Small Cool 2011

I love that rug! and your bed terrifies me...I roll in my sleep!!

I love the colours! I think that they will be great for quite a while! Unlike some colours that soon become irritating and/or out of style.

What a lovely apartment! You have a wonderful combination of clean, crisp lines, and pleasant warmth. The storage loft is such a clever idea, and it looks great!

Amazing! Definitely a favourite for me. Question though: Ever worry about falling out of that bed?

I love this. I love the shelves in the bathroom. Definately something I would like to do.

I LOVE the creativity of this space. I adore the couch, the rug, and the use of greenery. The bed is ingenious, but I couldn't do it. Would fall out for SURE. :-D

Really cute, really scary. Railings ? Just a thought.

Is that... a Metro map shower curtain?
It really works for the space.

Thanks everyone! I was originally going to have a railing on the bed, and it was a little intimidating the first few times I slept up there, but then I realized I have never fallen out of my bed when it was lower to the ground, so I figured I would be fine. It's been over a year now, and I have no problems without a railing.

bodicegoddess - good eye! I am a transportation engineer, so I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to things like transit maps.

I forgot to mention - it's hard to tell from the photos, but it is slightly shorter than a typical loft bed. It is 5 feet to the bottom of the bed, and the top of the mattress is a little over 6.5 feet off the ground.

Lovely use of space. I like that there is plenty of head room over the bed. I've slept in a loft bed with such little space that I couldn't breathe. This is liveable and beautifully done.

I love the space but I wouldn't call it a studio since it technically has a separate bedroom. Right? Still, it's beautiful...

I really like this. I had the same initial thoughts as most people about the bed and falling out of it, but as jacksonmarie3 pointed out it's not so close to the roof as to be damgerous from that angel as well!

I love the curved window sil in the bedroom and the desk in the bedroom is beautiful.

I don't like the paint in the bathroom but overall I love the amount of plants and flowers and I adore the 2 chairs in the living room. Dare I say it, this apartment is not over Ikea'd! Has real personality.

oops - angel = angle!

All of your storage solutions are extremely clever. I particularly like what you've done with the bathroom. Those simple, inexpensive baskets on the shelves look really graphic against the wall color.

:)

The bed scares the hell out of me!

I love your orange rug, gorgeous, you've made wonderful use of color.

I want to like this flat, I do but I don't understand the need to furnish it like a studio when it's not a studio. The layout is ideal, and a simple floor-to-ceiling wardrobe could have been easily combined to a down to earth, un-scary bed.

Loveit! The bedroom alone wouuld make for an interesting efficiency studio.

I love the yellow paint! Can you tell us what color it is?

i like the first two pictures... make the rest like that.

I love all the colors! We're painting 2 walls of our living room the same color as your bathroom this weekend. The living room is adorable.

Great idea. Looks really neat, lively energizing colors. Clearly not for anyone with vertigo or a sleepwalking habit ;-)

The use of space is brilliant. But most of all I'm DYING for your rug. Where's it from please? Exactly what I need to finish off my living room! :)

This space looks super cozy. I love your sofa. I wished I could see a close up of the space above your desk. I would like to see how your organized it.

Is this a studio apartment (per title)? It looks like a one bedroom to me. Either way, it's well done. Clever use of organization.

Thanks again for all the comments! I had no idea that my bed would get such a visceral reaction!

The apartment is indeed a one-bedroom, not a studio, just to clear that up. The reason I went with a lofted bed as opposed to floor-to-ceiling cabinets is the width of the room. I used a wide-angle lens, so it doesn't look as narrow in the photo, but without having the bed cantilevered, I would have nowhere to put my desk or have any sort of work area. There is also randomly sized stuff in the storage locker, like an extra chair, that wouldn't fit in a normal wardrobe. I do have shelves all along the wall that isn't in the photo.

lonestarstateofmind - I actually got the rug off craigslist a year or two ago, but I believe it was originally from West Elm.

CocoChic - I will have to look it up, but I picked it out from Benjamin Moore, and had it mixed up in Olympic to get the no VOC paint. It definitely had gold in the name.

I too feel nervous about the bed but it looks lovely. My favorite is the canvas boxes you used on the bookshelves. What a clever way to make your storage look really neat. I may have to steal that idea!

I've never fallen out of bed either, but wouldn't want to risk it with one at that height. I didn't see a ladder to it, please tell me you don't climb up the shelves I saw underneath the bed.

