KrisAnne Weiss has lived in her one-bedroom, 585 square foot apartment for 14 years. It’s a long time to live in an apartment, but pulling up to her building, you can see why she’s stayed. KrisAnne lives directly across the street from Lake Hiawatha in Minneapolis, MN.

As Wikipedia states, “[Lake Hiawatha] and [the] park have a fishing dock, wading pool, tennis courts, and softball diamonds.” The lake borders a golf course, and in the winter, the course has cross country ski trails, and the park has ice and hockey rinks. The lake also has 241 acres of beautiful, mature trees surrounding it and connects to Minnehaha Creek. 

“I’m an outdoorsy person, and I’ve had some outstanding critter spotting in this neighborhood. I love to see beavers, though it’s hard to say that without sounding ridiculous,” says KrisAnne, laughing. “And river otters. I walk around Hiawatha a lot in the winter. This winter, I was out late at night. There’s an open part of the lake usually because there’s so much moving water in the lake, and I could hear little critter noises. Then I saw four otters diving in and out of the water, and like catching food and chomping on it and chatting with each other and playing. And it was just one of the best critter sightings of all time.” 

Along with walking and critter hunting, KrisAnne likes to kayak on Lake Hiawatha, ride her bike around the trails, and snowshoe in the winter. 

“I can take my kayak from the garage to the lake, paddle around it, and be back in the garage in like 35 minutes. The community is also really good. I know a lot of people in the neighborhood, so when I’m out walking around on the trails, it’s sort of like being the mayor of Minnehaha Creek,” says KrisAnne.

Her apartment building is a two-story house—built in 1949—with three apartments. The owner lives on the bottom floor. 

The apartment matched her list, and the location was ideal

When KrisAnne found the apartment, she was leaving a relationship and living a mile and a half south. She had a list of wants for her new space, but she also liked the area she was living in. So, she started driving around looking for Apartment for Rent signs. That’s how she found her apartment: a sign out front.

Before she went in, she had already decided if the space ticked even half of the boxes on her list, she’d fill out an application. 

“I walked in and saw the view, saw the light in here, and I thought, I don’t need more space than this. And I’ve been super happy here since,” says KrisAnne. 

KrisAnne’s apartment opens into a spacious living room where she says she spends 80% of her time. The room is lined with windows, and the window in front faces Lake Hiawatha. Throughout the day, shifting swaths of sunlight dance across the room. Her windowsills are lined with rocks she’s picked up on trips to Lake Superior, a place she visits a few times a year.

Decorate your space to embrace your lifestyle

KrisAnne has painted the walls “Lighthearted Pink” by Sherwin Williams. As the light moves through the day, the color shifts from very pale to its deeper lilac undertone. The room is divided by a IKEA FLOTTEBO sofabed, which has “loose back-cushions” so it can “be customized to suit how you like to sit.” She found it on Facebook Marketplace. It’s a discontinued IKEA piece, and she also found the IKEA cover for it on eBay.

“I spent almost as much on the cover as I did on the couch, but I just wanted it to be green. It’s a very nice cover,” says KrisAnne. 

Her brightly colored rug is from Ruggable, which was purchased for the colors, design, and easy cleaning. 

Her living room has been through many iterations over the years, and she says it’s probably not done. When she was looking for a new couch, she considered just buying a bed for the living room, since she’s usually lying down and lounging when she’s in there. While aesthetics are important to her, so is function. 

“Really give yourself time to live in the space and see how you’re using it, and then design your home that way,” says KrisAnne.  

Be creative with how you use objects in your home

On her large, open storage shelf, she has several closed containers: vintage metal file boxes and train cases. She likes how these containers look, but these also serve as storage. She advises other apartment dwellers, or anyone limited on space, to be creative with how you use objects.

“Don’t get blinkered by a function of a thing. A thing can do whatever you need it to do,” says KrisAnne.

She likes watching tiny house content on YouTube and finds some inspiration there. One channel she loves is “Never Too Small.”

