apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The wall of Pearl Jam posters is fantastic!!

I love how all of the color in your apartment is exactly that. Color! Nothing is matchy-matchy, yet nothing seems to clash either. And everything looks so comfortable and inviting!
This is exactly what I hope my future apartment will look and feel like. :)

Nice space!

I'm curious though, why you arranged the living and sleeping areas the way you did and not the reverse (living room with windows, bedroom with closet)?

I also love the Pearl Jam posters! I also really like your use of curtains as a room divider and the lovely shades of green on your bed and the fabric on your kitchen chairs. Overall it's a lovely, lovely home and I can totally see myself living there!

I love it; open, airy, and colorful!

I imagine they put the bed by the windows so people would not have to walk past it when they entertained or see it when they opened the front door. I'd do it the same way.

Love it, so inviting!

I love the decoration above the bed -- where did you find it? Thanks!

Thank you for the kind comments, I'm so nervous!

Arza-
PB hit the nail on the head, The apartment gets a lot of light so it's never dark by the "living" area, and we didn't want people to walk in and be "hi this is our bedroom", it feels more private this way.


RE: Pearl Jam posters There's one more above the tv, any new ones will have to go in a portfolio until I get another wall!

I love this place. Ana you did an amazing job.

Love the dining chairs and fabric!

Very nice home! I especially like the living room, it's very inviting.

GREAT poster collection. I love it. I feel relaxed just looking at your apartment. It's so simple--and really makes that space work. My favorite so far.

It's very serene. I like the billowy curtain. I don't even mind the Pearl Jam posters though I might replace them with Carpenter posters.

Very nice! I love the color and light throughout the whole place. But as with the last entry, I take issue with the bedroom. Am I right that guests would have to cut through the bedroom to get to the dining room? I wouldn't like that at all. Aside from that, it's fantastic.

I love this--especially your color choices. Not so fond of the posters, but to each their own. Also, this is super impressive since it is a rental.

Very nice use of color. The posters are great, lends a youthfulness to the space. Quick question--where is the coffee table from?

I love it. This is the essence of what this contest is all about. Your apartment is trully small, yet you maximized the space and turned it into something wonderful. Great job!

Yep, you do have to go through the bedroom to the kitchen, it's not an issue for us, had we flipped the bed and the living area I would of had to put an curtain or bookcase or something to block the bed area right in next of a beautiful arch in the foyer area and it would of closed off that area and made it a hallway which I wasn't for.

I am also wary of earthquakes and a large bookcase would not be a good idea in my mind.

ChrisC- That's a sun mirror from Pottery Barn


The dining room chairs are heywood wakefield (found!) and the fabric is from ikea.

Love the mirror. Any chance of finding out where it came from?

hi ,

Thanks for sharing your beautiful apt..

Could you pls tell me where you get your sofabed??

The wall of pictures (covers?) is just great, but I didn't see a whole lot of continuity in the apartment. The red shelves in the kitchen are so prominent, perhaps incorporating a little red on the kitchen chairs would have helped. Also, that curtain by the bed blocks the light. Why not a shelf that goes a little higher than the bed so that when one is sitting the bed is obscured? The only personality showing is that art wall.

I really like the one! Love the curtained sleeping area!

Great use of color, posters look fantastic!

Where did this bedding come from?

So super cute. I live in Alameda too! Your place looks fantastic.

Another Alameda resident -- your place is so cute! Well done. I love your phone.

And, uh, "phone" should be "floor." This is what I get for surfing on conference call.

Love it - would want more books, but it looks great.

The sofa is from west elm

http://www.westelm.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?partNumber=WE-PRODf554&cmsrc=rel&storeId=17001&langId=-1&catalogId=17002&viewSetCode=E

I like my bed area to be as private as possible so a low bookcase or shelving unit wouldn't work and would take up space and make it hard to actually get out of bed.

There are more red ties in the kitchen unfortunately that's the only one you can see.

and I'd love more books too but we had to purge big time when we moved this last time (we've moved up and down the eastern seaboard three times and one cross country) and we have 1500 cd's in that dresser in the kitchen so Music is/was more important.