Like the Metro map shower curtain!

There is only one thing I don't like: the yellow. I'm just not a yellow person, it washes me out, and I would hate to look sick when I was home.

I love the bed. I lofted for years and never had a problem.

The orange chair in the bedroom is adorable. The overall flow of the space is great. And the tub (last picture) looks huge!

I can see myself in a space like that!

Absolutely darling! That dresser is to die for! And I love your sofa. I adore the lofted bed but I would definitely need a rail to hold me in at night.

Wow, definitely does not look under 400 sq. feet.

I love orange.

Oh my gosh love. The colours make it so lively and warm. You've created such a contrast of spaces within the small space, I wish I could do that! My flat is this size but it doesn't have the ceiling height, unfortunately.

It looks like I'm not the only one wondering about the bed...falling off? Fear of heights? What a great idea though!

Talk about setting the bar high right at the start... this is a wonderful approach to the space, well done.

gorgeous home, laura!

(sigh) I just don't get all the love. The gorgeous room with the bay window is sadly filled with the monolith bed unit, that is not neccessary IMO since this is not a studio. The rest of the decorating and the layout is SOOOOO nice and then....you come to the room-filled-with-giant-box.

I guess you can tell I am not a city apartment dweller. I just can't figure out that this is WAY OUT in the lead of favorites at this point.

I love the colors in the main rooms, so warm and bright. With all your windows the light is wonderful. I'd have a bed rail... but I totally get having a loft bed--this is after all 360 sq. feet! Less than 20'x20' to include EVERYTHING. I don't know whether I COULD edit down to so little though I like to think I could. And where, oh where, did you get those living room chairs? I would love to find a set like that.

The first photo had me intrigued - I had to click to see more. I really like the bathroom color and the storage in the bathroom - especially the use of the same container repeatedly with different items in them. Cute.

I do like the loft bed....and am in awe of the ceiling height and light you get in your apartment.

Well done.

I'm jealous of the ridiculously high ceilings and all the storage in the kitchen. The loft probably wouldn't work for me but I think it is a resourceful and well done solution...some lofts can be really ugly!

I love the chair in picture two. What is the source?

I'm still working on finding the living room paint color, but I can answer a few of the other questions.

It would indeed be scary if I climbed up the shelves in the photo to get into the loft, especially since they aren't attached to the loft and on wheels. The ladder is on the side by the windows, it is shown on the floorplan.

The tub is actually a large shower, and it's about 3'x4'. It just looks so big because the bathroom is so small. :)

The green living room chairs I bought for $5 apiece when my boyfriend's office moved and they sold a bunch of their furniture. I've seen an identical chair, and several similar ones on craigslist, so keep an eye out there.

The wooden chair in picture 2 I actually bought from a stand on the side of the road in Honduras (I bought 2 of them for $17 - the other one is under the loft). I dismantled them, sanded each piece and stained them. They are called appalachian chairs, and I've seen them online, so just do a search for them.

Sorry but I just don’t get it! Why with all the gorgeous apartments so far in this contest is everyone liking this Ikea look a like space? I’m sorry but it looks like a high end dorm room, I’m starting to think this contest is all about how many people you know and that will vote for you, I mean… did you even see Jay’s and Adam’s space and OMG Evan’s LA loft, it’s incredible yet everyone seems to love the Ikea/Crate and Barrel look!!!

I found the paint for the living room - it is actually Pratt and Lambert Burnished Gold (11-13).

Ok...although my stomach gets queasy whenever I look at the photo of your bed (you are braver than brave), you have decorated with colours that are vibrant, yet not overpowering and your accessories all match wonderfully. Very comfy well laid out apartment!

Wow! It doesn't look as small as it is! I can see by the floor plan that if the bed wasn't a loft bed the space in the bedroom wouldn't accommodate a desk area as well, so I don't understand why some are saying it's unnecessary...Besides, it looks cool and that would be reason enough, I think!
I love most of the colours, especially the bathroom. I'm not really a yellow wall person, but the space definitely looks cheery and it's not overwhelming!
So cute! If I was your friend you'd have a hard time getting me to leave your place!

I like your sewing cabinet! What kind is it!?

SanSouci572 - are you referring to the desk under the loft bed? I bought it at the Eastern Market flea market here in DC, and it is a vintage, if not antique piece of furniture. I mostly do use it for sewing!

Where did you get the light blue fabric for the bottom of the curtains? They look great. I love the whole place actually.

