Who Lives Here: Anu Location: Clayton, Missouri Size: 593 square feet
What is your favorite element of your Small & Cool home? I love my kitchen. Although I rarely cook because I eat at the restaurant where I work, I think it's really nice to have such a large kitchen in a one- bedroom apartment. The kitchen in my previous studio apartment was a lot smaller.
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What was one of the biggest challenges you faced in furnishing your Small Cool home? Larger space gives me more creative freedom but it also requires more money, It was a bit challenging at first to find items that I want without breaking the bank. But with a little bit of research and patience, I did overcome the obstacle eventually. Most of the decorative accessories in my apartment came from flea markets and bargain stores like Target and Home Goods. Some items I got off of craigslists at unbelievable price like $100 chinese chippendale chair in the living room. Even the wallpaper throughout the whole apartment costs less than $250.
I find the internet and local library to be the most helpful for my decorating hobby. Another resource I think is very helpful is the sales associates at hardware stores for my DIY projects. Ever since I started this decorating obsession a few years back, I have always been on the look out for good stuff and enjoyed the process of bargain hunting along the way. It has been great fun.
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Check out all the entries on our contest page.
Dirty Little Secrets of Tidy Families
Hillary & Michael's Refined Roost
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Nomade Express Slee...
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
How to Make Buckwheat Soba Noodles from Scratch
Very classy and well done.
So many risks! So much talent! World class skill. :)
wow, this place is awesome
Beautiful!
I love the silver paint (or is it wallpaper?) and gold frames in the hallway, and the great combination of the blue wallpaper and yellow drapes in the bedroom. You've created so much drama and interest. Really lovely.
Nice mix of casual/traditional, functional and reasonably balanced, no fear of pattern, not too shabby!!
Love the wall paper in the kitchen. Would love the source. The rest of the house is a bit too much for me.
I LOVE your place. Great use of wallpaper and color. You clearly have great vision. I also love how symmetrical everything is...balance is very comforting to me :)
That living room is to die for!
omg please come decorate my place!
Very impressive!
Excellent job Anu!!!
Since finding the AT blog a week ago all the posts have given me such a desire to do something with my drab apartment, but your post just kicked that up another 100%. I think Interior Design is calling your name:)
Question what software did you use to create your floorplan photo?
EXQUISITE. Like a jewel box. Clean, elegant and colorful. It was great to see the floor plan; that added much to the appreciation of your wonderful digs.
Let's see more from you, Anu.
Bravo! Is this a rental?
Just beautiful.
Great place -
I love what you've done with the living room and hall - and that wallpaper in the bedroom is fantastic.
I only wish you had chosen to stay with the blue in your bedroom draperies rather than the yellow - They just don't work together that well. The same trellis pattern in blue would have been so much more cohesive.
I'm giving you a thumbs up anyway for your sophisticated and daring sense of style.
Love that this has a magazine styled, yet homey feel. Decorating is just your hobby?
Absolutely beautiful...I could happily live there for the rest of my days! What is on the walls of the hallway, it's amazing...
Truely inspiring. I love that your in Missouri. Sometimes I feel like its hard to find good pieces cheap in small town in the midwest. But you're place proves its out there is I just wait and watch.
Thanks for sharing your home.
What a gorgeous, romantic place!
Beautiful! Can I give more than one thumbs up?? My favorite so far, but I don't think anyone will be able to surpass this.
LOVE the hallway.
The paper in the bedroom is sweet, without being too much. The kitchen and hall show a lot of restraint. The living room is a bit eye-boggling for me, but I appreciate the boldness, that's for sure!
Anu, this is absolutely magazine worthy. I especially love your wallpaper restraint. It's perfect!
this is my favorite so far.
Stunning. I agree with quirkyliz. This is by far my fave entry.
Where is your couch from?
Not my style, but well done.
This is beyond beautiful! Definitely my favorite so far!
Just beautiful...I absolutely adore the wallpaper in the kitchen! Can you share the source? Oh and the light fixture in the hallway, I want!!!
this is stunning. you've made it feel so much larger.
Ambitious! Thumbs up for incorporating so many creative ideas.
I would never have guessed the square footage would be so small! You have done a great job opening up that space to make it seem much larger than it is!
I would have guessed the apartment was done by a professional decorator with a big budget. It's amazing.
She has so many patterns going on but somehow it all works together...fantastic place!
I love the use of wallpapers here. Really nice touch. And the bedroom is a dream.
But I don't think the sofa goes with the decor, except for its color.
What a pretty, jazzy abode you have created for yourself, Anu.
I AM IN LOVE WITH YOUR BEDROOM!
Cute place. I'm surprised no one has said your bedroom wallpaper looks "granny." Congratulations
It looks so much like a catalog to me. Not to say that it's not nice, it just looks very staged.
i like it :)
the bedroom isn't my style but i still appreciate that it's well done and seems to work.
the living room is just close enough to luxurious without being ostentatious and that makes it awesome!
