Name: Ginger
Location: San Francisco
Size: 449 sq. ft.
Rent/Own: Owned apartment

What is the advantage of SMALL? There's a lot that's so great about being small! I think what I like the best, other than the fact that it forces me to organize, is that you appreciate what you've done more...

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What is the advantage of SMALL? CONT'D

...It's all the more rewarding if you can still achieve glamour, sophistication, functionality, and comfort when working with the constraints of a tiny little space.

What's your favorite resource for your home?

I love online and catalog shopping; it's definitely my favorite resource. Chiasso, CB2, eBay, Bellacor, and Overstock.com are great sites; their items can be found sprinkled throughout my studio. You can typically find a great selection of modern items online that are still affordable; you just have to make sure you measure carefully and have a lot of patience to send things back when they just don't work. I've certainly developed a close relationship with my local UPS since I bought this place! I also love to find pieces of furniture and home decor in places that sell a mish-mash of different things, like Half, Cliff's in the Castro, and even retailers like Urban Outfitters. I get great inspiration by going into beautiful showplaces like Room and Board and Limn, even though I can't always afford the things I like! Ikea is also great for a few staple pieces, and it helps that my boyfriend is very handy and can help me execute most of the strange things in my head -- he always helps me make it work! I think the key is to not get all of your stuff at once, or in one place. I really took my time with this place and picked up a piece here and a piece there; as my moods have changed, my place has gradually evolved so that the end product reflects what is truly me. I think someone's space should be a measure of its owner's personality and not one particular store or designer.

What is your one favorite element in your small, cool home?

Well, the TV is probably the most stand-out of the elements; it's suspended by 4 metal rods from the ceiling and is supported by basic scrap metal parts. I'm very thankful that I found this awesome metal worker off of craigslist to work with me on designing and executing both the spiral staircase and this piece - it capitalizes on the industrial nature of the apartment, utilizes the height of the ceiling while saving precious floor space, and screams modern. That's probably the coolest, but the aspect that is actually my favorite is more nuanced; I am really proud of the division I created between the living room and the kitchen through the use of furniture placement and color (the pic with the hanging pots and the pic with the hanging TV are on the same wall). When I bought Babette (that's my condo's name), one of the things I didn't like so much about the floorplan of my apt was the fact that it was all open with no separations -- it reminded me of a dorm! I love to decorate and wanted two entirely separate areas with different decor -- the kitchen and the living room. I didn't have the money to build a wall to make a solid division, and now I'm glad that I didn't, that would have felt claustrophobic. This way each side of the space is still open, but distinct, and I got to have a lot of fun with the color and decor on both sides, especially the kitchen.

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