Small Cool 2011

but seriously can i live with you this summer?

I love your choice in patterns for your pillows. Where did you get the Missoni-like zigzag patterned pillows?

It took me awhile to get my head around this space but once I got there I think it's brilliant. Love the canopy bed with 'closet' space behind. Not quite as chaotic as the pictures first appeared. Are they wine bottles hidden up in the rafters of the kitchen?

I'm in love!

very clever closet system! creates a cosy romantic bedroom, plus it's functional, that's cool :)

The bedroom, with the curtains functioning both to hide your clothes and create a sort of canopy around the bed, is genius. Incredibly beautiful and inviting.

The pops of color on pillows and two chairs when you first enter are nice! Very cozy and well thought out. the to lights flanking the bed are beautiful.

Charming kitchen and bed! They look so cozy. The living room, to me, is a little cluttered but it certainly is full of character!

I love how cozy this is! I love your bike too! Always good to see how other people store their bike.

Very charming and homey! The bedroom is great.

This place is truly great. I love your tiny kitchen! We seem to have similar problems--very little counter-top space. Yours looks far better than mine!

Your bedroom storage system...genius. It makes your bedroom look so comfortable, relaxing, and a bit romantic. If you hadn't mentioned the storage system, i wouldn't have known that was the purpose of the draping.

Beautiful place!

I've been keeping up with the latest entries everyday, and today is the first time I have logged in and added a favorite. You 100% get my vote! I'm SO in love with your cairrage house!

As others have said your bedroom and the curtains hiding storage and adding a romantic canopy at the same time...pure genius! Love the pop of colors the throw pillows add.

I love it! If only we could see see the outside--sounds like a dream!

Just lovely!!!!

This is fantastic, I love it! Very bright and cozy, I'll bet it's a great place to come home to :o)

This is so adorable and sweet, I just want to eat it! Cotton Candy is the perfect word to describe your cottage. It looks so much bigger than 395 sq. ft. Everything is placed and arranged to perfection! Could you share the source for the pillows on your two arm chairs?

I'm going against the grain...looks like there is wayyy too much stuff in that apartment, and it makes it look even smaller :-/

Lovely, and the surrounding sounds amazing!

when you have a full life and have little space, your space is going to have a lot of stuff in it. it's sad that people who live in small spaces get dumped on for "clutter". that's like saying, "you are not allowed to have mulitple hobbies or collect beautiful things because you can not afford or find a 4 bedroom house to house all of your stuff". this girl is obviously an active person who enjoys fluffy comfort when she finally plops and her home seems well organized using all of her alloted space. that's just my rant. - love, a long-time small space dweller

Such elegance in such a small space. I love the defiance of it (space be damned!). It's obvious that while your space is small, your life isn't. A fave for sure.

Very clever space usuage and very cozy. Love.

I'm in love. Would it be rude of me to ask how much you pay in rent?? I need to get out of Chicago...

In love for sure! Cozy and comfy...I want to be there on a winters' night with snow falling with a hot toddy in hand! Or a sunday afternoon in the summer...ok, I'll stop. You did a great job on the loft/bedroom creating more storage.

great place...hard to believe it's under 400 sq ft.

Love!

It looks a bit cluttered at first, but very cozy. I love the kitchen and bedroom areas.

This place is great. I think winners in this comp need that "special something" and I reckon you've got it. Good luck!

I want that mini kitchen.

I think this is great, and the only thing that throws it off an makes it feel "cluttered" to some is that oprn bookcase/chest under the tv. If it was white and had doors to enclose the stuff and the garbage it would look instantly pulled together and no one would call it 'cluttered'.
Some serious love and thought has gone into this home.
Where are the chairs in the livingroom from?

I meant 'open' bookcase

Very, very nice!

Fantastic!

Top Notch Work. Really. It blows my mind.

The beams and small scale of this place is really charming. You work with that very well.

The bedroom is dreamy.

WOOOOOOWWWWWW. You win!!!!

I could live here all summer!!!

I envy you, that place is awesome! You are very talented.

where is the hanging light in the kitchen from?

eloise, i heart this so, so much. come to chicago and help me with my teeny-tiny room too?

I love the space, and what you have done with it, but speaking from experience, I think if you cleared off some of the surfaces and de-cluttered, it would have so much more of an airy feeling. Many large patterns also make a small space seem even smaller. Having said that, especially with your limitations, I do think you have done an incredible job.

maybe i like having less thingss... and having A LOT OF symmetry ..and basically a Fixed Focal Point... ..but i like the warm lights. SOOOO hypnotic, I cant stop staring. =)

Wow!! What an amazing job you have done and I love seeing all the beautiful things you have collected into the space. To me the placement of everythng seems ingenious. I needed you when we downsized to our 800 square foot 2 bdrm...I thought that was a challenge...but, what you could have done with that! Amazing!

What a charming little chocolate box of a house! It has a riot of colour and pattern, but against a pure white backdrop it doesn't appear cluttered. Well done!

I want to know where this is! I'm an Aspen girl myself and lived in a west-end carriage house too! Lovely home!

Thank you all for your wonderful comments, they are very encouraging!

@Greener on the other side - yes, those are wine bottles! The rack was a feature installed by a previous tenant. I did not know if I would keep it, but now I secretly love it!

@Pamela L & @Raaina - The pillows are from either Lowes, Target, or Pier 1... all purchased on sale due to my teeny-tiny budget for my teeny-tiny space!

