This is brilliance. That kitchen that you see at right is pretty compact, in a pretty compact house– 1300 square feet– so the owners, the Lagos of Cape Town, turned the formerly small kitchen window into a large window/pass-through, with a bar on the other side that opens out to that eating area at left!

(I’m posting it again below so you can see it larger. In all it’s glory. With that chaise up above on another little deck for some added awesomeness.)

Now, this seems so obvious, right? It’s like having a pass-through from a kitchen into a living room with a bar on the other side (like pretty much every white-characterless-box NYC apartment built in the ’80s-’90s has), but have you ever seen it done to the outside? Well, I hadn’t, and I pretty much freaked when I saw this.

The house was featured in Vart Nya Hem, a Swedish magazine, so my understanding of it is based on Google translate, which told me some useful things like, “The house is to pack a small box when they themselves are going away. When it comes to living in the big city, it pays to be anpassningbar.”

So, my information is somewhat limited, but I did learn that when they moved in, they tore out the white tile floor (can totally picture that, would’ve had a terrible feeling, great call) and laid down white expox resin, which they say made the space feel bigger (no grout lines!).

Also, they fit two bedrooms in the space by having the master lofted (I think it opens out to that chaise area above the kitchen) and tucking the guest bedroom beneath the stairs (so Harry Potter), and what sound like some interesting space-saving measures that Google translate made a little difficult to understand totally: “The kitchen cabinets are the drying rack in the guest room has a walk-in cabinet with a concealed toilet and the bedroom has walls nearly invisible cupboards and drawers, which may act Julies closet.”

Check out the original article for more photos– I just chose my favorites!

I loved the happy, casual feel and mix of traditional and mid-century modern that run through both.

Don’t they both just seem to radiate a feel of “a happy family lives here!”?

Everything is so simple and un-fussy (and kid-friendly), and yet it’s still really cool– cool art and books everywhere, interesting textiles.. haha, I guess that makes sense for the home of a textile designer and painter!

At top, the kitchen is from the CT cottage, and the other two are from the NYC townhouse. The grey mud room and the breakfast nook in the post are from the CT cottage.

Check out the gallery for more! All the images that end in -2 are from the cottage. For the rest (I didn’t include all the shots, just my favorites), check out the original posts.

PS- I’m also super excited about the D*S book coming out and love the “book trailer” for it! (In general, I love that book trailers have become a thing… I love trailers!)

Design Sponge at Home (Official Book Trailer) from The Panic Room Videos on Vimeo.

That kitchen! The beadboard ceiling and the wide-plank floors are what get me most.

I fell hard for this house the first time, and I might’ve just fallen even harder the second time. I’m so in love.

New to-do list: (1) start fabulous company doing something I love a la EmersonMade, (2) find husband who loves what I do and likes to be involved, a la Emerson’s husband, who takes the photos of her and models in photos for their ads/catalog, (2b) option to reverse (1) and (2) and find husband and then a start company together, (3) obtain wonderful country house for weekend getaways and restore it to perfection, obviously using lots of warm woods and white, (4) enjoy said job, marriage, house, and life. Et voila!

This pantry actually inspired my very own collection of pantry goods in glass jars on display when it was published the first time! Our cute 1920s kitchen has a built-in china cabinet, and I went to town on glass canisters. Only, I read that hers contain all kinds of healthy grains and whatnot, and mine are filled with baking supplies… haaa.

See the older post I did on them/their house/their life I covet here, with even more photos and information.

Via Elements of Style

This space, with it’s clean modern lines, exposed industrial exposed pipes, concrete floor, and raw kitchen mixed with traditional furniture, like the English Chesterfield sofa, big Spanish wooden armoire, Oriental rugs, and rustic touches like the log stacks and simple linen table cloths, really has a wonderful balance.

The home belongs to Tony Espuch, owner of Azul Tierra, shot by Amador Toril for Habitania.

via French by Design