Dylan spotted this on Dezeen. This house is Designed by Hiroyuki Tanaka Architects in Yokohama, Japan. Using geometric lines and shapes mixed with simple materials, the result is airy and dynamic in an unexpected way.
It's a small apartment that's little bit more than 300sq ft. But they really maximized the space by building this amazing bookshelf that is actually makes the walls of a room. I dream of a place with shelves all over, and that's a fantastic solution!
I also love the curved alcove. And look! the seats comes out!
You can see more photos and read more about it, here.
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So this is it! It's our final goodbye to Dylan & I's very first apartment in the hip Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. We did what our landlord called "terminal" cleaning on every inch of the 1400 sqft apt/studio....one that would get us back the non-refundable $150 cleaning fee. We thought...."$150..that's money that we can use in our home improvement fund! YAY!"
Little did we know...it took us a whole week to fully, TERMINALLY clean!!
We had to scrub the walls, all the cabinets and doors, the lights, the ceiling (10 ft tall), all the appliances(inside & out, behind & below), all the molding, the radiators, the tub inside and underneath (the curse of claw foot tubs), and the toilet, etc....EVERYTHING!
We gathered the most essential and effective cleaning tools ever assembled..as we switched between a spray bottle to disinfect, a sponge to scrub the wall, a toothbrush to brush the nooks & crannies, a rag to wipe, and a bucket to rinse. We cleaned through the late nights while the city slept. We scrubbed, wiped, sprayed, and then scrubbed some more.....We were determined.
But mostly it brought out the worse side of me (Jean)...the anal retentive, OCD side of me....or I like to see it as the BEST side... the detail-oriented, meticulous perfectionist! Is the glass half full or half empty? HMM? There's really no right or wrong answer for that now, is there?
One may ask...Was it worth it? But I would ask... can one put a price on a spiritual experience that taught us the value of patience and endurance? And can one really put a price on the intimate personal experience I had cleaning the bathroom where I was practically giving the toilet a lap dance as I scrubbed the walls behind and around?...no, you can't...neither can one put a price on the feeling of accomplishment and success as one walks through the dust-free dirt-free space and seeing the apt is cleaner than ever!
But I suppose you CAN break it down in money terms...so Dylan and I each put in about 15 hours....and also Chika help with the studio where she put in about 5 hours....so that gets us... $150 divided by 40hours of work...3.75. That's what we made on an hourly basis for terminally cleaning this place. Wow...$3.75/hr huh? I didn't realize that's what we'd get. Why didn't we calculate this out before we started cleaning??
We gathered the most essential and effective cleaning tools ever assembled..as we switched between a spray bottle to disinfect, a sponge to scrub the wall, a toothbrush to brush the nooks & crannies, a rag to wipe, and a bucket to rinse. We cleaned through the late nights while the city slept. We scrubbed, wiped, sprayed, and then scrubbed some more.....We were determined.But mostly it brought out the worse side of me (Jean)...the anal retentive, OCD side of me....or I like to see it as the BEST side... the detail-oriented, meticulous perfectionist! Is the glass half full or half empty? HMM? There's really no right or wrong answer for that now, is there?
One may ask...Was it worth it? But I would ask... can one put a price on a spiritual experience that taught us the value of patience and endurance? And can one really put a price on the intimate personal experience I had cleaning the bathroom where I was practically giving the toilet a lap dance as I scrubbed the walls behind and around?...no, you can't...neither can one put a price on the feeling of accomplishment and success as one walks through the dust-free dirt-free space and seeing the apt is cleaner than ever!
But I suppose you CAN break it down in money terms...so Dylan and I each put in about 15 hours....and also Chika help with the studio where she put in about 5 hours....so that gets us... $150 divided by 40hours of work...3.75. That's what we made on an hourly basis for terminally cleaning this place. Wow...$3.75/hr huh? I didn't realize that's what we'd get. Why didn't we calculate this out before we started cleaning??
Oh wait! I take it back. We actually got $150 AND a quarter!! After cleaning all 7 radiators in the apt coughing and sneezing away...it wasn't till the VERY last radiator I cleaned that I found a quarter!! Maybe it's not so bad after all. Oh yeah.... I also found a dust ball weighing roughly a pound, one little baby sock, and one popped kernel of popcorn!!
...Life is just full of freakin' surprises, isn't it?
We're really gonna miss this place...especially the kitchen....So, goodbye....and hello new home!
Poppytalk once again has generously allow L&G to participate in submitting a post on their wonderful blog. Last week, I did a cooking with L&G post, and this week I finally was able to get my act together in taking photos around Dylan&I's apartment and and answer some fun questions for PHM Studio Spaces post!
Doing the post motivated us to do a farewell photo tribute (more photos!)to our first and probably the coolest place we lived together. Yes....we're saying goodbye to this amazing 1905 apartment in the middle of Capitol Hill, Seattle. I know it may sound crazy....and we assure you that it's for good reasons...we got a house!! It's totally a great thing...except it's just a little sad leaving the high ceilings, the old world charm, the claw foot bathtub, and the large kitchen....sigh.We can't really complain, because we're moving to Ballard, which is a wonderful area close to a bunch of new great things! It's a great Scandinavian community with a fun little Nordic Museum and Scandinavian Grocery shop . It's close to the beach, the best Sunday farmer's market, downtown Ballard with great shops and art walks, bars, and even thrift stores! We just have to keep reminding ourselves of the good positive things, even though we're moving into a not as cool of a place....soon enough we'll make it awesome!
Which reminds me one good thing...we get to pick paint colors for the walls and hang as much stuff on the walls!! I'm totally stoked!! and the kitchen....Dylan's getting excited about re-doing our kitchen plan with his Henrybuilt skillz....yes..spelled with a "z" to emphasize that it's not just any skills....as he has already made the first HB teak credenza for our living room!!
There shall be lots of post about all our house renovations!!
Yesterday and today we got some unexpected snow in Seattle that came down for hours! Granted it melted pretty soon after, but I was able to snap a few shots while the snow was falling non-stop. It felt like winter again....
This looks staged, but I actually found them arranged just like that!! Someone just put these beautiful roses on our apartment porch. I'm not a total rose person, but I have to say it was such a nice pleasant surprise on a quite snowy day like this. So lovely.
-Jean
This is a old 60's apartment building in Capitol Hill, close to Harvard Exit theater. It's an understated building that you can just walk by and not notice it. But once I stopped to take a look at it, I started noticing all these interesting things about this building.
I just love the pattern of the white ceramic tiles. They reminds me of Heath ceramic tiles, which I want use everywhere on my house!! when I own one that is.
There is something graphically striking in the building as whole....the white relief tiles mixed with the rusty tiles, the various sized windows that runs to the edge of each section....It all seem so intricately planned and intentional.
-Jean
Click on photo to link to our Flickr.