apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Very '70s, all that rust color. I had a pair of suede boots like that. I voted Super Cool anyway.

nice job!

Love the colors! Super Cool!

i think i've seen ur kitchen b4.

this place made me smile, it's just really super-cool despite the choice of colors. hard to tell of course from here, but i suspect it would feel larger with lighter walls. amazingly beautiful and functional kitchen, kudos for showing great taste. and the tv is awesome!

I love the floating tv! Can you adjust the height to watch both upstairs and down?

well thought out and lovely, with lots to look at, but not overwhelming. don't like those curvy ikea(?) mirrors though ;-)

supercool is my vote! what furniture did you use do separate the kitchen/living areas, what exactly do you store in those pieces? love your coordinating pots and pans!

Very nicely done and it feels really nice.

However, I'm not a fan of the TV hung like that, especially in earthquake prone SF. Also, the TV is simply too high for comfortable viewing, or so it looks anyway. I did notice the remotes sitting up there but is it really that high? Those TV's can be mounted right onto the wall as well, which I'd do once I get my new set, but as of right now, I don't have the wall for it.

Overall, a very cool space.

Today is suppose to be the last day of posting submissions. I hope they hurry up and close this contest. If I had known there was going to be alot of good entries to pile in at the last minute, I would have never submitted my entry. This one gets a definite Super Duper Cool, a Gold Star, and a Happy Smiley Face drawn in red ink. Awesome for its square footage and coziness. And who would've thought of using orange......not me! But it works and its F-I-E-R-C-E!!!

Not my personal taste, but one of the cleverest uses of space we've seen so far in the competition. On that basis alone it should beat out the 800-square-feet-for-one-person entries.

Great place - love the inventive TV trapeze!

It reminds me of a lot of gay bars that I've been in.
What with the sling, uh, swing and the concrete/brick walls, the few windows, the darkness. The kitchen reminds me of a bar from the straircase.

After looking at your place I have an urge for a Gin & Tonic.

Far too much rust for me personally but it's a supercool for the changes you have made, the thought you put into designing rooms that work best for you and the cohesion and clear sense of style.

I like the orange color a lot but did not get the part of hanging scarf on the column next to the bed.

Super cool! Great use of warm and deep colours to cozify the lofty space. Could use a bit of editing - about 1/2 of the many vases, bows and scarves tied to things could go for a cleaner effect, IMO.

I'm guessing the scarves are there to help prevent you from cracking your head on the beams when you walk by. They look like they just out pretty far into the room.

I'm loving the orange and think you did a great job staying true to the color scheme--I wouldn't have that much restraint.

Love the colors and the TV set-up but esp. the kitchen. It looks cozy without being overly cluttered. Super cool!

I vote super cool - good job!

Love the whole thing - like others have said, cozy without being cluttered, you've learned how to live with stuff, not hide it or chuck it.

Does the TV move up and down, or is it stationary? Very inventive!

def one of my favorites! awesome place but how can you cook on only two burners! I'd go nuts :)

you must be a giants fan, too :) i really like it!

it's a bit claustrophobic! but i still like that it is different and bold and seems to work!

If your great Craigslist worker helped build the spiral staircase, what was there before?? Do you pulley the TV up and down depending on where you want to watch? Very inventive metalwork.

Holy Moly! I dig the wall colors & those orange pots!
I don't like the camera angles but I love everything in the pix.
Winner or not-we've gotta have more pix when the competetion is over. I voted Super-Cool!

I loved reading the intro and looking at the pictures after that. It makes such a difference to hear the story of the owner (rather than it is easy to clean) with the relation to the apt, I voted super cool because I really want to see the video version of the space to have a better understanding the use of spce because some of the angles in the photography does not help me and I'd like to see more.

Can anyone tell me where to find or how to diy the floating tv shelf? That's super cool!

The kitchen and bedroom walls gave the cool vote. Otherwise there's just wayyyy too much knick-knacks and decorative items for my taste.

rikstah - ditto.

Can someone please explain what this text (from the floorplan) means?: "Dotted area indicates wall locations where mechanical chases may occur."

Very pretty, great use of space.

Love picture #4... I could spend hours looking at it, like a picture from those books, "I Spy." love love love.

the tv trapeze gets my super cool vote...

I think I love you Ginger. Not only are you addicted to orange like I am but you named your condo ( and Babette no less). Even though your space is more industrial than I normally like I am totally digging what you are doing here. Great use of space, color and texture. Bravo!

