apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I hate myself for being so stuck in my ways but I can't get past the wallpaper. I like some of your areas and details very much but as a whole it is just not my style.

LOVE the bookshelves in the dining area!

i love the yellow painting set against the blue walls in the bedroom. The dining room bookshelves are also very cool!

Really like the apartment. Loved the white couch against the graphic wallpaper, although the pillows would have been better if they were just one color. (red?) Your dining area continued the black and white vibe, as did the sophisticated black bureau. In a small space, continuity is really important. BTW: How do you reach the farthest portion of that bedroom closet?

The dinning area is my favorite room, lots of storage and well done.

The art seems really well-selected - I love how you displayed paired pieces that aren't so matchy-matchy.

A friend of mine has that wallpaper in a room of his house; I hate it there and you haven't convinced me to like it any better in your house. I do like your dining area, though.

I really like this apartment but it only reminds me of how much I live in a tiny tiny apartment wish I had a dining room. anyway, enough about me. I love this colour scheme. I love the black & white fabric on the walls, the lighting against the fabric and the bookcase in the dinning room (did it come with the place?). Overall, a lovely place.

Oh and i love the unfinished floors. However, did you seal them w/ anything? It looks like tiles were ripped up or something. Very industrial chic!

The thing that got me about this place is when looking at the pictures I was thinking, wow, this place is really small. Then I looked at the sq ft. and it is one of the largest! I think I was just too overwhelmed..

dont love the couch cushions, but love everything else! especially the duel hanging lamps over the couch...

nicely done :)

The dining area is my favorite room in the place. The floor looks great here and odd in the living area. The rug, couch and wallcovering just don't work with the floor.

I would've voted cool/super-cool, based on your dining room. Your bedroom is nice too. But I can't get past the lving room. It's just really odd. In the one image, it seems like the one side of the wallpaper is actually a hanging curtain or fabric? Did you use a hanging curtain to divide up the space, or is that a visual trick/error in the image? Also, the wallpaper pattern could be cool, but overwhelms everything else. I'm not hot on the sofa, and the 2 pendant lights above it are positioned too high and should've been hanging more over the coffee table. Where they are now, they almost look like wall sconces, they're so close to that wall.

The dining area is topnotch though. Really beautiful, functional, organized, but also relaxed and warm. Did you build that yourself or have somebody build it for you?

Again as with France's SF studio, I'm curious to see the office room, and also the kitchen.

It's a nice space for one person.

You've really made the space warm and less industrial. And I'll echo the love for the dining/library space. Well done!

Checking the images again, I see that the wallpaper is covering the wall, but it's a bit away from the corner of the wall...

Forgot to say, I like the atrium light in the living room and bedroom. Are you on the bottom floor of some big apartment building, and that's your only light?

cool

but a bit busy

I love everything about this apartment, even things I would never put in my own home. I think it's swaying me!

LOVE!

I love the dining room with all the books, and I like the bedroom, feels very warm, cozy, and comfortable. The wall treatment in the main living space, although it's not my style at all, could be interesting, but I think the pillow patterns are fighting with it too much.

Oh no, I feel like I'm the only one who didn't like it that much! (Though the voting says other wise)
Everything look busy (the patterns), and mushy (the slipcovered couch), and muddled... but maybe that's because I like "big and bold" and not "small and intriquet." I feel like everything is screaming to stand out, but nothing can because everything else is screaming... your apartment reminds me of a giant screaming contest. :P

On a more positive note, your place is clean and has a great layout!

I love the dining area. I admire anyone who can live small with busy.

This is a-ok, though the rooms seem to have divergent styles. All of a sudden we see "shabby chic" and pattern overload in the living room. Love the bookshelves as well, but put the binders in a closet. Kudos to you that this is not your standard "I have good style because I have a credit card and a computer that can link to the DWR website" house. Of course Cherner chairs and Saarinen tables are beautiful, but I like to see someone do some more than stick those around a nice house.

I would've liked to see the bathroom&kitchen too.

