Magnaverde's Small Space in O at Home

From Small Cool to A Big Shelter Mag is how we titled a post about Bart (known as Magnaverde on AT)'s announcement at our Design Meetup back in April that he was going to be included in an upcoming issue of a magazine. Well, the issue of O at Home is finally on the stands and his home looks truly gorgeous. More below:

Shown in the photo above: Bart created the bookcase in the center by attaching a vintage door frame to a steel bookcase.

So smart - rather than starting from scratch, Bart custom fit pre-made Sure Fit slipcovers to his sofa. He says, "it's the cheapest way to get a ton of fabric you can throw in the wash".

A lighthearted touch atop a Goodwill find. The marble topped bureau was $50.

Bart did an amazing (reversible) DIY with plaster on this table - how to instructions on the finish are included in the issue.

It's a big feature for a small home - a ten page spread, and we can see why. Bart's home looks fabulous in the photos by Roland Bello - style shines through in each of the images, highlighting both the overall look and special details and vignettes (one of our favorites - the collection of striped ties).

We have to say that Bart's life long love of design and decor, the inspirations and quotes from books he loves, along with his practical advice and creativity (this a piece about thinking, not just shopping) makes the text portion of the piece a treat as well. Congratulations, Bart!

Pick up the current issue of O at Home (Fall 2008) for the entire article with lots more photos (in all their glory, unlike these scans), on newsstands now.

See more of Bart's place in his original Small Cool Entry from 2007 here.

Photos: Roland Bello/O at Home

Comments (17)

Love this. See, folks? You don't have to spraypaint antiques to look like particleboard Ikea after all.

Love this and to me this proves he should have won last year. Truly beautiful and so much more interesting than the usual types of spaces favoured by AT.

I think it is really interesting, it just shows how another person can adapt 'their' style to a small space. The choice of color is GREAT!! Not my style personally, but I can apprecaite it, GREAT JOB!!

This is so impressive. I think it looks fantastic and he should be proud.

beautiful! i'm very inspired by this. i loved the old world feel of the place right away.

and i enjoy seeing the evidence that you don't have to strive for a modern/minimalist bearing in your apartment.

Lovely, and at last something different !

some of the pieces (the barley twist chairs, the molding, the art grouping, and the plaster console) are great, but the whole is too cluttered. i'm not a fan of dried dead branches/flowers or live ones in sickly hues.

LOVE his dining room in the 2007 small space post. clean and modern - yet no modern objects.

Couldn't be more agree with scg's comments.
Congrats again Magnaverde.

It feels overstuffed to me. I can't imagine what a monumental job it must be to dust that place.

Great style, even if it looks a little... much. I think the faded/over-exposed photos aren't flattering as they could be.

Some very nice pieces in there. That door-frame book-case? I might have to steal that one

that was one of my faves in the '07 contest!

congrats, bart!!!

To each his own, but I could never relax in that room. Just too much stuff. And the dusting/cleaning it must take hours. I love most of the individual elements. But, together, it has the feel of a cute vintage furniture/antiques store. Half of it needs to go away.

Clearly, my taste is not good enough to serve as an O at Home editor.

None of this stuff would have happened without two people: Janel, who picked my apartment as an entry for last year's contest (thereby starting the the ball rolling on the path to fame & riches) and longtime straight-talking poster TRUE BLUE, who encouraged me to check out Apartment Therapy in the first place. Thanks to both of you.

No, as Quiltmaster points out, my apartment isn't to everyone's taste--is anything?--but then, I really didn't give any thought to pleasing anybody else when I put it together, so the fact that some people don't like it is less surprising to me than the fact that so many other people seem to like it a lot. Who knew? What can I say? There's no accounting for taste.

And as far as the cleaning-&-dusting bit goes, I didn't really give any thought to that either. I mean, that's why we have money: so we can pay people to do stuff we don't want to do. Here's the concept: people see my place & give me money to help them with their places, and I, in turn, pass along that money to people who keep my place looking good. It's a beautiful thing, the circle of life. Oh, sure, if I had to do my own cleaning (heaven forbid) I might put away some stuff, the same way that if I had to bake my own bread, I'd give up toast, but I don't see either of those things happening in the short term. Besides, as the great decorator Mario Buatta said, "Dust is a protective layer for fine furniture."

No, if I really cared about ease of maintenance, I would have just stayed in my former apartment, a calm, sky-walled oasis of serenity & order, floating peacefully above the dirt & chaos of the city. Or, conversely--as I came to view it over the three years of my sentence--a sleek but soul-killing sensory deprivation chamber, an elegant prison cell. If ya wanna talk about easy care, I coulda washed that place out with a garden hose. Forget it. No, I gave the simple, clutter-free bit a shot, but it wasn't me, so I busted out. Now I'm home. Really home. Dust & all.

i guess people stopped teaching their kids "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything"

magnaverde: great response... seriously!!

fantastic space...

Beautiful use of wood I believe. The place looks really warm and fantastic. Looks like Amish furniture to me. Or at least one can use that if one wishes to recreate this look. I like the use of different shades of wood in the same vicinity.

Magnaverde,
Your response to the unlearned comment above it was as brilliant and tasteful as your place. Well done!!