DNBursky - it is a solid linen that I painted the pattern on with fabric paint. It turned out to be a bit more of an involved process that I thought it would be, but I was really happy with the results.

I know someone who had a sleepover guest roll off a loft bed that was even "safer" than this one. The sleeping loft was closed in all around except for a transom window. The window was closed at the time but she still fell out (during 'the act' no less) and broke her neck. A huge lawsuit still in play plus this person will be in wheelchair for life. I would highly advise rethinking this bed as adorable as it is.

Great use of color! I really like the bathroom.

You are brave for sleeping here but I adore the color! And the repetition in storage, it actually works surprisingly well.

PleasePlease tell me where I can get a chair like the one in picture 2!!!

bzzzt - I got my chair in Honduras, but it is known as an appalachian chair, and you can find them here as well. I originally saw this style chair on Apartment Therapy actually, and fell in love with it (http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/good-questions/good-questions-identify-this-wooden-chair-066972). Every website that I can find that sells them at the moment appears to be out of stock, but if you are handy, you can buy a plan to build it, which wouldn't be hard - http://www.bearwood.com/product3621.html

I sanded and stained mine, and it does take a while to do that, because it has so many individual pieces, so something to consider before buying or building.

brightred - here is a closeup photo of the desk - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lmcwethy/5598483301/

We built the organizer board, which has outlets for charging electronics and speakers which I can hook up to my ipod or whatever.

Freakin love the bed, the colors, and soft cozy couch. Way to go!!! By the way, where does everyone get the room drawing from?

So I'm behind the curve on this, but I love the colors and vibe of your place. And those curtains in the bedroom are great.

Love the orange as an accent color in a sunny space. The storage locker works, but don't you fall off the bed? Scary! I'd prefer deep drawers under a "slightly" high bed platform.

So lovely! What a fantastic use of yellow and orange!! Very brave and pulled off extremely well - kudos! :)

I love the loftbed design. Amazing use of storage space and all in all a clutter free comfy cozy apartment.

It is really amazing that you were able to create the feeling of a proper "home" in this small space. Everything seems to be in its place but nothing seems forced. So light and airy and liveable.

I like the use of matching containers on shelving. It keeps things looking uncluttered & tidy.

love, love, love EVERYTHING! Thank you for sharing!

I think it's lovely. Your home was the first that I chose to be my favourites. I even posted it on my blog. Where did you get your orange rug?

what a cool place!! the colors are perfect

Cool idea to create a bed on top of a closet, don't roll over too quickly in bed! Idea - could you put in storage/drawers within the window seat? It's a nice built in, but imagine being able to have drawers as part of it - would give you a bit more storage :)

Love the wooden living room chair. Some very nice touches. The bed, well, you'll never get me into it! ;-)

Thanks again for all the votes and comments!

@Pamela L - I bought the rug on Craigslist, but I believe it was originally from West Elm. They no longer have it, though.

@DB Modern - That is a really great idea! I rent, so I don't think my landlord would take to kindly to me altering a wall, and I don't know how much space is actually back there, because the bay window tapers at the bottom on the outside of the building, as you can see here - http://someoneelsehaslmcwethy.blogspot.com/2009/12/sneak-peak.html. My main problem was having large, awkward items too, so that was why I went with the more "storage locker" design.

Love, love, love this place!!

One of my favorites, I keep coming back to it. Laura, you haven't fallen off the bed since you posted this right? Just checking on you. :)

@cvgmiami - Thanks so much! I haven't fallen off, but I have been sleeping closer to wall, since everyone has been so concerned. :)

This is cute but I don't think "Sophisticated" is the right word. But still very precious.

Um, that bed scares the crap out of me!

For sleeping in that bed alone you are favorited.

Great use of color throughout as well.

I also know someone who was injured falling off a bed (and it was not even lofted) while sleeping. I know you said you've never fallen out before, but it only takes one time! I'm not judging or preaching; just expressing sincere concern.

A bed on the ground with a tiny bit of storage is such a waste of space. I wonder why more people don't have beds higher up. The bed doesn't look sophisticated but it is functional. }
it isn't very sexy having to go up a ladder to get into bed with a guy.

It's happy-fall-off-your-bed-night.

Yay Laura! You made it top ten.

But don't get too excited or you might fall out of bed.

Where did you get the bed, if you dont mind me asking.. im moving into a studio and that bed would work perfectly!