What is your one favorite element in your small, cool home? We love the architectural details that our apartment has to offer. The building was built in 1928 and has a lot of charm and character that's difficult to find in new construction.
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What was one of the biggest challenges you faced in furnishing your small home? Through trial and error we finally figured out the right combination of furniture pieces to work in our small space. We used to have larger furniture that blocked the natural light from our windows. Once we incorporated lower profile pieces, our space immediately opened right up and felt like a completely new, and larger, apartment. We took our time in deciding how to furnish our space, and then sought out specific pieces through flea markets, Craigslist and local retailers.
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Shaw's Original Fir...
Soooo my style. I have a desk almost like that one! Found it in one of the antique stores around here. And I love the old Bond poster. I collect old Audrey Hepburn lobby cards (sort of mini-posters). Started when I was too poor for art. Makes for colorful, interesting wall art on its own. Good deals on eBay. Really good decorating idea for someone who is into cinema.
Beautiful. I could move right in.
I love this! The James Bond poster is fantastic - I am definitely going to look for one. The kitchen collection of frames looks great.
This is a well curated apartment. It's not too minimal, or formal, but it incorporates elements of both minimalism and formalism. It's a smart, updated and personal version of mid century modern. I really enjoy this post and I hope everyone else gets it and votes for it!!
LOVE IT.
Wish I could afford the mcm pieces . . .
Really nice! Love the bed in the alcove :)
really nice place, what do you guys do for storage? from your floor plan it looks like just one closet!
love. this.
Love the sleeping nook!
I love your sleeping spot!
Lovely home!
Great use of space. The bed nook is very nice. Like azaleasmoke, I too wish I could afford the MCM pieces.
such a great use of space -- love it!
What's the couch? Room and Board "Andre" maybe?
Great use of the space, although I also wonder about storage.
Anyone wonder/know how big the TV is? I have a credenza and thinking about putting a TV on top. Hubs says 32 inch or bigger, but i am afriad it would be too big for room. My living room is about this size....
The first time I looked at the photographs I liked your place very much. The second time -- not so much. The third time --again I liked your place very much.
At that point, I stopped looking at the photographs.
Uh, I find the sleeping closet strange but not nearly as strange or freakish as some other entrants' "make dos."
I wish you the best of luck in the contest. It's very nice and you get to live in San Francisco. Cool!
beautiful in layout and selection of furniture! definitely my style =)
I love the alcove bed.
Great place --- it looks like you only have one small closet in the space. Does it house your clothes, vacuum cleaner, broom etc all in that one spot?
This is the kind of small space that makes you wonder why people always want things bigger. Your apartment has space for everything that you need. It looks cozy, but not cramped, and (I imagine) helps keep you from spending lots of money on extraneous stuff. I wish modern apartment designers would pay more attention to making small spaces work.
Thanks for sharing your lovely home, and good luck!
This apartment is wonderful -- great, comfortable design.
Fabulous! Great artwork selection throughout. Love your design decisions. I can't believe it's 500 square feet (or less). I would love to live here.
Where is that couch from? Love it.
I really like this space and the sleeping nook is just darling.
I love how you chose the furniture to compliment the space and decided to go with more streamlined pieces, yet kept it comfortable. Love that credenda and it's on the order of what I'm after to house my TV and audio stuff and has room to fit my turntable on top as well.
The one thing is I am not too crazy of the chandelier in the dining nook but otherwise love the overall space. Nicely done.
Sonialobe, if I'm not mistaken, that's the 32" I think Samsung and if so, the TV should work for the dimensions are outside dimensions if I'm correct as I have that very TV, that size, in the 4 series and I'd not go much bigger if your room is of simiilar size to theirs. The best thing to do is get the outside deminsions of the TV(s) you are considering and measure the space where it'll go, the width of the TV is important to be sure it's not too wide, that's how I determined the largest size I could handle in my space with what I have.
Hey everyone, thanks for all your nice comments about our apartment. The couch is The Andre from Room and Board and is upholstered in Dita Maize. In regards to the storage, yes we are extremely limited. We have two closets near the entrance for our clothes and shoes and overhead storage in the sleeping nook for suitcases, extra linens and Shannon's comic books and figurines. There's also built in storage in the kitchen and bathroom which holds our cooking and cleaning supplies.
lovely home!
yes please tell us where you keep your clothes with 2 ppl and just 1 closet!
also, what color paint is that in your kitchen? i love it!
