grey's kind of beach-y, teeny tiny apartment

[heygrey]

this is a good post for small space dwellers and minimalists alike. not that i'm an expert by any stretch, but i've learned a few tricks in the last three years.

we live in a basement apartment that is approximately 488 sq/ft. it has low ceilings, crooked walls, and various other unglamourous issues, but it is truly home. we've done a ton of work to the place to spruce it up. thankfully we have an awesome landlord that lets us do our thing AND foots the bill for supplies.

the whole space - wall, trim, ceilings, kitchen cabinets were some shade of yellow when we moved in. it's like they took a paint chip card in the snot yellow category and picked the first and third colours. trim, ceilings, and cabs were the first, walls were the third. it.was.awful. i lived with it for seven months before i decided it had to be painted today. my only goal was neutral and not beige so we picked a really pretty light grey (that i would later regret!) for the walls, and white for the trim. it is one million times better. 

Let's start with the bathroom shall we? it's tiny and it's rocking some hideous brass fixtures along side some cheap-o silver fixtures. no thanks to the previous, previous owners who built this suite on a serious budget. the space is too small to really decorate, but i love the seagrass baskets i found for those cubby shelves and that they kind of sort of tie in with the chocolate brown towels we already own. originally there was one small towel bar for our bath towels that was not installed into studs or with heavy duty drywall anchors. guess how long that took to come down? and how big the hole in the drywall was? we patched the drywall as best we could and then bought a 1x4 board, painted it trim white, added several hooks, and installed it over the old towel bar's mess into the studs. you can see the one towel hanging there to the left. it  

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The kitchen! i'd call it a generous galley. what you see is what you get. there is no hidden pantry storage. i've got 3 upper cabinets, 6 lowers, and 8 drawers - some of them so stupidly small, they are nearly pointless. that said, all of my kitchen stuff is in here - dishes, pots, pans, utensils, food. i went through several rounds of purging before it all fit, but i detest the idea of random things stored away. if i don't use it often, i probably don't need it at all. (and that means we gave away our microwave a year ago! haven't missed it at all.)

i've AWed that table before, but it's one of the best things in our house and i'm so proud that h and i dreamed up the design, drew the plans, and built it ourselves. it wouldn't be practical in a lot of houses, but it's so perfect for this space. 

if you look all the way down the right wall, there is a wooden sign that says "go jump in the lake" and a driftwood anchor. it's the one really obvious bit of nautical/beach decor you'll find here. 

i love the vast counter space and the huge windows. makes cooking a more tolerable chore!

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and because this is my thread and i can AW if i want - this is the view over my kitchen sink. 

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[heygrey]

The living room! This space took a looong time to come together. it's not "done", but it's so close. 

i've been collecting furniture pieces i love for a couple years, but it really wasn't until this summer that all those pieces started to relate to each other in any logical way. i love clean, straight lines - both mcm and modern pieces. i also love planks - tables, crates, wall art... anything with several board shoved together. i really questioned whether i could marry those two styles, but i found that having several pieces of each style (so none of them felt like an odd afterthought) and keeping the wood tones the same made it all work. now it's just playing with the little decor finishing touches (maybe another accent colour?) and painting a map of canada on that piece of wood over the couch!

one of my frustrations is that this is THE ROOM. it's an entryway, a living room, a hallway to every other room in the house (all four of them!), and sometimes a guest room. this means the living room part gets shoved in one corner to make space for those other functions. sometimes it feels like there is all the furniture and then wide open floor space, but i can't put things there or we run into them constantly. i've tried. 

i couldn't adequately photograph the entry nook because the light from the door was blowing it out, but you can see it in the top left of the second picture. when we moved in, there was no place for stuff to land as it came in the door. no place for shoes or coats or bags so the whole front wall became a dumping ground. we remedied that with another piece of 1x4 painted trim white with coat hooks and an antique cedar chest to hold things (extra bedding for guests and seasonal items - toques/scarves/mitts or swimsuits/beach towels) and provide a place to sit while getting into shoes. we do have a tiny coat closet in the back of our apartment so we just keep the shoes and coat we're wearing out and rotate as needed. 

all of the furniture and most of the decor is either thrift or yard sale. I'm willing to say that it all cost less than $500 all in.

also, h would like to note that the TV looks comically small (it is only a 26" after all) on the new TV stand and therefore he should be allowed to buy something bigger. at least 40". 

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(if you're standing in the second picture, the kitchen is to your left just past the brown chair and the bathroom is that door to your right close to the front door.)

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(in the third picture you can see the hallway to our bedroom (on the right), the storage/nursery/guestroom is directly back, and the stairs to our landlords' house is to the left.)

[heygrey]

coming eventually. our bedroom.

[heygrey]

and sometime after that... the nursery/guest room/storage.

(most people just get to decorate their nurseries. i get to build mine from the studs up. jealous?) 

[emoflamingo]

Love that kitchen table and rug!

[demelza]

Wow your view is killer! Your place is not too shabby for a basement apt!

[AmyRI]

You've done a great job. I love all your living room furniture! And completely jealous of your view. I'll add that to the list of reasons I want to become Canadian.

Would your landlord let you take down the glass shower door and put up a regular shower rod and curtain instead to eliminate the brass?

Be sure to take lots of before and during pictures while you build the nursery!

[heygrey]

Aug 20, 2013 7:48:45 GMT -5 AmyRI said:

You've done a great job. I love all your living room furniture! And completely jealous of your view. I'll add that to the list of reasons I want to become Canadian.

Would your landlord let you take down the glass shower door and put up a regular shower rod and curtain instead to eliminate the brass?

Be sure to take lots of before and during pictures while you build the nursery!

i have studied this from every angle and there really isn't a great way to do it. it would damage all the tile in the doorway and make the whole ordeal way more costly than it should be for a rental. 

i have seriously considered taping off the whole area and spray painting it chrome or brushed nickel (we have both finishes in there), but that seems like a huge PITA. and then the door handle and hinges on the main door are brass so if i leave both at least they match? lol 

i've also considered throwing a shower curtain up and leaving the door so when you look in you just see the curtain and not the door, but h told me that was kind of excessive and would be annoying to get in and out, since the door would swing into the curtain. he's probably right. 

[sierramist03]

wow your basement apartment is 100x better than the basement apartment we lived in for 2 years! Great job keeping it light and airy!

[moonlight]

Aug 20, 2013 8:59:32 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Aug 20, 2013 7:48:45 GMT -5 AmyRI said:

i've also considered throwing a shower curtain up and leaving the door so when you look in you just see the curtain and not the door, but h told me that was kind of excessive and would be annoying to get in and out, since the door would swing into the curtain. he's probably right. 

 I did this in my old condo. It worked fine and it never felt in the way. It looked a million times better. Plus you can bring color and design into the room. I'm not a fan of shower doors in general.

The rest of your place is great...and the view is amazing!

[ktzmoh]

THat view is stunning. And I love how you've kept everything so airy and light. I can't wait to see the nursery!

[mrsemilys]

Looks beautiful! Love the kitchen and of course the view. I also think keeping things neutral and light looks really nice in a small space!