What is your one favorite element in your small, cool home? While it's a simple room and it has some great architectural details (the building was designed by Julia Morgan, architect of Hearst Castle) my favorite element is the light. So starting there we placed reflective elements to refract the light around the room, like a handmade mirror and a very large lacquer disk, and a couple of small lamps in the darker corners that accentuate the daylight.
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What was one of the biggest challenges you faced in furnishing your small home? We faced the challenge of making a small space a home for two people practicing Zen Buddhism in a religious community. As professionals who have, for the moment, put down our worldly pursuits, we wanted to create a living space based upon simplicity of form and economy of cost. The most difficult aspect of these goals was avoiding the clutter created by the minutiae of small items in a small space. To remedy this problem we focused on creating height and depth with fewer and larger objects as might seem counter intuitive to small space. This approach resulted in a series of simple and clean lines in a warmly lit configuration creating a sense of containment without constraint.
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no kitchen? how/where do you prepare meals?
No kitchen, no bathroom and two people live there??
Gotta give you thumbs up on that alone because I couldn't do it. It does look restful although I think the architectural features would stand out even more if you painted the room a very pale zen like color.
Mek8004 & alaylam it dorm living which means eating and bathrooms are down the hall or near by.
I feel calm just looking at it. Ignore the "rules police"!
Clean the mirror!
Some of the vignettes are very pretty.
Love what you've done with the place. Very serene! But I agree that as a dorm it isn't a complete home. I think it might qualify if you had an electric griddle and a chamber pot ;)
Next year AT should have a dorm category!
I guess it all depends on how you define home, and maybe that's the question these entrants are offering for our consideration.
What is home?
(By the way, isn't that the question that drives this whole operation?)
Is a bathtub in the kitchen more valid than a bathroom down the hall? What if you store sweaters in your kitchen cabinets and shoes in your oven because you hate to cook and genuinely prefer to eat out? Do you have to have a Keep Calm poster, an Eames chair (no knockoffs, please), and a KitchenAid mixer to play this game?
This is their home, and I think it's lovely.
I can't give your place a thumbs up for obvious reasons (no kitchen/no bathroom).
However Julia Morgan was a fabulous architect and MORE books should be written about her. YAY JULIA MORGAN!
I like this alot. It is a shame that so many people think that a home requires more space and can't be a home due to shared spaces---something many of us might do well to embrace if we are serious about simplicity in our lives. It doesnt come from having more, despite the amount of marketing done on this site to encourage to consume more items that will make our lives simpler.
Wow this is a dorm room!! Its beautifully done for a dorm room.
I don't think u need a kitchen and bathroom to call it home...dorms are home to many students for at least a yr or more...nothing wrong with calling it what it is.
u got my thumbs up! Love all those lights.
home is where the heart (sorry for the cliche), not where the kitchen and bathroom are!
the apothecary armoire and nook above the dresser are lovely. and props for living harmoniously with another in such a small area!
*heart IS
I think the problem people are having with dorms is the fact that they are temporary. In most you are not allowed to change much, furnitrue, wall color, I don't think you can ever have pets so there's little you can do to make it "home" you don't get to see the true style of the person. I know a lot of apts won't allow you to change wall color but you can still put more of a personal touch with furniture and include pets (depending on the landlord).
Dorms are long term/temporary hotel rooms.
All homes are temporary, no?
i don't know, Joan52 - this space looks pretty personalized to me!
it's really beautiful.
I agree that a home is where you live, whether you share your kitchen and bathroom with others or not.
Isn't everything temporary? (an appropriate question considering this is housing at a Zen center).
Nice details, wonderful space.
The kitchen is downstairs, there are communal bathrooms on each floor. It used to be a home for single Jewish girls, a safe place to entertain gentleman callers, when it was built in 1923.
Where ARE your socks? Dad
@caiti So well said. My original comment should have been worded just like yours. I do feel there are many more successful examples of this style of home.
Caiti wrote: "It is a shame that so many people think that a home requires more space and can't be a home due to shared spaces---something many of us might do well to embrace if we are serious about simplicity in our lives. It doesnt come from having more, despite the amount of marketing done on this site to encourage to consume more items that will make our lives simpler."
I think the place is gorgeous, love your light above your bed. The fact that it is a dorm room and a temporary space that you've managed to give so much personalization too should get you MORE points not less.
My favorite lawyer also lives in a super cool place! I love it.
super beautiful, inspiring!
I definitely need to show your home to my grad student boyfriend, it feels airy and calm : a great place to study and just be together. Very inspiring.
Seems that you've landed yourself a very sweet, archetecturally-rich abode. There isn't really much decor to vote on. Three thumbs up for the building's details!
Absolutely amazing! Where did you get the floor plan?
I think simplicity and economy of space is where it is at. I commend you for creating such an inviting as well as serene environment in such a tiny space/dorm. You have come a long way grasshopper!
There is a shared kitchen downstairs and there are communal bathrooms on each floor. It used to be a home for single Jewish girls when it was built in 1923.
The kitchen and the bath are shared with other members of the community in this elegant building. In so many ways, this living is sane living in our times - with solar panels on the roof and shared meals the simplicity of this space extends beyond this room's four walls.
This room looks so peaceful and a great retreat from the busy world. Great job!
thumbs up, and I'm a competitor....
It seems too impersonal to me - where's all your stuff??
Is that a Citiapartment or USF bldg? :) I would have loved a dorm room with such personality.
lol @ comment asking "where is all your stuff???"
they dont have a ton of stuff---isnt that great??!
it's a LOT nicer than my dorm room ever was...this place is pretty bare, though. it's great to shun materialism, but this almost looks like a model home. i still don't know much about who lives there.
Lamp over bed, the bed and the purse on the door knob should stay, very zen, everything else should go, not zen, IMO. maybe a small bench at the end of the bed.
I would be in Buddha heaven if ONE of my rooms looked that good. Maj
I vote Yes. This is wonderful.
This place is horrible, what's so zen about it other than the buddha, fan, and lamps? Looks like pillows are a million years old too.
you did a wonderful job.
Lovely. I like that you've kept the adornments on the wall at the head of your bed to a minimum -- lends a balance to the collection of objects in other parts of the room. Very serene space.
I like many elements to this space, but the area above the bed seems barren and the shelf seems out of place. I also wasn't a fan of the Asian inspired lamp on the table. Other than that- the rest was lovely!