Absolutely adorable! Love what you've done with your place, especially the artwork! Are you available for decorating gigs? Kidding ;P, sort of ...
Seriously guys, your use of the space you have is nothing short of ingenious. Storage is obvioulsy an issue, yet you haven't fallen into the usual trap and littered your space with trunks and storage cubes. Great job!
Brenden
How many times must we go over this? They are action figures, not figurines. :)
Shannon
i think this "beautiful cozy" space is very well thought out. it just says "welcome home". makes you feel warm and fuzzy. i love the colors, it's young, fresh and has a modern appeal. my final words that describes this space is "minimalist with a flare"
VR.
my favorite so far.
This is a beautiful space. I love the color story and the collection of 20c mod. pieces. The highlight for me has to be the chandelier over the dining table. hawt.
While I agree with all of the other posts, this is a great use of space and it's a nice home, I just think that it lacks creativity. Doesn't anyone get a little bored w/ all of the MCM furniture and designs? I just find this uninspiring.
I'm a fan.
Sarrazak, I am a little tired of all the MCM furniture too, but I think in this case, they are more creative than you realize. Their home is warm and inviting, and does not look like a furniture showroom, but a home that is loved and lived in. They have a wonderful bed alcove and lots of shelves and interesting art and posters which say a lot about the occupants. I think that they are very creative in their use of this space, and for that they deserve to be in this contest.
I've personally been to their apartment and they've done an amazing job at opening up the space but not sacrificing "charm and character." It wasn't until I saw the floor plan that I realized just how small the apartment was.
Loves it! Good luck guys :)
so fantastic! You guys did an amazing job! (of course) xo
It is such a nice cozy space! You've truly made it look more spacious. I want to live there, too.
Great taste in selection of furniture and art. Adult yet fun and unpretentious. Very warm and welcoming.
HA! Love the "figurines versus action figures" comment. I gotta say, I like you're apartment even more now that I like you guys! lol
Your place is really cute guys! I'm going to shamelessly borrow your style .... our place needs a makeover!
Don't get me wrong suzy8track, I think they deserve to be in this contest, I really like the overall place, I just meant upon closer inspection of their furnishings, ie the posters and art, I wish they would've picked things that were more unique. But looking at it a few more times, I think I just let the Bond poster and the art above the sink throw me off, so I completely ignored the art throughout the rest of the home.
And looking at the other entries, while this isn't my favorite, I think Brenden and Shannon have done a good job.
Great place. Our friends keep telling us we can't live in an SF studio. You make it look more and more possible. Thanks for sharing.
It's so nice...
...I just wish that the rug were larger and that there were an end table and big table lamp to the right of the sofa and that the Eames chair were pulled away from the wall - Then it would be perfect.
Wow, your place is great! You've really used your limited space very well. Kudos!
The sofa looks awesome, where is it from?
Hi sophiest -
The sofa is the Andre from Room and Board.
Are the ledges behind the sofa also from Room & Board? What length are they? I love the size.
Love, love, love your place. Great taste in furniture & art work! You were both probably raised in homes with great style!
Hey Brenden! Great job, your place looks so awesome. Shows that you don't need a lot of space to make a great home. :-)
My favorite so far.
A lot of comments on the sofa, but what I want to know is where is that dish rack from! It is a must have for me!
hi claire_quilty! the dish rack is from ikea. bought it years ago - not sure if they still carry it. we love it, though.
claire_quilty - it's called the ordning and it's still available at ikea. i just found it on their website!
You just need a cute puppy looking longingly into the camera.
Your space looks cohesive and very well thought out. I love the floor lamp in the living room.
Shannon - Thanks so much for the info.
Hi - love your apartment! Can you tell me which paint colors you used? I love the light and dark gray . . .
love the art in the kitchen!
I think the colors you've chosen make this feel cohesive-- everything seems to flow together. Love the living room rug. The sleeping nook (?) seems to really work here. Thomas Jefferson's house had a bed in little nook, much smaller than this :)
Seems like that little entryway must be frustrating-- With such a tiny apartment, using up floorspace for an entry seems like waste (not faulting you guys, of course). I'd want so badly to knock out that little wall! Don't know if you rent or own, and could do anything about it if you wanted to...
Hey LadyJaye: We do own our home and I hear what your saying about the entry but if we were to knock out that wall we'd be getting rid of our two closets.
I love how you've managed to combine MCM furniture in a way that still feels warm and comfortable. Thumbs up.
