Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Small & Cool

No, not me.

Apartment Therapy's annual Smallest Coolest Apartment contest is on for 2007. I love this contest! It's so inspirational. Click through the entrants listed on the page I linked to, and you'll see a broad range of styles and tastes, and some pretty cool solutions to small space living.*

(Although, I do sometimes find myself looking at these places and thinking Dude, where's all your stuff? I'll bet there's more than a few of these entrants who box up like 80% of their stuff for the day while the photos are being taken. Mind you, I assume everyone has pack rat tendancies like I do.)

It's a design contest open to any apartment under 650sq foot (around 60m square). Entrants submit 3 photos and a floorplan, and then steel themselves for all the judging of their taste that goes on in the comments. Man, some of the commentors get nasty. Some of the apartments are absolutely stunning.

Of course, there's a few shockers in there too.

* Then play a game of "spotto" with an Ikea catalogue.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love it! It has been in my RSS feed for a while, I love checking out what people have done. Last year's winner was a stunner too.

My favourite apartment on that website is this one:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/house-tours/inside-out-uri-stays-monochrome-015751

Love those hanging lamps

What's your favourite?

Anonymous said...

Makes me think of some of the most fantastic small room/ apartment makeovers Nate Berkus has done. He is amazing. I love seeing the talented ideas people have. I am a bit of a modern mixed with eclectic country cosy style person. I love using mismatched colours and patterns to the point where they seem to marry up.

Michael Guy said...

#30 "Ron's HOTEL SWEET" has my name on it! Love what he's done with 300sq. feet. Very luxe and comfortable/livable. Thanks for this link, Andrew. I'm looking for some new design ideas and this is a good link.

The Other Andrew said...

Tyson, oh my gah - I don't think I can choose... I'm biased towards the ones that have a seperate bedroom, I don't like the idea of a studio so much. Too much like camping out in the living room.

I do however like #30 as Michael Guy mentioned below (although too small for me!).

Q, I agree about Nate. I like the apartment with plenty of colour, and I lean towards an eclectic 'mid century modern' sort of mix.

MG, you're welcome. The ones from previous years are goo too. There should be a link there somewher. I also want to get a copy of their "The Cure" book, which is about paring down, creating style, using space well. So far I haven't found a copy here, I think I'll have to hit up Amazon.

Cecilia said...

I've been getting tired of the clutter I've been living in but I just don't think I have the design vision to pull any of this off! I need someone to come in and do it. And I also need to rent a storage unit or something so I can get rid of the 80% of stuff you were talking about! Maybe I need a copy of _The Cure_ as well. Although my former roommate bought me a copy of _Taming the Paper Tiger_ and that didn't work at all. I think rat pack tendencies come with love of crafts. That is my excuse anyway, and I'm sticking to it!

The Other Andrew said...

Cecilia, I hear you. You know what I need? Well, aside from a storage facility - another room. I really need an office/craft room. Sadly, my tiny little cottage won't allow for that, not unless I get rich enough to not have a flatmate.

Michael said...

A craft room makes me laugh. That reminds me of when Will converted Grace's bedroom into a gift-wrapping room, just like Candy Spelling's.

I LOVE that link. I forgot about it from last year. Spanks for reminding me, doll.

Is it just me or are some of those room names tres provocative? OK, MOST of them. The one from Ann Arbor, MI (I'll have to check the name/number) is SO VERY Ann Arbor. It's a college town with a fabulous mix of people and I'm going there this weekend to hang out with friends before my nephew's bar mitzvah.

Hmmmm. I guess that's it then.

Michael said...

P.S. I just checked out "Ron's Hotel Sweet" and I agree that elements of that would be PERFECT for you, MG! However, that room is virtually a copy of one I've seen in a magazine, but damned if I can remember where right now. The sofa, the lucite tables, the lamp, the zebra rug...I'm not saying that isn't kosher to honor someone else's work, but is there such a thing as decorating plagiarism?

I just found out that Design Within Reach has a biennial clearance sale near here twice/year. My new "friend" goes there to stock up cool stuff on the cheap for his chic little rentals. MUST! GO!

Michael said...

Oh crap. One more thing? You also have me completely hooked on "The Sartorialist". I look at that every day now!

The Other Andrew said...

Hey Mr Mike, so many snippets of info tucked into those comments! Like stealth sharing. A weekend away, a bar mitzvah, a new "friend"... I need more info on that last one espesh. Hmmm?

Dude, I miss your blogging so much. Please tell me you haven't packed it in for good?!

The Other Andrew said...

Cross posting! Aaaaaargh.

Glad you love The Sartorialist! I'm an enabler.

Destructomeg said...

Oh I love it all sooooo much. I've spent all day browsing! *happy sigh* (who needs to work anyways?!)