A SMALL CHAT Laure Joliet of At Home At Home, Dwell & Apartment Therapy

This week's A SMALL CHAT is with the lovely Laure Joliet, fellow Apartment Therapy writer, Dwell contributor, blogger for her own design blog, At Home At Home and photographer and owner of Laure Joliet Photography. To say Laure has an amazing eye is an understatement. Her design style is vintage meets elegant simplicity and you can tell she really cares about her home and enjoys living in it. Enjoy this little interview with Laure and her small space style. And click here to see Laure's incredible portfolio and to contact her for any photo projects.

You have shared your Venice home on Apartment Therapy and it's full of family heirlooms, vintage style and modern touches. Your space really feels big even though the footprint is small. What small space ideas went into designing a layout that was comfortable, functional and stylish?

I like to block out spaces so that each area is defined. For the studio there were three areas downstairs: dining room/office anchored with the dining table and the credenza, living room anchored with the danish love seat and chair and the kitchen which is separated by the standing kitchen island. It's important to zone your space otherwise you end up pushing furniture against walls and cramming too much in.

I also edited my belongings by going through everything and donating books, clothes and just stuff. I knew I would love having space more than having stuff. This way I could keep everything in the 2 credenzas and the overhead storage and it didn't have to be out and in the way cluttering up visual space.

It's also important to consider your color palette: if you keep a palette going throughout a space then it feels larger because the eye sees the space as a whole. I love having plenty of empty white space on walls with pops of blue, green and orange around.


As a writer for AT and Dwell and your own blog, At Home At Home, you've covered some pretty amazing small homes and design ideas. What are your best tips for small space dwelling? And what mistakes do you see being made?

I'll tackle the mistakes first. Honestly I think the biggest issue is that people have furniture that's the wrong scale. Don't get me wrong, you can have a large sofa or dining table, but it needs to be balanced with space. You need 3 feet for a comfortable walkway or a space between a table and a wall. So have a nice big dining table but then don't cram in the credenza. And the second one is: don't be afraid of color. A lot of times a small space looks larger once you add texture and pattern to it. It gives your eyes something to look at, instead of how small the room is. Paint a wall a bright color, line one with bookshelves, overlap some rugs or cluster artwork on a wall. When you have a focal point or accent it anchors the space and the the small stuff looks organized and not like clutter. So don't be afraid to have stuff in a small space, just make sure it's balanced with some blank space too.

You've been doing interior design and really have created some pretty and functional spaces. What tips have you learned from designing and staging interiors that translates well to designing a home?

I've resisted this for a long time but it really, truly helps to start with a floor plan and then a mood board. Putting the time in upfront to determine what you have room for and what overall direction you want to go in saves so much time later. It's tempting to just jump in and start buying accessories, lamps, pillows and start pushing furniture around (and trust me I still do) but you'll be happier with the result if you have a gameplan to follow and help keep you focused.

I've also noticed that when we do staging the rooms really come together with the accessories. With the big blocks of furniture the rooms might look empty and boring and a little sad. But adding a cluster of vases, some art, plants, mementos, rugs and throw pillows (keeping a palette in mind and also mixing up textures: wood, glass, paint, linen, pattern, etc) actually brings life into the space.

And finally lighting. Having lots of lamps in a space makes it feel warm and inviting. At home I shoot for at least 3 points of light in a room, but when we stage it's more than that. We pair them on credenzas, add them to consoles and have them on either side of every bed. In a studio we just completed, there were 6 lamps. It helped define areas and kept it feeling light and warm.


You have great taste and really have mixed vintage gems into your home decor. What are your best tips for scouting flea markets to discover great vintage finds for small space?

The Rose Bowl can be daunting, but not if you go often. You start to notice what stuff you're drawn to and then later on when you're looking at magazine spreads you'll notice similar items used in different ways. It gets your imagination working and thinking about objects and furniture differently. Never be afraid to combine different eras. A shabby chic chest with a danish modern table with a lucite lamp can work, just make sure you're buying things that you love or that make you smile.

