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#11: Pipe Organ's Platformed Pad

Name: Pipe Organ
Location: Pacific Northwest
Size & Type: 300 sq ft converted garage studio

Favorite resource: Garage sales

Pitch: When I look down from my lofted bed, I see my entire material world. I built my bed 4ft above the ground -- voila, extra storage to put tv, stereo, huge speakers, standing clothes rank and all my climbing gear underneath.

 
 

2007_04_17_11_1.jpg

Pitch Cont'd: The sky light provides a ton of light by day and allows the moonlight to shine in at night. Since it's converted garage, no common walls with neighbors and I can blast my music. Did I mention, 300 sq ft is pretty easy to clean too.

2007_04_17_11_3.jpg

Your favorite element: My bed / storage area

2007_04_17_11_floorplan.jpg

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Small Cool 2007 - entries

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Comments (22)

Wow, I like the variation on the platform bed. Usually, they are so high they don't look safe to me, but here you have storage without sleeping near the ceiling.

posted by Li on April 17th 2007 at 8:23am
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There's a lot going on in this small space. I think the room overall lacks a focal point. Perhaps you could paint the kitchen wall. You have great ceilings, I think you need to take more advantage of your height and get some of the clutter off the floor.

posted by MV on April 17th 2007 at 8:32am
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Very cool use of the low loft.

posted by wende in the twin cities on April 17th 2007 at 8:35am
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Good use of the loft concept enclosing your entertainment center. Unfortunately the rest of the room doesn't do anything for me. I agree with MV about the lack of a focal point and not taking better advantage of the apartment's height (ironic given the use of the bed loft).

posted by phaedrus on April 17th 2007 at 8:53am
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Stability is definitely a consideration when building these platform lofts, but I think you could have built it even higher. Overall, your pictures take me back to my college dorm room days; my suite-mate built a low loft the spanned a good portion of his dorm room and slept under it (above the loft was the living room).

posted by Derek on April 17th 2007 at 9:30am
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you have a lot of good ideas, but the end result still isn't cohesive enough to be a cool small place. D:

posted by Jamie on April 17th 2007 at 9:35am
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Lots of great ideas here. The kitchen cabinets stand out quite a bit - it might be nice to paint them to match the wall and balance them with the tall bookcase (painted to match). It could be nice to make the windows more of a focal point in your design as well - to draw some focus away from your entertainment centre.

posted by KBinBC on April 17th 2007 at 9:41am
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Layout's very good, but the design element just isn't there.

posted by scarymuppet on April 17th 2007 at 10:31am
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well, i don't like the decorations, but your use of space is nice.

posted by mariegael on April 17th 2007 at 10:40am
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Although the idea is pretty cool the end result is terrible.

Tips:
Hide all the clutter (also the tech stuff)
Less different colors of wood.
Replace sofa&chair into something that matches better.
Clean (it looks very dusty)

posted by AlexHoogeveen on April 17th 2007 at 11:00am
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I was torn between "has potential" and "not my thang" for the longest time with this one... but eventually went with the latter. Although I like the loft, I don't think enough thought went into putting the apartment together. Perhaps the loft would look better as a 'finished' piece in the the style (and color) of the glass bookcase, and lose the metal and plastic pieces for more wood or a lighter, less visually heavy material?

posted by saya* on April 17th 2007 at 11:24am
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I know the intent of this contest is to foster the value in creativity with limited resources but let's call a spade a spade...This place is a shitbox, plain and simple. No use pussy footing around it.

posted by gggreg on April 17th 2007 at 5:07pm
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gggreg's comment is inappropriate; just because it's not your thing doesn't mean it's a "shitbox." i haven't looked through all of the contenders yet, but the ones that look simple and stark have been called out as "hotel rooms" and in need of personality...why is it that someone who has entered this contest with his honestly non-extravagant entry gets lambasted for having TOO MUCH personality/clutter in his home?

not everyone can afford eames.

i like the fact that this entry shows creativity AND shows that someone actually LIVES in this tiny home...can't say the same for some others...

posted by ajipi on April 17th 2007 at 5:35pm
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Your use of space is very clever. I like how the kitchen looks.

posted by Tollie on April 17th 2007 at 7:36pm
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I agree with ajipi, gggreg's comments was increadably rude and uncalled for. I have noticed in this contest that people tend to focus on "would I want to live here?" instead of "do they use creative solutions in dealing with a small space?" People tend to be a little ideological about their personal asthetic, discounting anything that dosen't fit that. But the truth is owning an eames dosen't automaticaly make an apartment amazing. I for one don't personaly enjoy the minimalist white spaces we've been seeing, but I base my vote on how they use that space, and if it has a cohesive asthertic. Whether or not that particular asthetic appeals to me is incosiquential. I hope other voters share my outlook on this contest.
And pipe organ, you and all the other contestants should be applauded for opening up your homes to be judged by strangers. There wouldn't be a contest without you.

posted by Xeno on April 17th 2007 at 9:12pm
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The diy loft bed is a great idea, I can see why it's Pipe Organ's favourite piece. The desk area, and the bit of storage to the right of the bed in the 2nd photo, look rather cluttered - some covered storage there would be really good.

posted by stringy on April 18th 2007 at 1:20am
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gggreg--

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of line. When are you parading your home in front of the world for us to have it? Maybe when you hit puberty, and/or you get your Mom's permission?

And AlexHoogeveen, you run a close second.


Re: The name "Pipe Organ"

Oh my.

posted by patrick (the other one) on April 18th 2007 at 5:37am
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This looks very cluttered to me.
Also, it's distracting to have the tenant (I'm assuming) pictured in every photo.

There's been some discussion about people judging contestants on whether or not they would want to live there. I think it's important to consider design innovation as WELL as livability. I'm not a minimalism or mid-C modern fan in my own home, but I've given some apartments in that style a high score because they were beautifully done. And honestly, I think that I could live in a beautifully done apartment of almost any style. I guess what I'm saying is that I think it's valid to judge a place at least in part on whether you think it's livable.

posted by Caitlin in Seattle on April 18th 2007 at 7:09am
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In my mind, this contest is about the clever use of your small space as well as good looking interior design. I applaud you for making it work for you so well. But I think you'd agree that there isn't much to be said about design here. Still, props to you! :)

posted by Karela on April 18th 2007 at 8:21am
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I like your teddy bear :)

posted by mollybb on April 19th 2007 at 7:44am
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sorry, i'm with gggreg on this one. it appears as though virtually no attempt has been made to make this look nice at all. i don't think its very hard to build an unsightly structure and put your things underneath it. sure, not everyone can afford eames, but it has been proven to be possible pick out visually appealing/interesting things on a tight budget, or refinish/reupholster/refurbish things that aren't as visually appealing/interesting. also, i don't always think lofting a bed is the best solution for storage in small spaces. its the obvious solution for creating larger floor acreage, but it also drastically cuts into the vertical 3-dimensional space of a room. though i've seen it done very well, it also ends up making some spaces seem even smaller.

posted by powkang on May 29th 2007 at 1:37pm
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I like the function of each furniture within its own space, however, aesthetically there can be more improvement.

Suggestion: 1) How about, enclosing your bed/storage with flowing curtains partions; top half and bottom half. This would clearly define the sleeping quarters and TV/entertainment and storage.

2) Maybe have a lush potted plant on desk behind couch to soften and divide desk from living space.

Thanks for sharing.

posted by abena on January 30th 2009 at 2:11am
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