Looks like a winner!!
Anu, what type of storage is under your kitchen island? It looks like linens??
LOVE IT, and a woman that is not afraid of using wallcoverings. This what I called an excellent decorated apartment.
Exquisite.
So many great textures and patterns! I really love that side chair in the living room.
It is a neat space. It just looks a little too contrived - almost like display windows.
This is stunning and the best apartment I've seen in a very long time.
Would you mind sharing what you did in the hallway? I would like to imitate what you've done; it's a wow! It works. It's beyond beautiful.
Yes! What I love about this is you basically had the "plain box" to work with. I see so many lovely homes here with amazing architecture- it's almost impossible to get it wrong. But this space, you had very little to work with and ended up creating something utterly gorgeous! No small feat!
WOW!!! I don't think I can vote on any other entry after seeing this one.
Wow! I'm really happy to read all your kind comments. It was a great pleasure to be a part of this exciting competition. So here I'd like to answer some of your questions;
@Botany, @teresadelizo, all the wallpapers are by Norwall.
@thesmilequeen, software is Adobe Illustrator.
@LaDonnaNichole, yes, it's a rental apartment.
@kmitchell99, @Terry, there are baroque mirror, sconces and silhouette images in gold frames.
@melissa, Ashley Furniture.
@remy, I put some linens to cover unsightly stuff inside for photographic purpose. Sorry, not a very convincing staging. :-)
And thank you so much everyone for voting. Your support is much appreciated. :-)
yours is the first to feel like a home. my taste is generally more mcm, but you have done an amazing job creating a livable space.
simply lovely! i adore your sofa! reminds me of a the shabby chic brand (i've been searching for a similar style for years). please, share the model name. thank you for sharing your home!!!
Definitely giving you a thumbs up.
It looks impeccable and obviously you have put in a lot of effort.
I am not sure if it is just the photos, but it definitely looks a lot bigger than what i am sure it is?
I love the different wallpaper choices, just brings your whole place to life.
Congratulations!
Love EVERYTHING about your living room! What is the color/brand on your walls? Is your rug white and BROWN???? If so, I have to know where to find one!
Hard to understand how this one classy space doesn't win.
Wow! There are so many cool things going on. Its like...It was almost there...then somebody got crazy with curtains :(
Gorgeous! I especially love the hallway, bedroom and kitchen. The bedroom is so calming and pretty, I love how everything isn't super matchy-matchy but still works beautifully together, that takes talent! :)
I love this- would probably add some more white background objects to the shelves on the wallpapered LR wall, such as trays, books, or plates, to make your objets-d'art stand out more/compete less with the wallpaper. Love it, though!
Whoops- I meant BLACK background objects, to make the white accessories stand out more!
The bedroom and the living room look like they're from different homes, but I still think they're both pretty. In fact, they look like they're from different neighborhoods in Manhattan, so I'm kinda glad to see this person is from way out there! Hee hee.
Patterns on the walls drive me to madness and everything is too much for me. However, I am offering my thump up because of the good eye for putting right things together and and how it looks busy and clean at the same time. (Thank you white bed and thank YOU white sofa.)
OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOUR APARTMENT! So sophisticated, chic and fun!
Please please please tell me where you got your black greek key fabric that you used for the valences/cornices in the living room! I'm in love!!!
Your apt is amazing! I can't believe it is under 600 sq ft. You did a wonderful job. I wish I could vote, but I missed the deadline.
Fantastic! I would have given you my vote, had I seen this in time.
What's the pattern name of the wallpaper pattern in the bedroom? And those controversial curtains - I love them. Did you make or buy? Where? Thanks!
I love the wall paper. Could you tell me where you purchased your stainless steel island? I'm looking for one just like that.
Very well done! Light, bright and uncluttered. Did you make those living room curtains - love them.
this is a place that if you were to visit, you would not soon forget it. i think that is brilliant.
Lovely! Thumbs up.
love the wall paper all over the house absolutely brilliant . In the living room would definitely take out the two barrel shaped shiny stools the iron chair and use a simpler white table and in the bedroom the curtain is ruining the otherwise absolutely beautiful room would make the curtains in a soft yellow or just leave white. but yes very lovely.
Fantastic!
Bold and beautiful.
Very formal style. The bedroom is gorgeous, the kitchen is very nice, but the other rooms need a more warm human touch.
So glamarous. Black and white is my all time favorite decorating motif....mostly because I can't commit to any other colors.
When people say it looks too contrived I guess that means you look too much like a professional which is a great compliment.
The wallpaper is to die for. Also I am curious about the Fornesseti photos. Did you get them from a book and frame them or did you down them from the internet?
I know this is an older post...but Anu, I love your home! Very cute!