@azaleasmoke - The chairs were purchased at a wholesale design warehouse in Dallas that is no longer in business... sorry!

@kakers - Of course! 4th summer in a row. I will clear out some drawers for you. ;)

@AES0213 - The light over the kitchen table is from Lowes. It was only $19!

@ Olivia the piglet - Chicago soon for sure!

Very nice, cozy, bright place. Love it.

I LOVE AND I WANT YOUR KITCHEN

One of the coziest...want-to-go-to-bed-right-now bedrooms I've seen. Such a great idea with the white curtains, which one would think would box the room in, but it doesn't at all. In fact, adds depth to the room. Very well done. I absolutely love it!

White curtains upstairs are great - but the curtains in the living room don't seem to have enough space to hang properly. Maybe blinds would work better? Very cute cottage.

Adorable! Love the tent effect in the bedroom--and the kitchen is absolutely charming.

Ellie deserves some extra credit points for 1) finding one of the three places in Aspen you don't have to be a multi-millionaire willing to succumb to extortion to live in and 2) finding a place to stow the skis & bike & all the assorted bulky gear required to enjoy living in the Rockies in 330 sq ft. It's not likely any of the other contestants had to deal with those 2 extreme challenges.

I'm not normally a fan of clutter in my own life either, but here it all seems cheerful & cosy & just right, perhaps because of its mountain town context. I'll second someone's suggestion above to paint out & obscure all the stuff in the cabinet by the door in order to help it 'disappear' visually into the wall, but otherwise Ellie's done a fantastic job as a renter with her non-structural storage solutions & fashioned quite the charming hideaway for herself smack dab in the middle of paradise.

Love, love, love the bedroom space.

One of the best uses of space so far... not to mention adorable.

Very cozy & unique!

I've never seen a house that's only 400 sq ft.... and has 2 stories!

And I like everything decoration in this house!

Very very nice!

This is so clever and well done. You have a lot of creativity. I'm really impressed. I really love it.

Love the bedroom & the armchairs & the kitchen!
The living room does seem a bit cluttered at first glance, otherwise, great use of space & kudos to you for making it happen!

This is by far the coziest, homiest, most creative and colorful set-up I've seen, thus far! You have done an awesome job! It's inspirational and comforting at the same time.

Such a precious precious place! You should be a designer! The little personal touches make it so original. I absolutely adore every square inch of your home!

Wow....a storybook cottage!

You do have a great,charming space AND you have great design sense too. Love it, especially the bedroom!

Very Cozy.

I am not really a fan for the couch cover...but...your space is wonderful!

Absolutely ADORE this space! I want to curl up in the living room on a chilly winter day with a cup of tea and a book. LOVE.

Adorable! You have to post your summer garden this season.....

the reason yours is my favorite is because i would want to live in it. i do not like cold weather and had to laugh because i would never guess with the bright and sunny style that it was in colorado. i would definitely have to live in a place like yours if i lived in freezing cold weather most of the year. :) best of luck!!!!!

This is definitely one of my favorites so far. We have low beams like that and eaves and you've given me some great ideas.

And I disagree with those saying this place looks cluttered. You've kept the walls white and seem to have been fairly restrained with what you've displayed. The suggestions for an enclosed cabinet and different curtains (maybe in a lighter pattern?) couldn't hurt, but you've done an amazing job so far!

I have seen several apartments in the Small Cool contest that have bikes in them and I always love it. The kitchen is delightful.

I have yet to see a home in this contest that beats how adorable this is. I am thoroughly impressed, I wouldn't change a thing :)

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! Perfection!

Thank you all for your kind comments! It is encouraging to hear all of the lovely thoughts about my curtained closet!

Living in this house has been a test in finding creative and extremely affordable solutions to a lack of space situation. Living in Aspen has so many amazing perks, but it also means living in a teeny-tiny budget. My budget has meant furnishing and decorating my apartment with begged, borrowed or donated items. For example, my couch came from a previous tenet and the brown shelves are borrowed from my boss! (they actually are made to be vertical, but did not fit in the space, so horizontal they went…) Another way I found I could add décor on a budget is to use interesting table cloths as curtains! They are not perfect, but they are changeable, serve their purpose well, and add more color, which I love!

I hope that my little space is encouraging to see what you can do with very little money and a lot of creative thinking. Thank you all for noticing the effort and care put into making this small carriage house a home.

this is divine. i am absolutely in love!

Truely inspirational . fav so far

<3 the throw on the couch. Where did you get it?

Bang-up job! Very cozy and unique for such a small space. It has so much natural character and charm and you capitalized on it beautifully. Hands down fave, you get my vote.

Exceptionally realistic. Adore the expression of selections with the white-washed architectural details. You deserve an A for that fabric storage solution design.

At first I didn't know what to make of the draped bedroom "walls" but after seeing others' comments and looking at the picture again I totally love it. It's so ethereal -- must feel like sleeping in the heavens! I just want to run out and buy fabric for my bedroom now. Even more impressive that it serves such a utilitarian storage purpose.

I have a big chair in my living room just like yours and I KNOW it's a wonderful place to nestle into. Your space is perfection in a teeny-tiny package!

Love love love.

You've inspired me to get over my lack of space and get a bicycle. If you can fit one (and fit one well) in your space, I can fit one in mine!!

sooo cute !!