauren can do with 400 square feet, now that's fun!

I love it! Cozy, rustic, bright, modern all at once. And I am drooling over the awesome storage solutions :)

Lauren, this apartment is beautiful! Can you tell me who did the black and white figure drawing in the bathroom?

Yay! AT back to its roots!

I'm inspired.

i'm a new yorker as well, so i'm always on the lookout for small house tours, but i'm surprised at all the love for this one... all the open storage makes the space look cluttered and junky to me, and there's a lack of cohesion...

btw - uncarpeted floors are illegal in nyc apartments, so i hope you're utilizing your shoeboard the moment you walk in the door...

valentino1, I've lived in NYC 15+years and yet to see a carpeted floor. Rugs? Yes, but not carpet. Just checked NYC Housing Law and it's not illegal to have uncarpeted floors...some leases do require rugs, but not all. I've been in my place for 14+ years and none of my leases require rugs or carpet (and I'm on the top floor).

hahaha valentino1. Tell that to my upstairs neighbor. It's SO NOT illegal.
"Shoeboard", really?
Though I do agree with you about the shelving and lack of cohesion. With all due respect, the post did say this was done in 3 weeks. I'd love to see it after 1 year. It's a great start.

Now THIS is what I come to Apartment Therapy for. Cute stylish real solutions creating liveable spaces, not high-priced luxury goods.

I could live here very easily. Love the natural colors and wood.

I'd be afraid of dropping jewellry down the sink or toilet.

Good planning and storage solutions. I love your kitchen!