Don’t be afraid to mix styles and colors

When asked to describe her home style, KrisAnne says, “I think it is a little bit of everything. I think that everything goes with everything. And every color goes with every color. There are obviously some that I am more drawn to than others. There are things in here that don’t have any other color reference anywhere in the apartment, and I still think that they go. I like a lot of vintage-y stuff obviously. I like midcentury stuff. I do have some IKEA. But I don’t want one kind of vibe or era to be represented. I also really love needlepoint. I feel responsible to the ladies who made it when I find it in the thrift store.”    

KrisAnne’s collection of needlepoint includes a brightly colored butterfly piece, a plant scene, and one that she describes as looking like “Super Mario trees.” In the kitchen, there’s a Jean-Luc Picard cross-stitch that reads, “Set Phasers to Stunning” that KrisAnne stitched herself.

There’s no shame in a curbside rescue

As for other design inspiration, KrisAnne says, “Being a thrift store person and do-it-yourself person, I am simply not interested in most out-of-the box stuff. When I go to a mall or big box store, I just see landfill garbage everywhere. But I understand you have to buy what you can afford. No shade to people who are getting what they need. I have pulled stuff off the side of the road and alleys. I have a lot of thrift store stuff that has been with me for years and years. I use my Buy Nothing Group, and I use Marketplace.”

KrisAnne’s creativity is on display throughout the apartment. In addition to having an eye for color and enjoying the outdoors, KrisAnne has a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in voice and has been singing her whole life. She teaches voice at St. Olaf College. 

“I love a lot of things about teaching voice: the technical details, the ongoing process of big and small tweaks, and the students who really wants to engage in the process. Anyone can get better at it. It’s such a personal growth medium,” says KrisAnne. “With college students, they’re just becoming who they are. Because voice study is one-on-one, your voice is your public presentation of yourself. Getting in there trying to change things is very vulnerable. People who do that and treat it as a playful experiment, that really contributes to their growth, which has been true in my life as well.”

Don’t be afraid to add sentimental touches

A few music mementos are on display in her the living room. There’s a vintage Memorex tape, a ukulele on the wall, and a ticket from her first concert: Cyndi Lauper at Roy Wilkins Auditorium. She also has photos of her family and friends sprinkled throughout. 

KrisAnne grew up in Midway neighborhood of St. Paul and has lived in Minnesota her whole life, minus a brief stint in Wisconsin for undergrad.  A few of her décor pieces are from her family as well. There is black panther that rests on the floor in the living room, which is from her grandparents’ house.

“It’s not one-of-a-kind, but I love it, and it was a real fixture of my childhood. I think it was a wedding present to my grandparents,” KrisAnne says. 

She has a canoe paddle that her father etched her name on when she was a child. It’s a very sentimental piece. Spending time in nature was part of her upbringing, and it also brought her parents together in the ultimate Minnesota meet-cute.

“My parents met when they were counselors at camp. Their first date was going fishing at 5 a.m.,” says KrisAnne.

Embrace the weird 

Then there’s “the teapot lady” on the display shelf. In college, KrisAnne made it in a ceramics class. They had an assignment to make a teapot, and it had to be functional. The teapot also has a brain in the back.

“It was when I was graduating, so it was sort of about being a know-it-all. It had a beret at one point, but it broke. It was one semester of working with clay, so I didn’t really know what I was doing. But honestly, I stand by all the work on the hands and feet because that is what my hands and feet look like,” says KrisAnne. “I do love ‘the teapot lady,’ and the name was given by my oldest nephew when he was little. She lived at my parents’ house for a long time, and I think he found her sort of alarming. She was on the floor, and he was really little, and she was at his size.”

Past her living room is her kitchen, which has a small footprint, but KrisAnne has added storage to maximize the space. Then there’s her bathroom and her bedroom. 

Less surfaces means less clutter

Her bedroom is more minimal. The walls are pale gray-blue—the color is Sterling by Behr—with a few pictures. There’s her bed, some bookshelves, and an armoire. She thinks of it as her cave she sleeps in. 

The apartment has a good amount of storage; there are four closets. The armoire was a “cat-centric design decision” to minimize surfaces for a cat to jump up on and knock things off. Though her cat has passed, she plans to keep it this way. 

“I like having limited places where I can set things down. Surfaces get messy so quickly,” says KrisAnne.