What is your one favorite element in your small, cool home? The open floor plan of our home allows us to host large gatherings of people comfortably in a small space.
Give Lane a THUMBS UP if you think this home belongs in the finals!
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Thumbs Up Voting is only activated for 48 Hours — so don't delay!
What was one of the biggest challenges you faced in furnishing your small home? As students, living in Iowa, we have trouble finding furniture that fits our style and budget. In addition to spending lots of money on shipping and frequently making the four hour drive to Chicago, we attend a local auction nearly every week which usually has some under appreciated mid century furnishings from local estates.
Give Lane a THUMBS UP if you think this home belongs in the finals!
Thumbs Up Voting is only activated for 48 Hours — so don't delay!
Thumbs Up Voting is only activated for 48 Hours — so don't delay!
Do you have a Small Cool Home? Enter Here by April 13th!








Shaw's Original Fir...
Can anyone identify that sink? Looks like one I saw on Ikea's website but this pics looks much better! :) Love the whole place.
great colors... love that HW dining room (add a rug and it would be perfect)
That first shot is particularly lovely!
Student housing never looked so good! Nice work!
Oh So Chic!
Love the Heywood-Wakefield dining set and credenza!
Fantastic! I love your dark and moody color pallet. It's very sophisticated.
Very nice! You have some beautiful pieces! I would love to know the name of the grey paint in your living room and dining room...
Wow! you've done a lot better job than I have with what Iowa has to offer!
You're students? Is this how students live in Iowa? I feel so pathetic now.
THANK YOU for not taking pictures of soap dispensers, baubles and books. Seeing images of the actual rooms not only proves it is small, but it's also super cool.
Thumbs up!
Crisp colors and very well-edited are basic principles any of us can benefit from applying. A really nice place that looks as if you can easily change the mood/feel with accents and accessories as the situation requires.
This looks amazing.
I love your sofa! Your place looks great :)
dining room pic is amazing
While you are naming all the elements of your space, who makes the side chair in the living room? I LOVE IT!!!
Love the living room color !!!
Although I hardly think 1100 sq ft is a "small space", I have to give this one's design my thumbs' up! It's neutral-based, but still has some color to it, and the pops of lime green are great.
Plus, who wouldn't dig that drum shade over the table? I'm busy lusting over it right now.
wow, that color in the bathroom is rad! do you remember the name of it?
I think this is great!
I've got a question about the danish modern living room chair with the two black cushions. If a chair just like that, but without the cushions, popped up on Craigslist without an asking price, what would a reasonable offer be? I'm clueless, and the seller is annoyingly passive-aggressive.
He/she is actually selling a matching pair - they'd be perfect across from my imaginary desk in my currently empty office. But I'd have to have cushions made.
Be still, my beating heart! This house is perfect.
I love the bathroom vanity and sink and am looking for something similar. Who makes these or where did you find them? Thanks!
Gorgeous space! I'd love to know more about your sofa....
A palette after my own heart. Love this!
I love the dining room.
Uh, I'm continually impressed with my home state of IOWA. Obama, gay marriage and now this. Your place looks better than all the highfalutin places in New York City. Good luck in the contest. You did IOWA proud.
This is great! I am just so impressed with the submissions this time 'round, especially because the ones I'm giving the thumbs up to are styles that I normally am not in to (modern). Fantastic, congrats!
I adore this - so sophisticated!!
very elegant.
your couch and dining chairs are a little too post-modern for my taste. but well done on a budget.
This is a definite thumbs up. Great all around. I love the colors, furnishings, arrangement, everything. I live in the middle of hipsville brooklyn and I have to say this submission is awesome. I would have never thought this place was in Iowa. I guess I have alot to learn about what Iowa has to offer. Once again, congrats on a great job!
BTW is that Eucalyptus Spearmint hand soap in the bathroom? I am not a big Bath and Body Works fan but that is my all time favorite hand soap.
as a fellow Iowa City gal, i must say i'm SO JEALOUS!
but jealousy aside,
kudos on your killer apartment!
Gorgeous. I second the request for the name of the paint in the bathroom!
The entire home is beautiful and I love the fact that there is no clutter anywhere. The hardwood floors, furniture, wall hangings and colors are gorgeous.
Place looks amazing. Good work!
I love the wall colors - very soothing (to me, anyway!)! The place looks beautiful!
Proves that taste is all you need, not cash :-) (ok sometimes it helps...)