Pretty. I love the blue lamp by the bed. Mind sharing where it came from?

Ana,
Don't you dare touch those posters!

great place!

Hi Ana - voted "Super Cool!"
Wonderful, WONDERFUL job. I like the way you kept it simple and coordinated yet as a previous post mentioned not match:very good use of color! It's personalized, with a bit of whimsy but nothing kitschy.
Finalist IMO.

Love the posters, colours and furnishing. You have a great versatile space but I'm not sure that I like the dining/kitchen door looking into the sleeping quarters.

I love furnishing a studio because of the open plan layout and I base it on how well I can hide the sleeping quarters or integrate it fully into the living space. The partition gives the feeling that you are trying to seperate the bed but I find the walkway to the kitchen a bit intrusive.

One way to create some privacy for the sleeping quarters is to add a room divider like Ikea's Expedit shelving unit in the middle of your main room, parallel to the closet and place the bed in between there (the room divider will also act as bed head). Draw your the curtain across this space to hide it (this will also lengthen your entry way into a hall way) and turn the space in front of the window into your living room. Using something like the Expedit will allow light and the breeze to flow into your bedroom too OR you can turn it into your dining room and make the dining room into the living room (I love to have a kitchen flow into the living area - great for entertaining).

Oops, I've said too much - I STILL LOVE IT!

AUinNY-
Thank you for your suggestion but the expedit would take up 15" of usable space.

Neither my husband and I are bothered by the placement of the bed, the white curtains do not darken the place and laying in bed next to an open window is a nice little joy in life. We're happy with it.
I would also have nothing a this point to put in a bookshelf.

As for a dining room Living room switch, the cable hookup is in the living room and I think only our couch and tv would fit in the dining space.

Again, thank you for the suggestions.


oneclevergirl- the aqua lamp was a find on ebay

ering89- the bedding is from ikea (discontinued I think), the sheets are grey jersey sheets

I do like the curtained sleeping area. I would be tempted to swath it with mosquito netting and pretend that I was on safari. It is impressive that you live so minimally and without clutter, but how do you live without books? I recognize that tiny little ipod stereo in the distance--what color is it? Did you get the green one to match with your computer desk?

swoon! i really love it. especially the coffee table and your bedding. i'd choose the window for the bedroom, too :)

oops forgot one, the coffee table is from Target, it was Thomas O'Brian's Vintage Modern line.

It looks great. How did you hang the curtain? I just moved into a studio and I think it would work well.

I love how you move from areas of light and dark in this apartment-- the kitchen is so bright, and light diffuses through the blinds around the bed, but the living room feels intimate and warm and hidden away. Lovely.

I love it! The kitchen could be a little more cohesive, but you're workin' with what you got, so kudos. I like the hidden bed and the calm living room. And I am IN LOVE with your Pearl Jam poster wall! Not my favorite band by a long shot, but those posters are gorgeous.

Ana and Bob,
What an incredible apartment! Very warm and inviting. Where did you get the living room rug? And does it shed?

Thanks!

treehouse- it's not like we have NO books we just have our absolute favorites. The ipod stereo is a green specktone and we had it before the desk so there was no color matching.

rurad27- I used these
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60075295

but I wouldn't recommend heavy curtains for it, they tend to sag the line.

Katie K- The rug is from Target it was $80 and it doesn't shed.

I have to give you a 'super cool' for the pearl jam wall. Its what Dirty Frank would do.

you guys make it look effortless.

PROPS.

So nice. I love the billowy curtains around the bed! The pearl jam posters look so good as a whole. Super Cool!

LOVE IT!

is that a red-patterned roller shade in the kitchen? would have loved to see that pulled down a bit...

well done-- I'm voting super cool :)

Love this apartment, it's very relaxing and your pops of color are just right. "Super cool"!

As for living without a lot of books - I personally get by just fine with a library card!

Fantastic!

wow. i think my heart slowed down and I was breathing easier just looking at the place-- very calming, great use of color. congrats!

I wish all of the entries had more than 6 photos. It's not enough especially when house tours have 20 or more. Hardly seeing any kitchens or bathrooms and those are important too.
Why is there a 6 photo only rule?

goodnightdean- the shade in the kitchen is a white one (that is down) with 1" red/orange fabric trim on both the top and the bottom.

