apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Looking great Midwest! Wow!

I love that turquoise couch at Lisette's!

Correction - the turquoise couch at Suzi's!

I LOVE Lisette's, though I'm mildly disappointed with the rest that got chosen as the finalists.

1- steph
2 - lisette
3- suzi
4 - rachel

I missed two of these the first round.

I'm still voting #1 for Lisette, but Rachel's place is cute and I love Stephanie's kitchen cabinets.

1-lisette
2-suzi
3-rachel
4-stephanie

Lisette #1
I'm kind of underwhelmed by the others.

I have to agree with big dane, Lisette's is the only apartment here that belongs.

1. Stephanie
2. Rachel
3. Suzi
4. Lisette

Do you folks have boys out west? I suppose they are all finalists in the "football cool 2008" competition?

1) Stephanie (by far!!!!) - though I'm curious how she'll enrich her entry
2) Rachel
3) Lisette
4) Suzi

Hmm... my taste is pretty different than other voters on this thread I guess.

1. Rachel
2. Suzi
3. Stephanie
4. Lisette

I'm going to repeat what I said on the east coast thread - I think they should have a separate category for renters and owners. It's just not financially feasible or even possible to do the same level of customization on a rented space.

That makes it even more impressive to me that (in my opinion) Rachel, a renter, has the most stylish and inviting space out of these finalists.

I feel like I'm missing something about Lisette's - it doesn't really excite me the way other people seem to be so amped about it.

Do I have to pick one, are these really the finalists? I remember seeing a lot more Midwest entries that were better than these.

1. lisettes (my midwest favorite!)
2. stephanie (another midwest fav)
3. suzi (liked her place a lot, until i saw the bedroom, its just not my style)
4. rachel (liked her furniture a lot, but it all felt somewhat disjointed)

there were a couple others i wished were in the running though.

robinm made a great point- you really can't do nearly as much with your space when you are renting. from that perspective i might rate my favorites differently, but i didn't really pay attention to rent/own status while voting before. it would be nice if there was 2 different categories... maybe next year?

Stephanie
Rachel
Suzi
Lisette.

I'm actually really confused as to why Lisette's apt. is so popular. It seems really, really dated to me. Dated, with a few trendy decorating pieces thrown on top.

I am surprised why Stephanie is so popular, those heads on the wall? And the photos are terrible, sorry.

Stephanie and Suzi are my faves here, I have to say...

1. Suzi
2. Stephanie
3. Lisette
4. Rachel

The contest is "small cool spaces". Suzi's space captured the essence of the contest. Great utilization of space, surprise, a design forward space that isn't the same old modern flavor that has dominated.

suzi
lisette
stephanie
rachel

Wow... AT has one again settled on mediocrity as the standard of their contests. The Marais entry is great and the others are bland and predictable - nicely decorated (mostly) but uninspiring in terms of creative solutions to small space living. I'm glad we waited an entire month for this.

lisette
suzi
stephanie
rachel

Rachel
Lisette
Stephaine
Suzi

Lets change the frequency of posting entries in the middle of the contest! Sounds fair right? This is one of the most ass backward contests I have seen.

Suzi! Yes! The clear winner, imo, out of a wonderful selection of finalists.

Then Lisette, and after that I can't really choose Stephanie or Rachel over the other.

Actually, just to clarify: I really love Rachel's, too, but it's much larger than either Lisette's or Suzi's, and I have to give them extra for working within tighter constraints.

agreeing with Modfan...

suzi #1, easily.
then rachel or lisette.
stephanie's shouldn't be a finalist at all.

I guess I like Stephanie's best in spite of the dead animals. I'm not really that thrilled with any of them.

1. Rachel
2. Lisette
3. Stephanie
4. Suzi
Come on people who really deserves the prizes? Rachel obviously has great taste and could totally use those prizes to take it to the next level. Whereas I love Stephanie's place, but she doesn't need to win a contest to afford great furniture!

steph
lisette
rachel
suzi

1)Suzi's L.E.S. Meets Le Marais
-by far the most innovative, unique and stylish.
2)Lisette's Pied a Terre
3)Stephanie's Life of Pie
4) Rachel

Stephanie is #1 in my book.

1 - Lisette
2 - Rachel
3 - Stephanie
4 - Suzi

Yay! I'm glad I get to do this one, since it seems wrong to rank apartments in the East coast one when we're in it! Hmmm...

I really like Lisette and Stephanie's and am torn on #1. I guess I'd go with Stephanie, Lisette, Suzi, Rachel.

Suzi!

1.Suzi
2.Lisette
3. Stephanie
4. Rachel

Suzi obviously put a lot of love and a lot of TIME into scouring flea markets and antique shops and the like. I like Lisette's nearly as much, and decorate more like her than Suzi, but Suzi's place is so incredibly unique and meticulous that it would be a shame not to pick her.