The sleeping nook is a very clever solution to the lack of space but I do worry about how you both fit in that bed - it looks like a twin from that angle - hope that's just an illusion!
Oh God Matilde, I don't know what we'd do if we had to both sleep in a twin bed. The sleeping nook actually fits our queen bed nicely.
Phew! I will rest easier now.
That rug looks so comfortable... I could just pull up a sofa cushion and fall asleep on in!
Fabulous! The space is cleverly used and very cozy without being cluttered. The furniture selection/combination is classy without being pretentious. The color pallet is in harmony with all the furnishings, art, and accessories. Oh, and I love the sleeping closet; I'd like to try that out sometime.
All in all, this space is well thought out. Two snaps up, a thumbs up, and a triple twist.
I suggest that you add some built in millwork to showcase Shannon's doll collection. ;)
fantastic use of space! love the light fixture over the table!!
Love the kitchen...the white trim against the light and dark gray, the framed posters!
Why am i unable to vote for this post? It says voting for this is closed!
Great use of space and great decorating .... love it. Love the mix of MCM though out.
I'm jealous, nice eames lounger.
I'd love to come by some time to play with your dolls.
Too late to vote! But your apartment is still so charming. The first time I looked I thought Perfect! Then the next time I looked I thought- something is missing...other commenters clued me in- it would look really good if Shannon's dolls were displayed more prominently throughout the apartment. They could be acting out your daily activities- playing mario kart, cooking dinner. It would really pull the room together.
Everyone has already said everything that I wanted to say! I'm just bummed that I can't vote because I think this is one of the most well designed homes in the contest. It's inviting and personal without being cluttered and random. It's pulled together without looking overly staged and contrived like it was all pulled from a catalog (which I think is a default position some people resort to... unfortunately). The scale and furniture placement is inspired. Kudos! BEAUTIFUL space!!
LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! And I'm not even an midcentury modern afficionado ;)
Love the shelf in the third photo...can you share where you got it? Thanks!
A lovely space. Congratulations.
I'm also interested in what paint colors you used, especially the living room and kitchen. Thanks.
yea, please let me know what wall colors you used as well. Thanks!
The shelf in the third photo was found at Room and Board. They offer different types of wood and another option for the metal. The paint colors are from Benjamin Moore but I don't have the names/numbers on hand, so sorry.
Lovely use of space!
Great place!! You have to have me over for drinks!!
SUPER COOL!
I think your home is very cool! Where did you get the chandelier? I love it!
Thanks Rosygirl. We got a steal on the chandelier at a store called Propeller on Hayes St. in San Francisco because it was slightly damaged. The artist who makes it is Jason Miller and I'm sure it can be found many other places.
wow understand why you picked a safe grey color for all your walls, but whats up with the kitchen? you might as well have left it out entirely, but i commend you on your photo cropping skillz
my favourite part of your home is the "office", sleeping closet and the kitchen with the gorgeous chandelier. good luck!
love subtle colors and the leather chair.
If I can't see it in person, I can check it out here! Awesome place! Best of luck!
this is obviously a popularity contest.
It will be very nice to get a more extensive tour of this beautiful place! Anywhere we can find more pics? :)
Congrats on your win!
Love this. Congrats and well done.
It's nice that a winner actually presents something livable and not just an entry of vignettes. The bed cubby is very cool. Congrats!
compared to how innovative the space was last year, this is nothing. i see better looking house tours all the time. what's up AT?
That's an Urban Outfitter coffee table, no? How is the quality? Do you folks like it? I feel like I've heard sketchy reports about UO furniture...
Congrats!
The Eames chair, Sofa, and Coffee table all fit together so nicely. What great taste.
I love it! What is the desk & where did you get it? It would fit my place perfectly. Thanks.
What a lovely space! I really like the color scheme. I know you said you didn't have the names of the BM paint colors you used on hand, but if you ever come across that info, I'd LOVE to know... I'm so terrible at picking out paint colors... We repainted our entire kitchen 4 times before we found a color we liked (in addition to painting smaller test areas). So yeah. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Wow! i'm curious, where did you get that "Mendoza" sign? This is really funny and amazing because I'm from Argentina, from "La Matanza" which appears on the sign too, and I know the Mendoza street where the sign appears to be about.
World is so tiny!
Excellent space planning. There is a place and space for everything. Nothing was compromised. This home just shows that people don't need to live in McMansions to live well. The rest of America should learn from you.