I have a salvation army near me that I check out pretty often. Things are cheap so I feel freer to take risks on things I wouldn't normally consider. I comb through artwork, accessories and furniture and I consider what I can paint, what would look good as a multiple (like a bunch of blue glass jars that might look like clutter if there's just one or two, but 5 of them looks like it's on purpose) and I almost always find a good lamp (I have way too many lamps).

Thanks, Laure!

SMALL SPACE D.I.Y.: Vintage Wall Clock

This summer hanging in DC, I spent an afternoon at the National Arboretum. Such an amazing place - 440 acres full of trees, plants, flowers, gardens right in the city! While the plants made an impact on me, I also loved this wall clock I spotted in the main building. Honestly, I think this clock was put up when they opened in 1927 :) It's lovely and completely perfect for a small space. I'd love to give this clock a shot in my own small space, maybe surround it on one side with an art gallery or placing it over a vintage credenza? It looks like a doable DIY.

SMALL SPACE DWELLER HANDBOOK: The POWER of Design

{Oh la la - I am so inspired by this incredible mirrored side table.}

One of the foundations for LOVING. LIVING. SMALL. is the embracing of your house (rental or not) as your home, your refuge. That is also why I enjoy writing for Apartment Therapy. The community is a support group for resources and understanding on how to achieve this personally. When I attended the Pacific Design Center's Westweek last week, I sat in for a few different speakers. While the feng shui lady didn't quite do it for me (what happens when you share your space with your feng shui polar opposite boyfriend? question still unanswered) but I was touched by one group that resonated the idea of "you house is your home" . The discussion was on the impact of fashion and interior design on the California lifestyle featuring Trina Turk and David Dalton. Aside from the interesting talk, David mentioned a few times about the power that design can have on someone.

Sometimes people may think that furniture and home decor are material things, useless clutter that offer no impact on your "living". The reality is that all design can inspire and the power it can have on you emotionally is effective, motivating and charming all wrapped in one. For example, a simple vintage credenza bought at an amazing price that has gorgeous wood and modern architectural lines can remind one purely of their grandmother's house and spending time there when they were growing up. A lamp shade can stir an emotion that evokes pure happiness, reminding the owner of the sun coming through the clouds after a summer thunder storm when they grew up on the east coast. The idea being that when you place things in your home, you are highlighting positive memories and moments while creating form + function. You need a place to sit, right? So consider choosing a couch with fabric or lines that inspire you. Make it meaningful...to you!

I absolutely got what David was saying and have always embraced the power of a furniture or home decor pieces in my home. In fact, just yesterday when I was touring the LA Mart Design Center, I came across an amazing mirrored side table. A simple side table to some but to me a gorgeous work of art that was stunning in design and reminded me of some places I saw on a cross country road trip I took when I moved to New York 7 years ago. I have to have it! (more to come on that one!)

Enjoy and embrace your small space! It is your home and fill it with pieces that inspire you in some way, shape or form.

Flip through more pages from the SMALL SPACE DWELLER HANDBOOK.

SMALL SPACE DWELLER HANDBOOK: Floating Furniture

{The long legs on this custom-made side table is perfect for a small space...functional and appealing.}

{The narrow legs on this vintage credenza provide a visual cue of more space.}

Another page in the SMALL SPACE DWELLER HANDBOOK for you lovely readers. If you are looking to make your space "feel" bigger then it is, buy furniture with longer, more narrow legs. This allows a visual cue to keep the eye moving beyond the piece of furniture. Every piece in our main room (less the IKEA hacked bookcases) float in the space. I am even going to add casters to the bookcases one day to create a floating effect. If your current furniture does not have legs, don't fret. Many stores now carry a selection of legs you can add to furniture. Or contact a local carpenter and customize your own for a nice price.