Brick Loft Studio 400 sq. ft.

I rented this place blind; the rental market was in a different place back then. Turned out, Brick loft studio 400. sq. ft was falsely advertised as 25% larger than it actually was, but the photos hadn't lied about its amazing exposed brick walls and DARK!! wood floors, which meant anything light-colored that sat on it popped beautifully. We aren't afraid of contrast here!

For this location, I needed to make a tiny place habitable and cosy for 2 inhabitants who were good friends but not a couple (aka. needed personal space).

We leaned on loft beds -- when occupants are both on their respective levels, both feel like they have the whole room to themselves.... til someone coughs. Also, on tracing paper blinds that offered privacy while diffusing light from a DIY pendant under the bed. Ambient light is tricksy and wonderful for contouring small spaces into looking larger than they actually do. We kept the room always in some partial state of ambient light + darkness, because the moment you turned the full lights on, you wouldn't be able to unsee the reality of how small the space was. 

To help with tossing light around more naturally, we also picked up a couple of 2nd hand mirrors on Craigslist / OfferUp.

In an open floor plan situation like this, it's great to feel like you have a huge room, but tough sometimes to demarcate the room into sections / zones, without physically blocking a person's light of sight. In this space, we used the height of the loft bed and the standing lamp to define sleeping and living areas, but were mindful to keep them on the perimeter of the room (as opposed to right smack in the middle). 

You'll find some familiar items from Law School Quarters. Notably this was the IKEA traffic light lamp's final resting place (it tragically stopped working in The Accidental Electric Fire Of Corner 700. sq. ft). I picked up the exposed clothing rack, which was helpful for keeping clothes organized and accessing them more quickly. The retro diner microwave moved with me through many apartments and eventually found a home in a navigation center, and the walkway cube mirror-shelf now lives in Austin.

Another tip is to look at outdoor furniture lines that would be at home indoors, too. The white honeycomb nesting coffee tables were the ultimate low maintenance luxury item from C&B's outdoor furniture collection (price made even better by their their 4th of july inventory-ridding sales, get on these too). You could spill anything on it (which we did, many times, every day) and everything wiped away like a dream. This coffee table set has made its way into the home of one of my closest friends, Will, who helped me collect the keys to this place and move in multiple Amazon packages before move-in day.