Every year one of my all-time favorite blogs Apartment Therapy does a “Small Cool Contest” where readers submit photos of their small spaces to be voted on for the quality of the design work and over all feel accomplished in their small spaced apartments. I LOVE THIS! I’ve been living in teensy tiny apartments my entire adult life and I have a deep love for small spaces. Call me crazy, but I’ve never actually felt comfortable in large houses or apartments. I grew up on a ranch on a farm, lots of space, smaller house, LOTS of awesome family.
When P and I moved to Durham, North Carolina this last year we jumped at the opportunity to have a nice roomy two bedroom apartment in an old converted tobacco warehouse complex. While we do really really love this big apartment, we found that the novelty wore off pretty quickly. We moved from a SHOEBOX carriage house apartment in Charleston that was truly a studio, so tiny in fact that friends visiting had a space reserved on a blow up mattaras that fit just perfectly in the free space in the tiny galley kitchen we had. It was nice living in such a small space since we were both working full-time and really didn’t spend a massive amount of time in the apartment. Plus, Charleston is horrible for parking and our apartment included street passes AND was within walking distance to our jobs at the Apple Store, SCORE!
That was something we considered when we moved but stumbled across our current apartment by a last minute suggestion from my brother. Right now we’re within walking distance of tons of restaurants, the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the Durham Performing Arts Center and the gorgeous green spaces of Dukes campus. The area is truly gorgeous and we’ve really enjoyed living in a space that we can physically separate from our work (something that was a constant problem in CHS), here we can “spread out” and explore while still not having to use the car too much. Lots to do, good food and pretty spaces are really all we need.
That said, we’re coming up on the end of our lease and we’re having to make some decisions about what to do in terms of living spaces. We really love the complex and the area so we’re thinking of staying in the complex, just moving into a smaller apartment. I, for one, am SUPER excited about it! I really hate wasted space and I really just feel like that’s what’s going on in our current digs. We’re looking to pick up another studio to consolidate our space and once again force us to really think about our consumption and what we take in. We’ve been talking and we’re making a commitment to lessen our expenses and utilize our finances better so that we can spend our money on living our life, not just existing. We’re not so excited to do the actual heavy lifting, but we are excited to start really reigning everything in and getting back to a simple and perfect sized space so we can get to the business of enjoying our life together and not just working to pay bills.
Now that I’ll be having a new space to design, I’ve been really looking to the “Small Cool Contest” to jumpstart my creativity. Here are a few of my favorites so far. I’m also building a new “Small Space Living” board on Pinterest, if you’re as much of an avid pinner, as I am, have a follow and enjoy some pretty small space inspiration!
My ABSOLUTE favorite! Outdoor space and nice dark interiors, gorgeous!
The outdoor space from the apartment above, LOVELOVELOVE! I can imagine reading and tea all year round!
I love the table nook in the bay window and the ability to fit in a three seater couch, table and chairs, bed AND coffee table.
This just brings in my adoration and obsession with an a-fram house. Love the use of wall space!
Books in the fireplace AND a Boston Terrier! Just like us! That mirror above is perfect for directing light around the room and creating the illusion of more space!
I spot the IKEA! This looks more like what we have now, love the ability to "separate" the rooms and still have seating space, a couch, seat, books, desk and bed!
This is kind of what our place looks like now, exposed brick everywhere, our kitchen is really big though, moving to a smaller place, I like the kitchen table set and the storage. The pops of green make the place look awesome and larger than it is!
Love the iMac as the TV, we considered this, than P purchased the biggest TV in history. I still like the use of the credenza and the CB2 book holder. Plus, We love our cardboard moose head too 
Oh how I love LAMP! These hangy lamps are my favorite, I love the table in the back (concealing a puppy bed in our case) the bike storage and the rug, couch coffee table, still spacey without sacrificing sitting room!
How about you? What sort of spaces are you attracted to? Do you also have a small space fetish as I do How would you take the opportunity to maximize the impact of what you have and change your habits to make sure you weren’t overcrowding things? Due to tremendous (and stupid) comment spam, I’ve eliminated the comment area, I still love interacting though so share with me on the Facebook page, Google+ or let’s get chatty on Twitter!
Really love all the pics of the apt. Wondering where I can get a kitchen table set like that.