Tiny Santa Monica Cottage

I don’t know about you, but the stories I am most inspired by in design and lifestyle mags (and on blogs, for that matter) are the ones featuring real people living with big style in small spaces – and on real-world budgets. Whenever I see a story like this, my heart beats faster and my brain starts firing with ideas and possibilities for my own home – does this happen to you? I mean sure, I love drooling over gigantic homes tricked out with all of the things I could never-in-this-lifetime afford, but is it really inspiring? For me, not so much. But when I see what someone has done with a human-sized space, then I can begin pulling ideas that I could actually use in my own home – and Julie Hart’s 900 -square-foot 1930′s cottage in Santa Monica, CA, featured in this month’s issue of Sunset Magazine, is packed with those kind of ideas. You know, the useful kind? So, you should really go pick up the issue (as I’ve mentioned before, I really don’t want to see any more of my favorite magazines go under, so it’s important to buy the ones you love!) but I did want to share a few of my favorite images and ideas from this story…

Owner Julie Hart went with a simple palette of white walls and dark-stained wood floors throughout the cottage, but added a giant punch of color with her glossy green front door, which I love. In my own home (which I will be sharing “before” pictures of – hopefully later this week) I have a very cheap looking front door with ugly hardware, and I love the idea of giving it a glossy coat of paint and replacing the hardware for an upgrade that is much less expensive than purchasing a new door. Let’s check out the rest of Julie’s house:

Julie had all of the interior walls and ceilings knocked out, exposing the rafters and creating one large, airy space for kitchen, dining, and living. I especially love the glass doors leading onto the back deck, and the clean, uncluttered feel of the whole space. Doesn’t this make you want to run through your house or apartment right now tossing out clutter? Or maybe that’s just me ;) Growing up in California, I really took for granted the whole indoor-outdoor living thing that is so common out there, and now that I don’t have it, it’s all I can think about! I don’t know if it’s possible, but I am dying to put in french doors or at least larger windows in my kitchen – it overlooks the backyard, but currently there is only one tiny window back there and it’s driving me crazy!

So, what do you think of this home? What do you like or dislike about this space? It’s 900-square-feet, which many people would consider small for a single family home – but I have certainly lived in spaces much, much smaller than this (like the 240 sq. ft. studio I shared for 3 years in Santa Cruz!) and at the time, I would have considered this huge, so I guess it’s all relative! I would love to hear your thoughts.

And thank you so much for all of the sweet comments about my news, and also for all of the support around my intentions and goals for 2010!

{images: Sunset Magazine; photographer Lisa Romerein, designer Julie Hart}

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