Great job!
Yes, the lack of clutter and busy looking tchotchkies make this my favorite. Nice clean lines. Also there is a wonderful blend of mood lighting and fresh natural light. Great built-ins too!!
Great design!
I know this house and the new look is dynamite! Clean and sophisticated---not like the Iowa City apts of old!
Where'd you get the bathroom light fixtures? I love them!
Could you tell me where is the light fixture over the dining room table from?
I love the dining room table. Do you know a certain Grandpa that could make me one?
Love it. Incredible that students in Iowa have a home that looks this good; I'm really impressed with what style you have and what a great job you've done.
This is a lovely home. Too bad we can't see the kitchen.
This space is in Iowa! I can't believe it. It's so chic!
Hey everyone! Thanks for commenting!
To respond to your questions:
The vanity is in fact from ikea.
The lights above the vanity I got from a store named House of Lights in Kansas City, MO
All of the paint colors are Sherwin-Williams
Living room is "adaptive Shade"
Dining room is "suitable brown"
Bathroom is "riverway"
one living room side chair is a vintage Eames plastic armchair the other is just a danish modern no name I picked up for $15.
The sofa was purchased at a local furniture store in the super clearance section. I have noticed that the same couch is sold in brown leather at Chiasso in Chicago.
The light over the dinning room table is from CB2 and is still available in white.
Thanks again everyone, keep designing!
Wow, this place looks amazing!
This was done on a... budget? It doesn't look it: it looks high-end and thought out. Very nice.
I think the vanity and sink are from Ikea.
Clean lines, earthy tones... Looks so warm and inviting, yet very sophisticated.
I love it!
Love the colors! The living room is particularly my favorite. Nice work!
I think you need an antique starburst mirror above the bed, otherwise, this place is just perfect! The colors work really well together. Thanks for the tip about the lamp from cb2, only $49.95, not bad!
The colors, the clean lines: chic, warm, calming, sophisticated. Love love love it. We have the same Heywood-Wakefield dining table - wish we had the chairs, too!
Wow, impressive place - come style my apartment!
I LOVE this place! Is the artwork custom? I find myself trying to get a better view of it. I also like the way the sofa pillows are placed -- very stylish. Hope you win!
Very nicely done with great sophistication. You definitely have a talent !!!! It's beautiful........
How do you get down in that bedroom when it's so plain? You need a lil art to rev up some romance. Other than that I like you and your house is pretty!
I love the drapes, they really polish things off.
i am also kind of blown away by these "budget" claims. if this is true, i am beyond impressed. that dining set alone would probably be thousands of dollars in san francisco. nice work!
Great colors used throughout, very clean! What is the dining room wall color?
Go Iowa! Only 47 states to go!
Hey Lane!
You have mad style.
Blake and I live in 625 sq ft- so we'd hardly call this apartment small!
It has great light!
Jill
Laughing at the comments expressing surprise about Iowa...it's Iowa City, which is a university town and pretty progressive. And yes, affordable compared to NYC or SF or LA!
46 states to go now--thank you, Vermont!
Fantastic!
Yes, it's very tastefully done, with enormous restraint. I won't be giving it a thumbs up just because I think it's quite bland, hasn't used any features I would call original, and because it's really rather large!
It's the high class taste I have come to appreciate after meeting a friend who accepts nothing less than I drive his car when we ride together.
Kudos and Credenzas!
Awesome style and great job decorating!
It looks like an Ikea showroom, which is nice - just a little design sterile.
this place is great! Love everything about it. Great job.
This place looks professionally done! It has a strong, sophisticated look. Great job! I'm voting for you!
This is beautiful and classic!
Thumbs up from a fellow Small Cool contestant. I wish I could still vote.
Regarding the vanity from Ikea, is it actually a bathroom vanity offering at the store or did you custom order a kitchen cabinet and repurpose it for the bath?
Very nice!!!
LOVE IT! Now I'm wondering why I was never invited to one of those fabulous gatherings at your place?!
WOW! This entry has been among my top 5 favorite house tours on AT, ever!
I even blogged about it on April 16th 2009.
Hooray for chartreuse with neutrals, deep, warm colors!
I especially praise the colors Lane picked at Sherwin-Williams, so deep, yet warm and inviting:
All of the paint colors are Sherwin-Williams
Living room is "adaptive Shade"
Dining room is "suitable brown"
Bathroom is "riverway"
BM