I love that ship painting over the sofa. Title/artist?

that wood desk/console next to the sofa is amazing! love it!

This is the most interesting place I've seen yet. So many intriguing elements, I wish I could visit!

I really like the feel of this apartment and the way it's arranged. I do have a slight quibble with this and several other entries that show stairs down to a basement or up to an attic. There's a difference between fitting *everything you own* into 960 square feet, and living in that same apartment with hundreds of square feet of additional storage that isn't being counted.

I absolutely love your home! I like that I don't recognize every single piece of furniture. And I love the "bedroom" you've created - I'm very inspired! The lace curtain in the kitchen reminds me of my mother - we always had a lace curtain tacked up somewhere in every place we lived. Thanks for sharing!

This is beautifully casual. I love the combination of natural elements with industrial style. Very nice.

I love the "bedroom"!

One of the most interesting apartments I have seen lately. The kitchen is so homey and I love the bedroom. Fantastic, very creative use of space.

LOVE IT!!

Very unique! Wow! You've got a good eye for mixing and matching vintage pieces from different eras.

I'm a HUGE fan of what you've done with your sleep area. Very unique!

Love your place – very nicely done with the platform bed area; it really helps make that zone a separate space.

I lived in St. Louis for a number of years and if this place is anything like where I lived, there is a basement but it isn’t for storage use. My basement had a very scary washer and dryer that rarely worked, about 15 years of dust and mold and not much else to speak of.

Side note: It would be great for this contest to include "rent" or "own" as part of the general description. Sometimes the most creative solutions are achieved by renters who can't do too much in the way of permanent changes but still manage to make the space their own.

I second Hessilou! (especially that perhaps renters & owners should be different categories as it does seems owners have an "advantage" since they're able to much more easily pick their own appliances, hardware, paint, etc.)

Creative, gorgeous! I wish I could give it more than one "thumbs up."

Very nice, Dave and Amy. I love the kitchen furniture/fridge. I also like the rug in the living room. It provides a nice cozy touch to those (concrete?) floors. Good luck

great style & creative solutions!

One of the best yet!

that branch is very cool - looks like it's growing in through the wall

Very well composed, good lighting, and nicely photographed. This seems very harmonious and not reliant on lots of bright colour or feature items of furniture. When I first looked at the photos I thought this place might be Dutch - which is a compliment in my book! My only (very minor) quibble is that the lace curtain doesn't look quite the right size for the window.

I love the set-up and your use space. The platform is awesome and I fully intend to steal your idea since I am moving into a studio apartment with less storage space than I previously had. Great Job!!!! Hope you win!

this place is so cool. instant finalist!

I really like the look of the plywood in the bedroom, that is great!

how did you make that bed happen?! I absolutely love what you did with it! I'm going to be moving back into an apartment that is about 940 sqft, I've gone from living in that size, to one that was under 500, now I'm in one that's 640... and going back to what will seem absolutely massive to me!

Great use of space, I can't wait to give it a whirl!

love. :D

WOW. beautiful!

I love that platform bed, but the floor of the bed gives me the feeling of splinters in my feet, so I'm wanting that to be differently surfaced -- anything -- Flor carpet tiles, wall-to-wall (only the top of the flatform for the bed), painted Masonite. Anything.

But I really, really like this in general

Like many others, I love the bedroom area. How was that done - are there support beams or something running under the non-storage section? I love the texture of this whole place!

Love your place!! I will need to come visit soon!!

I agree with the query about the basement. However, plenty of people in small homes also rent off-site storage. In the end is it really relevant?

Amazing.

Very creative, and I love your place ,such talent. I definetly vote for this one as the best

Very cool and inspiring. As soon as I get off work I'm redecorating!

another favorite to please add to the warm, poised, leaf, branch or plant graced (how do i say this without sounding as annoying as usual-- horticultural-organic?) hall of fame.

Gorgeous!

Thank you everyone for the kind and encouraging words about our space.
mattster - the painting is by Lee Burr, I think it was a fairly common 60's era print.
manueln- thanks for digging the console, I built it really simple and then surfaced it with luan.
wzlinz-Yeah, we do have a basement that runs half of the living space, hessilou is correct in her assessment of St. Louis basements-it's closer akin to a haunted cave with a water feature than an actual living area, I'm scared to even put tools down there.
hessilou- We rent the building, but it's actually a storefront in a commercial district. Our landlord rents to a lot of artists in the area, and is pretty cool with us doing whatever as long as it's returned in a better state than when we started.
I'll post a link to my photo page after the contest ends, there's a lot of pics showing more detail of the bed platform construction.

Thank you so much for all the sweet comments! I wish I could have all of you over for dinner... :)

@hessilou I totally agree with you about the rent/own thing. I always found it frustrating that there weren't more resources and ideas for rental spaces where painting, building, etc. is not allowed. Finding a rental space that I could customize freely was a huge priority for me when I moved here, but it's a trade off sometimes. (For example, there was no kitchen at all when we moved in.)

@WeeBeastie Dutch is a great compliment to me because part of my family is from the Netherlands. :) You're right about the lace curtain - it's actually a table cloth.

I'm still looking for the perfect curtain for that space, but like @carmella's mom, I need a little lace.

-Amy

This is by far the BEST!

I really like the bed on the platform (and also the tree that seems to be growing out of the wall!). Such a shame I can't do this with my flat - the ceilings are too low.

job well done, little. this makes me feel right at home. your hardwoods are beautiful - lighting impeccable - everything about your space is brilliant. please tell me you listen to bon iver : ) ... best of luck to you both. wish i could vote more than once!

Very creative and cool, and my favorite is the branch.

Awesome guys! It's absolutely perfect. :)

I saved the pic of the bed in project files wwwway back while they were working on it. I love what you've done now that it's finished!

Love that big eared Dog. Wish there were pictures of her!

Very cool use of the space. I love the bed platform for extra storage

is that a real tree??? gorgeous. love the cork look on top of the bed platform as well. i'd live in a tree house if i could!

oh myy gooodness! this is gorgeouss!! :]] i reallyy likee it some places it seems a little too much but i think its really creative and neat! good luck<3

too late to give the thumbs up but i love it!! esp the platform bed with the storage underneath..gives me an idea of cool underbed storage

so lovely one of the best posts I've seen yet

Nice place, where did you get the sofa from?

@ipcmd0 We found both sofas on craigslist. The large beige one in the first picture is made by Machalke. The small armless one in the fourth picture is vintage, reupholstered by the previous owner.

lovely. great work. you should be proud [you are, since you posted here! :) ]

I must always vote for someone in St Louis, always always always. It's my favorite place

LOVE IT!!! :) The kitchen is my favorite.

I'm so disappointed you're not the category winner. I'm not sure what passes for cool these days, but in my opinion this place is it. So many great and interesting ideas. I appreciate the aesthetic mix: industry, art, and nature.
I like: that cool china cabinet thing in the kitchen, the chain shelves, the tree headboard, the raw flooring, the grey leather? sofa, etc... Inspiring.

Thanks to everyone who voted for us, I'm actually pretty damned stoked that our cheap-o wacky living space got as far along in the contest as it did. For awhile it seemed as if the contest was "Dave & Amy vs. The entire borough of Brooklyn." :) Thank you all. Here's a link to more of our evolving space on flickr page if anyone's interested: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghosteater/sets/72157603851613674/

This place was tops. Y'all were robbed! Enjoy it real life though!