This is a different drummer, that doesn't mean it's good design. It's laid out well, I think, and I get the feeling many of the elements were deliberated fairly carefully. There are a few things that just look like "I like this and I don't care if it goes," and a few things that look like they didn't hold out for the thing that was meant to be there. The slipcover and the lamp overhead things over the sofa seem like outstanding examples of stand-ins; although nice, they just don't seem to elevate the design more than just be there.

I do like many of the possessions, accessory-wise, but I would take them all away and put them back in some other order. I think it just needs a little more than being brave, but it's very close.

I like the dining room and the color in the bedroom.

I like the contrasts and unexpected mixes. Not crazy about that particular couch, though....a white leather chesterfield would be gorgeous here.

Is there shelving behind the fabric curtain in the living room? the floor plan indicates storage in that area but doesn't show how it is accessed.

The library/dining room hybrid is brilliant, but really where are the other fresh ideas and solutions that can be carried forward for other small spaces? This place is so big (800 sf for one person!) that IMHO it just doesn't demand the kind of rigour and ingenuity that makes this contest inspirational.

It's cool, but definitely not coolest. I must say that the space is well-represented in the photos; thanks for not including vignettes of little things on tables.

what amed studio said! 800 sf for one person... wow. i wish i had that much room!

While not my thing, I still had to vote this one cool because of the dining room / library. Well done!

On the other hand, geez, 800 square feet for one person is huge. I agree 100% with Amed Studio's comment.

This space to me has strokes of brilliance. There were certain elements I totally loved about it. The only thing is that it wasn't carried out completely through the space. I voted cool.

Karen

Thank you for all the great comments!

My previous places were about 200 sq ft. So, yup, this 800 sq ft place feels almost obscene for one person. I traded cool neighborhood (Mission) for more space for my art work, and ended up in a one-story warehouse in industrial Bayview.

The living room is a mashup, in progress to something more neutral. Thanks for all the pointers and advice!

For people who asked:
The "wallpaper" is fabric tacked to the wall. The left side is hung as a curtain to hide the 2 storage closets behind.
The floor is concrete with a green/brown patina left over from ripping up linoleum flooring.
The bookshelves were welded and built by a previous tenant.
Both the living room and bedroom have big skylights for light and air.

Thanks again!

nice dining room area. living room is really busy with the wallpaper and pillows.

yes, like most people, i agree that the dining room is the stand out. it's unfortunate that is has a dominating style that does not seem to cohere with your other victorian glam fabrics. take the ikat fabric at the foot of your bed and toss it over the white bench in the dining room. it needs a little softening to go with the rest of your stuff. (or else, the rest of your stuff needs a little hardening!) i saw that you said the bookshelves in the dining room were welded by the previous owner. i guess my main suggestion is to try to integrate the rest of your style into that space. the walls not so yellow? -- a crisp white behind behind those shelves might tie in better with the living room wall fabric. and also, to balance the scale of that living room fabrics, i think you need something large and bolder in scale in the room, too.

Great wallpaper.
These photos feel like they came from 5 different homes.

I must say I love the wallpaper in the living room, but the pillows don't carry their own weight against that strong black and white paper. I really liked the dining room and bedroom, but altogether, it's missing a cohesion of style.

I actually liked the livingroom - or at least the direction its heading. I'm not a huge fan of the couch - its too bland and generic of a shape against that pattern. You need to go either SUPER simple - straight lines, white color, or much more elaborate - high Victorian, upholstered in white velvet - to really pull that off.

The dining/library is inspired! The bedroom is cool, and yay to someone who actually has good taste in artwork!

as an admitted bibliophile, i can not tell you how much i covet your dining room bookshelves, amazing!!! great job!

I love it. It's one of my favorites so far. I think it has lots of personality without being junky or too cluttered.

Did you buy a slipcover for your couch as-is or was it custom made for your couch? I'm just asking because I have a sofa that desperately needs slipcovering.

LOVE the bookshelves. Wow!

the wall is a little much for me but great style in this place!

I love it. It is so different and unique. You can really see the owner’s personality come through in the space. It seems like an extension of himself.