Eclectic NY Loft

I saw this wonderfully eclectic loft in NY while browsing through one of my favorite design blogs, The Jailbreak. I love their collection of retro, borderline nerdy stuff juxtaposed against the very hip, wood and exposed brick space. The neon tube television sign is my favorite piece. Some of the comic books and kids toys get to be a bit too much for my taste, but in general I'm digging this D-I-Y project. The red tiles in the kitchen work well with the subtle light pink and green to create a sort of country home kitchen meets 1950's suburbia feel.




Modernism is so boring, I love seeing people showing some personality in their design!

lost my camera when I need it most

I'm actually about 95% done with this little loft interior build out that I have been creating for myself. Problem is, I left my camera on the bar at the Standard while I was paying my tab and it disappeared. I put the camera down and walked all the way to the elevator before remembering that I had forgot my camera. Was probably only gone 2 minutes at the most and it was gone. So... something else to add to my need-to-buy list.

In the meantime, I took a few photos of the progress with my camera phone. Using the loft bed design really opened up the floor plan. There are a few things that I still need to finish up. I need to hook up the pulley system to that I can raise and lower the bed. With the bed raised to the ceiling, I'll have about 7'-6 underneath so that will really make the whole apartment feel much more spacious. I also want to put some curtains up in front of the shelving under the bed. Shelves tend to get cluttered quite quickly and I always feel more at ease in a clean and well organized work area. More posts to follow.

How to live in under 500 square feet, part 1

One of the many projects I have been working on recently is the interior design for my own small studio apartment located in Downtown Los Angeles. The entire apartment is just under 450 square feet but the main room seems smaller than it should due to fairly large bathroom and eat-in kitchen. I am the process of moving into this apartment from a large shared house, which offered more than enough space to indulge in my habits of collecting musical instruments, books and assorted E-Bay bargains. Obviously the challenge of this project is to fit my ten pounds of junk into the five pound can I am about to move into.
The first step was to build as much shelving space as possible. However, this all needs to be accessible and while storage space is great, I also don't want to look like I am living in the middle of a walk-in closet. Secondly, I am unwilling to give up my large bed which offers an additional impediment to my rapidly shrinking floor area.
The solution had to be either a bed which folder up and out of site, ie. a Murphy bed, futon, or hide-away couch. The problem with all of those options is that they either take away from floor or wall space. The second option would be a loft bed. I took this a step further, what if the loft bed also could raise or lower so that you could still have enough room to stand under the bed when it is fully lifted. Therefore, option two it is! I am still able to have shelves on all walls, plus the bed can move out of the way when it is not needed.
I'll post some photos soon. In the meantime are some digital images of how the project is developing.