I love all the Pearl Jam love!
Clairepetrol- That dirty frank is a bad mother...

love it.
you really did make it look effortless.. so casually put together with various colors. and yet nothing clashes at all.

I love the rocking chair. Great use of space and color.

Very nice. Where did you get that bench/table where you have the small fan.

The bench I found on a curb.

This is great, especially considering it's a rental, so you have to be extra creative, no built ins, etc. It looks so zen and happy! I really love it!

LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT!

def my favorite so far....

love your choices and your sources. it is calm and alive.

still, want to strangle whoever designed the "hard" floorplan.

the sf renter in my understands what you had to work with (like my own lava stone fireplace) and finds your solutions inspiring.... but the owner/landlord (in a more affordable city) wants to take a sledge hammer to your kitchen wall and flip the entrance, dining, and cooking spaces.

You've done an excellent job with this rather quirky space.
Congratulations.
I've observed a few comments here about book and music storage.
I came into home computers relatively late in the game.
Now all of my huge music collection is on my mac.
Hard copies are away in storage, or elsewhere.
Books?
Most of them get passed on.
The internet is my music and 'book' source if I have the need.
Imagine how this transforms a space.
No books or stacks of cd's to deal with.
More focus on art and furnishings.
:)

nice

i love the colors

what are they?

anyway, good job

I love the rocking chair- much better than an armchair IMO. Where'd you get it?

The rocking chair was being tossed out by someone in my old building.

I like the recovery room chic! Did somebody say sponge bath?

Wow, what a fun apartment. I love that rocking chair and the whole thing just makes me want to chill out. I also love being able to see your passion for Pearl Jam displayed on the wall. I like that if I want to relax, I can be lounging in the living room, but if I am in a more fast paced mood, the kitchen area is so bright and exciting.

Great space.

I really like this space. It looks inviting. I really like the way you set up the bed. It looks like it's in a bedroom, not just behind a curtain.

My favorite was the bedroom area. I really liked how they divided the space with curtains. Although a couple more panels of curtains wouldn't hurt to give a more textured look (right now when they are pulled apart and strectched out - they just look like flat sheets). Love the color choices for their bedding. Loved the brightnesss of the kitchen/dining area but too many colors made it not seem cohesive. Living room is missing some color - needs more pillows or something to finish it off and something on the coffee table for a tablescape.

Karen

Karen-

We had more drapes up, but they weighed down the cable a lot and then our cat ran into it and full speed and brought the whole thing down.

I agree with the kitchen not being as cohesive as I'd like, I need to focus on the colors, we've only been here 6 months so I'm still playing and trying to work it all out...but it's fun trying!

I think the Pearl Jam posters provide a lot of color in the living room, but I appreciate your thoughts and I'll keep it all in mind.

Hi Ana... I know I commented on this when it was first posted but there seems to be no trace.

I love how pulled together and easy the flow is in this space - having at one point lived in *exactly* the same layout with a man and a cat, I also have a great appreciation for how effortless you made it look.

Also, it's colorful while still feeling light and clean... Oh, and before I forget - the Pearl Jam posters are one of the better examples I've seen on parlor hanging. Cohesive rather than clutter-y.

(I have to ask - are you both just big fans or is there some band affiliation lurking in your past... :)

Ana,

Thank you very much, and yes that's my situation too a man and a cat, possible another cat on the way...

The Pearl Jam posters are from the shows we've been to, we are both huge fans and love the artwork as well so on top of seeing incredible live shows we get an art collection to boot.

Thanks,
Ana

yes! yes! yes!

I absolutely LOVE your place. Looks like its straight out of a magazine! It's amazing. What incredible use of such a small space. It's so calming and tranquil. And like everyone else has said, the use of color is astounding! The Pearl Jam wall is the best!!!! Everything just seems to compliment everything else in the most beautiful, natural way. Once again, I LOVE it! Super bright, inviting, comfortable and clean. Most definitely a therapeutic apartment! Excellent job Ana! =)