Oh, thank you everyone, you all are so sweet! I am Ginger the owner, and I braced myself b/c I know my tastes are pretty out there, so I was worried you guys wouldn't like it! I wear like unique clothes and tons of color every day, and I drive an orange car, so the place really does match me, for good or bad! Yay, I'm really glad you all took the time to vote and comment. Let's see if I can answer all of your questions. First of all, what an awesome idea about the TV moving up and down. And I thought I had a James Bond imagination... wow, that would be fantastic. Unfortunately, it doesn't do that, but my place is so small that you can see the TV from the loft area. And to answer the mystery about the scarves, you can't really tell from the pics, but the little scarves in my bedroom are bows - my effort at making the beams more feminine. Ha-ha, maybe I'll rethink that! Yes I love my little kitchen, thank you for the compliment! Two burners can be difficult, but since there's just me, it works out ok. I won't be throwing thanksgiving dinner parties, that's for sure, but it is functional for 1-2 people. Oh, to answer your question about the stairs, before they were built, there was just a ladder. Regarding all of the little knick knacks, I guess I like little accents, but maybe one less vase, huh? :-) The dotted lines on the floorplan where it says "mechanical chases may occur" is basically indicating where my ceiling beams are, the ones with the scarves. Oh, and the furniture I used to separate the two sides is my little stainless fridge I bought which is backed against a bookshelf/media storage piece I got from the Container Store, you can see some of it on the left in pic #1, I keep lots of stuff in there. I also have my dining table separating the two sides which folds out into a full size. And re: hitting your head on the overhead beams in the bdrm, I never do b/c I'm only 5'3, but when my boyfriend visits, he hits his head about once a week! I hope I make the finals b/c I would love to show you all some more pics, esp the bathroom and the drawer and closet system my boyfriend built for me in the loft area. Sorry, you can tell I talk (and write a lot). Toodles for now! Thanks for your votes and comments!!!

Guess I'm the lone voice here, but not really my thing. I like orange too, but just the orange pots and pans against the orange wall -- that's way too much!
It starts looking like some weird set from a late 70s/early 80s retail store...

It all looks kind muddy and indistinct to me. And I'm not into that floating TV shelf. It's a weirdly busy contemporary type place.

Love the kitchen, otherwise it was way too overwhelming for me.

Wow, what a great use of space, color, and composition...if you are not a designer, you should be! It isn't your basic DWR, it is so unique! I LOVE it!

Warm and cosy, and some really great pieces, but for me the amount of things and colours do make it a little claustrophobic.

Not my style but GREAT! I hope to see you in the finals

I was once told that Orange was the color of insanity. Good. Its my favorite color and I think it shows great personal expression. Your television solution is very unique. Well done.

I honestly think this is one of my favourites so far because it is such a cohesive vision and the owner is obviously someone who is not afraid to take a colour they love and just go for it (which I am, because I know that in a month I'll love something else, so every mainstay has to be neutral with rotating paint and accessories).
The tv suspension is one of the most unique things that I have seen, but I am guessing that it cost a pretty penny to have a welder do it. Too bad, because I would love to do it myself!
Great job

Black is my color and I prefer a red pepper to orange. What you have done with the space is very nice and got a super cool vote from me. Hope to see more of it.

Ginger's spicy loft is the perfect combination of space, color, and style. So lovely, bright, and sophisticated!

wow, what a great burst of color and personality!! i feel like i already know ginger just through these pictures. great job!!! definitely super cool!!!

cluttered and still super cool. very hard to pull off; and yet you did it. you clearly come through in this space which is as stuffed and luscious, colorful and unique, as your descriptions. which i guess is why it works. well done.

i knew i recognized that kitchen, but thought it was a different building because of the great spiral staircase. (We are Northwest Entry #2) Great job, neighbor. We love knowing that someone else loves their space here as much as we do.

Just too cluttered / too much going on for my taste. Love the kitchen, though.

Love the use of orange -- it all looks sleek and cozy at the same time. Great job!

This is clever AND gorgeous. I quite love it.

wow... im not sure what to say......

LOVING IT!!!

The colors are dark for me, but the decor is very consistent and well coordinated. The use of space is innovative and practical. Super cool.

Lolax you are not alone.

This is probably going to come off as pretty bitchy but I seriously dont get why people are so in love with this place. Its dark, cluttered, and feels very dated (80's early 90's). There are very little examples of creative uses of space - the only significant one being the television, which, as pointed out, actually WASTES space since the TV could be mounted directly on the wall.

All in all (and theres a LOT encompassed by that phrase here) the place looks like a sitcom set ala Friends: the squiggle mirrors, the bad artwork behind the television, the shiny chrome all over the place....just makes my eyes want to run away.

wow, very impressive!! and i think the wall color works very nicely with the dark furniture!

its very inventive. just a little less stuff and itll b perfect.

There's too much cool here for 449 sq. ft. Needs 200 more sq. ft.

Testing, testing...

Hi everyone, thanks for the comments! Check my lil pad out on unplggd.com!!!