apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

this kitchen was entered in the kitchen contest...fyi.

I really love your sleeping alcove solution and how you've left lots of breathing room around your furniture. I like a lot of the pieces that you've used in your home, but there seem to be a lot of different styles used here. It would be neat to see more colour/texture/style continuity throughout the apartment to pull things together. Thanks for sharing your space with us.

I like the decision to keep the sleeping space separate from the "living" space, but would have liked to have seen the wall of built-ins. It looks clean and clutter-free.

Second papasan submission. Did I miss a revolution or is this just a coincidence?

Laura, I like you practical solutions! how did yoou make the storage under the windows, please?

I love your alcove idea and, more particularly, your kitchen. The orange is a nice bright pop without being overdone.

Your living room, though, feels a bit spare and unfinished--what stands out is that there doesn't seem to be a lot of seating for guests to sit comfortably. In addition, I think that using more of the colors you have in each room--blue/teal and lime green--could really warm up the space. Also, I know you're limited to three photos, but I'd have loved it if you could have fit more of your space into that last photo. I'm so curious what your dining area and workspace wall/builtins look like.

I agree 100% with harlie. I'd love to see more color in your living room. Is that a beanbag chair in the corner? I would've "styled for the shot" and taken it out of the room for the photo. It makes the space look a little messy.

Your sleeping alcove is lovely. Do you actually draw the curtains at night? Must feel sumptuous.

Hey Laura Great Kitchen.

Are you renting? If not I would stain the floors. Right now they look a little dusty. A dark stain would add some richness and warmth to the space, as would a colorful rug.

Actually, I think the place needs some decorating, some continuity of style, some objets-des-artes, some sumin'-sumin'.

Overall, a very nice space. Just a suggestion...maybe the area rug in front of the sofa could have some color. With the sofa, rug and floor all being so close in color, it almost creates one sweeping motion where you cannot distinguish the sofa from the floor. I like the orange lamp and cutting board in the kitchen - they pop off the neutral coloring.

I like the idea of staining the floors, right now this looks very washed out to me and the un-colored feel really bothers me. If I was working with a space so pale I would want lots of color!

I'm not sure how I feel about the fabric in the alcove, but it's really a great spot. I love the way your art work is displayed throughout the apartment. I'm very curious to see your workspace. Do you have pictures of it elsewhere?

The kitchen is amazing.

Also love the sleeping alcove. Wonder if you could have made it face the other way, into the hallway, closet, and bathroom area? Would be dark but cozy and more bedroom-ish. Would need to leave support columns most likely however.

I'd be tempted to paint the wall with the window - make it an accent wall.

I really like the lamp in your kitchen, the artwork in your living room, the blue chair, and the idea of the "sleeping alcove"--it seems very cozy. I agree with others that you could use some more color in the living room, and also some side tables or a coffee table so you'd have somewhere to put a book, a beverage, etc.

Good use of space--like the sleeping alcove. One question after viewing your floor plan though - was it possible to have the opening of the alcove face the opposite direction eg. north instead of south? More privacy, use of closets, easier access to bathroom. Seems logical to me...

Laura
I see on the other kitchen page you replaced your stove. What stove do you have now? (the one with the window.) Do you like it? Fill us in, we have a handful of stove shoppers looking for 24" models (is it a 24"?)

Thanks!!!

Nice kitchen...who designed your cabinets? I'm looking to have mine redone sometime soon and i like the frosted glass panels over your sink.

I really, really like the sleeping alcove, Laura--it's so cozy. If it were mine, I would immediately paint its walls a rich, comfy color, maybe a deepish ashes-of-roses, which would make the pink-beige-peachy colors look more deliberate and meaningful.

And a small nit to pick: the black picture frames emphasize the black curtain rod (especially in the absence of other strong color), and the rod really doesn't want emphasis. Could you put up a white rod to match the ceiling, or maybe paint that one to match the ceiling?

laura, you did such a great job! love this apartment! wow!~!

