Studio loft keeps city close to home

When Elizabeth Thompson returned to the Inland Northwest after eight years on the East Coast, she brought with her a love of urban living.

The Coeur d’Alene native enjoyed the energy and excitement that accompanied life in New York and Washington, D.C., but Thompson says after nearly a decade away from home she missed her family and friends. Three years ago Thompson returned to her roots, and in January last year purchased a studio unit in the Jefferson Auto Lofts, a former warehouse converted into a residential development in downtown Spokane.

“I really like being within walking distance to everything,” says the 28-year-old marketing and PR professional for the Fox Theater. “It’s three blocks to work.”

Thompson says the Jefferson’s developer, RenCorp, offered a 10-hour consultation with a local interior designer, allowing her to customize many elements in the unit.

“I like that it’s so unique and that there really isn’t another like it,” she says.

Exposed brick, beams and ductwork give the loft an industrial feel, while rich bronze and wood tones add a cozy warmth to the interior. A luscious chocolaty glaze coats the concrete floors and kitchen island, which rests atop a steel base riveted with distressed metal plates designed by local metal artist Tim Biggs.

Although the unit is just shy of 800 square feet, southern exposure through double glass doors and an enormous arched transom above fill the main living area with light.

“I was afraid it would be tiny, but it really isn’t,” Thompson says.

Through the doors Thompson’s view skims neighboring rooftops before giving way to a smattering of vintage South Hill homes peeking out from the trees. Blue skies and everchanging clouds fill the large transom above.

Although Thompson has decorated the unit with a number of contemporary furnishings, including an eye-catching op-art rug in the dining area, a handful of antiques add texture to the unit’s open living space.

One example is an ornate, Moroccan-style tin lantern that dangles low over Thompson’s bed in the rear of the unit.

“It was my grandmother’s – it came from her crawlspace,” she says, adding that she took the fixture to Revival Lighting, where its original colored inserts were replaced with a more contemporary clear glass. “It really just wasn’t my style.”

In the living room area, a modest flat-screen TV hangs along an expansive taupe wall opposite a distressed-leather couch and chair set.

“I can also see it from the bed,” she beams.

Overhead, the sound of Flamenco music pulsates softly from small speakers tucked into the rafters. Thompson says her love for the Spanish folk music started in D.C., where she would attend the annual Flamenco Festival.

But while Thompson says she misses some aspects of life on the East Coast, there are many things she is glad to leave behind.

“I enjoy the fresh air here and the fact that Spokane is not so large that it takes a long time to get anywhere, really,” she says. “In addition, I’m excited that I live so close to our emerging theater district, including the Fox and the Bing Crosby Theater.”