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Small Cool Extra: Thryn & Gabe's Thrifty, Eclectic Mix

Name: Thryn & Gabe
Location: Baltimore, MD
Size & Type: 630 sf Studio

Favorite resource: Used furniture/antique stores: re-using old things is better for the environment!

Pitch: Our apartment doesn’t have a bedroom, just one large room that we need to function as a bedroom, office, and living room with space for small art and design projects. So we built a partition to separate the “bedroom” and give us some privacy, and use the couch as a divider between the living room and office/studio...

 
 

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Pitch Cont'd: We incorporate a lot of thrift store finds and hand-me-down furniture with new things and a handful of vintage and antique items to create an eclectic mix of new and old that reflects what we like and feels like home to us.

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Your favorite element: Our favorite element is how we use antique crates for things like bookshelves and a side table for their modular flexibility.

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Small Cool 2007 - entries

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Comments (37)

Very nice! Another left-out apartment that I prefer to some that made it into the contest.

posted by Sydney on May 9th 2007 at 11:07am
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I agree with Sydney.

posted by eileen7 on May 9th 2007 at 11:19am
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i love the crate turned on its side as an end table. i may have to steal that idea!! there are some really lovely gems in this place :D

posted by Meg on May 9th 2007 at 11:20am
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What a wonderful place. Every square inch speaks of their personality without SHOUTING or feeling cluttered. The way the art is hung is perfectionl

posted by ebrown on May 9th 2007 at 11:27am
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Is your nightstand a tv tray? If so that is a lovely fabric cover and I am wondering where you got it. Same for the throw and pillows on your loveseat. You have a charming home and some very nice art work.

posted by alexis on May 9th 2007 at 12:14pm
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I also agree with Sydney.

posted by E.I.F. on May 9th 2007 at 12:22pm
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I spy a trunk! That's a great contrast - the painting and the trunk. (the entire apartment is awesome - great use of space!)

posted by olya on May 9th 2007 at 12:37pm
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i love this apartment. is that an ikea couch?

posted by steph309 on May 9th 2007 at 12:40pm
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I love the creativity in this room! Great use of space!

posted by PriscillaAmber on May 9th 2007 at 12:45pm
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ooh, and a typewriter!

posted by ValerieNYC on May 9th 2007 at 12:48pm
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Beautiful art display, but the rest does not hold together for me so much. It's charming and lovely, though... that first pic just set the bar pretty high.

I would love to see next year's Smallest Coolest have a separate category for studio apartments. I think one-room living is one of the biggest of all interior design challenges.

posted by patrick (the other one) on May 9th 2007 at 1:18pm
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great use of space, well done.

posted by sharki on May 9th 2007 at 1:37pm
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Another great place!

I think I like the left out ones better than most of the contest entries . . .

posted by Birdy on May 9th 2007 at 1:41pm
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p.s. I think this is one of the best tv setups I've seen. The shelf above the tv, the art, and the fact that it's off to the side make the tv seem less prominent and not a focal point.

posted by ebrown on May 9th 2007 at 2:27pm
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I agree that the past few left out entries are better than a lot of the contest entries. Were these submitted late? Or did they just not make a cut?

This one, for instance, seems lovely and also personal and a little idiosyncratic. The artwork display in the bedroom.

posted by vera in dc on May 9th 2007 at 2:27pm
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Oops, I forgot to finish my sentence. I particularly like the artwork display in the bedroom.

posted by vera in dc on May 9th 2007 at 2:28pm
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ptoo, you are so right. I would love to see part of the contest devoted to one room living.

posted by ebrown on May 9th 2007 at 2:28pm
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Your bedroom space is sensational! Eclectic and entrancing...

posted by 2009sunshine on May 9th 2007 at 3:29pm
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that window looks fantastic. It would look even better with a little air around it. Move those tables! Consolidate the little sprinkles of little thingies.

posted by west212 on May 9th 2007 at 3:52pm
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I love the light coming in over the bed. Nice apartment. What neighborhood are you in?

Back in 1992, before we moved to New York, my husband and I had a huge place in Charles Village with 2 full baths and we paid $500.00 a month! But even after all these years, I still miss my hometown and that great apartment.

posted by Lori on May 9th 2007 at 5:16pm
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I second Sydney (this is better than some that made it into the contest) and Patrick (special category for studios).

posted by Caitlin in Seattle on May 9th 2007 at 6:44pm
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I'm very confused as to the criteria for things included in the contest now. Was it purely on an order basis? This is a beautiful use of the space and they really deserved a shot at the prizes.

posted by angorian on May 9th 2007 at 7:35pm
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There is something very charming, simple and honest about this apartment. I'd love to see more photos of the space, particularly your use of old crates.

posted by LaDonnaNichole on May 9th 2007 at 7:40pm
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I think what makes this place work is the attention to detail. Nice work.

posted by smile on May 9th 2007 at 11:06pm
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I agree with Sydney.

This is a lovely space that needed some creative thinking to incorporate several different activities in the one area - they've managed it with style and panache - I love the cushions under the window

posted by Violetsrose on May 10th 2007 at 12:31am
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Agree with Sydney and Patrick too. This is so lovely!

posted by tin_angel on May 10th 2007 at 2:18am
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Lovely, honest, simple - a lived-in refuge. Cheers!

posted by mbinaustin on May 10th 2007 at 4:12am
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:D Alright! Baltimore! But I'm sad to see this didn't make it into the first 40. D: Great place!

posted by Jamie on May 10th 2007 at 4:13am
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yeah for bawlmer!

posted by brandy on May 10th 2007 at 4:18am
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I third/fourth/fifth ptoo on the "one room" category!

posted by Melinda on May 10th 2007 at 5:09am
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agree w/ Sydney and Patrick

like the personality in this space!
do kinda think the couch throughs it off too much though...

posted by buzzybee on May 10th 2007 at 5:48am
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Another vote for giving studios their own category! The design challenges for those spaces are so significantly different- but then again, there's a distinct difference in designing for a 150 sq ft apartment vs a 650 sq ft one...

posted by Isa on May 10th 2007 at 5:48am
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I keep coming back to look at this one. I love the simple eclecticism and--as everyone else does--the artful display of collections and artwork. It feels very timeless and French to me.

posted by polkadot on May 10th 2007 at 5:51am
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So much light: you made the best use of it.
I bet your friends don't want to leave...I wouldn't.
Congratulations.

posted by Socool on May 10th 2007 at 6:00am
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I really like this space. It seemed that the judges liked the places where the inhabitant went to DWR, bought a complete set of furniture for the whole apartment and left, better than the ones that look personal. Many of the apartments that made it looked like DWR catalog rooms. Why did this well-deserved apartment not make it, we'll never know.

posted by Gene on May 11th 2007 at 4:12am
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On second look, that rolled up thing under the couch would drive me bananas! What is it? The room divider feels a little too 'west virgengineered' for me and looks like it would topple over with one little door slam. Finally, if you are going to be creative and enter your apartment in a contest with the word 'coolest' in the name, please, for the love of god, come up with a 'cool' laundry hamper... or don't photograph it.

posted by west212 on May 11th 2007 at 5:00pm
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Can we, for the love of god, stop with the "all from DWR" comments. There are VERY FEW entries like that this year.

Maybe this entry didn't make it cuz they didn't get their "act" together early enough to beat earlier entries.

posted by patrick (the other one) on May 12th 2007 at 11:01pm
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