I'm really glad to see the sleeping alcove. Like someone above, I'd saturate the color there to make it more a resting or nesting area--and to give it distinction from the adjoining spaces--but maybe that's just my quirk.

i love the kitchen.. so nice and clean.. :)
but im not really digging the living room.. i think that sofa needs to be a different color.. it would give some more color in the room.

The storage under the windows is from Techline studios. I am so happpy with the job they did, and I was able to design everything exactly how I wanted it.

There is more color in my apt, but due to the fact I could only submit 3 photos I could not post them. The walls in the sleeping alcove are a light lavender, but for whatever reason photographed white. The curtain rod is a pewter color but photographed darker.

The dining area has a dark wood table, with dark leather
folding dining chairs and blue photos on the walls. For extra color I also have a purple flokati rug on the floor (not shown). The white and purple flokati rugs are attempting to hide a botched pickling job from a few years back. The floors used to have a very glossy yellow sheen - so trust me this is an improvement. I can't afford a stain job yet, but that is on my wish list.

I also have chartreuse, purple and silver fake fur throws that are usually on the couch, chair, bed - they soften and add color to the place.

The furniture is a mixture of styles. A friend gave me the Pierre Paulin chair (no way I was going to turn that down!) and the couch was the first piece of "real" furniture I bought - it also turns into a bed. I went for pieces I like and want to live with, so they work for me. Yes, that is a bean bag chair
in the corner - one of my favorite pieces.

I don't draw the curtains on the sleeping alcove because I have a great view of the city and I like to fall asleep looking at it - which is why the sleeping alcove faces the way it does - if I chose to have the bed face the closets and put the wall on the opposite side it would be very claustrophobic - I want the space to be as open as possible.

The lack of color is intentional. I used to have a wall of colorfull photographs (about 30) that are now in my hallway. I also used to have 2 stainless steel desks. I work out of my apartment and found all the color and extra furniture very distracting. I need to have a very serene work environment and for me that was making everything as light as possible and as unclutterred as possible (which is why I put in built ins - they form an L from the opposite wall not shown and end underneath the windows). I have clients who come by so I want my place to feel professional, yet cosy enough to live in.

As for the kitchen, yes, it is also posted on the kitchen site.
The cupboards are from Ikea (Akurum).
The original oven was an Avanti and the replacement oven is an Avanti (they break down all the time but I am stuck with it). They are the worst ovens!!! At my price range they were my only options for a 24" white oven that was aesthetically pleasing.

I agree the living room feels very unfinished.

I think what you did with the dining nook was cool and a great idea. I lived in a similarly sized studio and had one big closet that I wish I'd transormed in this manner (although it's always hard to give up storage space). Having said that, this space does not look very warm to me; there's no wood, it's pretty much monochromatic (except for that blue chair and the orange light in the kitchen), and there are few tcotchkes or anything at all personal seeming. The space itself seems very nice, though (I love that window and the view).

I really like the sleeping alcove and the art in the living area. I'm a bit surprised by the shiny bedcovers, they don't quite seem to fit the rest of your style. Your your kitchen lampshade is very cute.

Really cute. Perfect balance of simplicity and warmth. I especially love your pops of orange in the kitchen.

The sleeping alcove is great, but the design choices, especially with color and texture, aren't quite my thing.

Thank you for cleaning before showing it to us all! I love that your apartment is so uncluttered. Some of the elements, like the see-through cabinets in the kitchen (well, the entire kitchen actually), the layout of the apartment, and the artwork are knockouts. I just thought it was maybe a little bland color-wise. Maybe more furniture and more imaginatively placed furniture would make it look less dorm-y?

Is it just me or do the colors in the alcove look bland and faded on anyone else's screen, too? A single color like blue can be calm and restful and it need not be intense at all. I like the sleep alcove. Was the back wall always there or did you leave an opening in it to slip out to the bathroom instead of walking all the way around?

Bringing a shot of color, like the orange, into the living room in the form of a pillow or a throw would help to alleviate the appearance of a dingy look with so much taupe. I like the feeling of openness. That is not compromised if some color or design is added.

LOVE the bed/bedroom!

Really like the pendant in the kitchen - kartell?