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My Houzz: Leafy, Light-Filled Loft in a Historic Former High School

http://www.decor-ideas.org 08/10/2015 00:13 Decor Ideas

“Golden hour is lovely here,” Andrea Smith says of the late-afternoon light flooding the loft she shares with husband Erik Mueller. When Mueller, a retail design director at Callison, first viewed the condo unit during the building’s conversion in 2007, he could see that the windows were the soul of the space. “The walls were barely framed, but with the trees through the window, it was like being in a treehouse,” he says.

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Erik Mueller and Andrea Smith, seen here, and their cat, Beatrice
Location: Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle
Size: 683 square feet (63 square meters); 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom
Year built: 1909

Eclectic Living Room by Caela McKeever

Despite the condo’s relatively small size, the couple has a reputation for hosting lively parties. “It’s actually a really great place to have guests,” says Smith, an interior designer at MG2. “The defined spaces within the room create energy hubs during parties.”

Daybed: vintage (similar here) with Alpine Stripe fabric in 003 Chamois, Maharam

Eclectic Living Room by Caela McKeever

The deep window ledges act as additional seating, display opportunities and a sunning platform for the couple’s cat, Beatrice. The leather wingback chair was a secondhand purchase from one of Smith’s clients postremodel, and the houndstooth throw is vintage Pendleton.

Smith loves reusing old fabric from family heirlooms to reupholster new items: The brown pillow is covered in fabric salvaged from Mueller’s grandparents’ daybed, and the green pillow fabric was taken from a chair in Smith’s grandmother’s home.

Chair: Queen Anne-style wingback (similar here); houndstooth throw: vintage Pendleton (similar here)

Eclectic by Caela McKeever

Fourteen-foot-high ceilings provide lots of wall space for artwork, and the couple kept the walls white to allow the art to pop.

Giant Leninist poster: Shepard Fairey; Bette Midler art: album insert (similar here); robot artwork: Dalek

Eclectic Home Office by Caela McKeever

A towering shelving unit along one wall exhibits the couple’s blended collections: Smith’s books, Mueller’s records and the arts and crafts collected by the couple during their travels. “Living in a small space inevitably forces you to have a very curated set of possessions,” Mueller says.

Martini side table in antique brass and Industrial task table lamp: West Elm

by Caela McKeever

The dining table and adjacent kitchen counter tend to be where people congregate for parties. “We’re often prepping or mixing cocktails, so guests naturally hang out here,” Smith says.

The vintage KDM Royal Holland coffee service set on the dining table was a birthday gift from Smith to Mueller. The table runner was purchased while the couple was vacationing in Mexico.

Coffee service set: 1stdibs

Eclectic Dining Room by Caela McKeever

The couple found the 1970s Milo Baughman table and chairs at a local shop. The table is expandable for dinner parties. “Our record is 17 people around the dinner table,” Smith says.

Vintage Milo Baughman dining table (similar here) and cane-back dining chairs

Eclectic by Caela McKeever

Guests enter through a hallway lined with art that was either given to or purchased by the couple. Seen just beyond the hall are the dining table’s extra leaves, which hang over a vintage record player stand in the living area. “Storage is at a premium in our space,” Smith says.

Eclectic by Caela McKeever

Delicate plates painted by Smith’s grandmother were the first items she hung in the space when the couple moved in together. “Erik came home from work, and they were the only things I’d unpacked,” she says.

Eclectic by Caela McKeever

As a surprise for Mueller’s birthday, Smith worked with a local frame designer to mount his Homies figurines, which Mueller began collecting before he and Smith met. The figurines are based on a comic strip by David Gonzales.

Eclectic by Caela McKeever

As with most of the loft spaces in the building, the couple’s bedroom is reached by a ladder.

Eclectic by Caela McKeever

The Eames House Bird seen here was an engagement gift to the couple. It’s a bit precarious; it once fell out of the window and was rescued just in time from an attack by crows down below.

Eames House Bird: Design Within Reach; planter: Kardemumma, Ikea

Eclectic by Caela McKeever