I'm from Ohio and recently relocated to Missouri so I'm very proud to see both of these great/stylish entries. Good luck.

I also agree that there should be separate categories for renters and owners.

I think it should be:
1) Suzi
2) Tie Rachel and Stephanie
3) Lisette

lisette-1
stephanie-2
suzi-3
rachel-4

stephanie

my favorite out of all the entries

ok can someone please please explain to me the appeal of stephanie's place? what am i missing, please enlighten me, i feel like i am in the twilight zone. or does stephanie just have a lot of friends...

I love Lisa's place! Even the bathroom would be fun to hang out in! It is my favorite. The others are nice also but Lisa's is the most creative in my opinion. Love the artwork!

sketchybev

1 - Stephanie
2 - Suzi
3 - Lizette
4 - Rachel

I don't know Stephanie but I just love the place, and those deer head things are just so amazing for some reason. I'm really not a hunter guy, but I love them.

Suzi, lisette, rachel, Stephanie.
I just love what Suzi and Listette have done with small spaces. Don't mean to offend but I don't like Stephanie's Life of Pie one bit.

This one's hard!
Lisette
Suzi
Stephanie
Rachel

are we supposed to decide only from our area in the fantasy league threads? well, i'm in the east coast so my opinion may not count... but here it is anyway:

1 Lisette's Pied a Terre
2 Rachel's Grad School GetawayRachel's Grad School Getaway
3 Suzi's L.E.S. Meets Le Marais
4 Stephanie's Life of Pie

i like them all and am glad i don't have to vote for the winner! (but the wall o' antlers have to go and that's my only negative thought for the day!)

1 suzi
2 lisette
3 stephanie
4 rachel

1. Suzi
2. Stephanie
3. Rachel
4. Lisette

Stephanie would be my first choice..

I did not like Lisette at all so much stuff, out dated..not seeing an style at all. I am not trying to be harsh but overly fluffy for my taste.

Not crazy about this group overall but some good elements and maybe each has done one room nicely.

Suzi's livingroom is quit special, not my taste but it has a great feel, nice color combos, feels like someones place not a west elm or retail showroom the accelctic works here. The rest of her place did not continue to be as interesting, infact it felt disconnected from the living room.

Stephanie's living room feels like a real old school apartment, like a highrise glam apartment, not a flat, loft, house..There is a lot of stuff in there and not my taste by has a nice feel with some glamour. Overall the rest of the place is ok. I do like the shoe closet, art shoes, shoes art.

Rachel is lucky to have a nice place with good bones..almost anything would look good in there.

Stephanie - for the groovy pad and excellent 4 cushion sofa
Rachel - for the mcm slipper chair and white credenza
Lisette - for the tufted bed and vintage poster
Suzi - for the pretty blue settee

I enjoy looking at spaces that involve some creativity, and using what you already have not just buying a bunch of great expensive stuff to fill the space.

i love that all four are all so different but rachel's is the only one that is my taste. she has so many great pieces and a great space that she used to her advantage without over doing it.

love suzi's turquoise couch. love lisette's bed. and love the shape of stephanie's apartment.

Suzi - Boldly creative, eclectic, & witty
Lisette - Lively color accents
Stephanie - Glam, makes her small space look twice as big, almost tied with Lisette
Rachel - Great job on a grad student budget, very calming, would put her ahead of finalists from other regions

Seriously!? There were WAY better places in the contest. They must have had a lot of friends log in and vote.....

I completely agree with the posts above. There should be a renters and an owners catagory. There are just some things you really can't do! (Like replace cabinets, countertops, and flooring) Many of the renters got negative comments on things that they can't change. I think THAT is where the real challenge comes when a person is decorating!

I love how people are complaining about "AT settling for mediocrity"--These were based on READER'S votes, not AT judges.
Don't bag on AT for something that WE chose ourselves!

that said:

Lisette
Stephanie
Suzi
Rachel

If entries didn't get posted until the very end and had their voting open on the weekend, how is that comparable to those who had voting open during the week? They threw like 10 out on the last day. I couldn't keep up with voting and I agree with Shutterbug that it seems some places got more votes than I would have thought...

Midwest and the Southwest: WOW!

I can't pick. They're all FAB!

Good luck to all of you.

1. Lisette's by a mile

Must agree with others that I am confused about the other entries even being in the finals.

Not to dog on other entrants to make my favorites look good, but Lisette's is ok. Doesn't feel like anything ground breaking like Suzi's or Stephanie's spaces. This is about small cool and cool to me can be contextual. At the moment the same, same clean modern spaces feel boring and uninspired. A design by numbers if you will. I like spaces that show some skill with utilization, thrift and ingenuity.

Right people , just because YOU don't think the finalists are legit, that must mean there were inconsistencies! Get over yourselves. That being saud

Suzi
Lisette
Stephanie
Rachel

Suzi, Lisette, Stephanie, Rachel

Working from the bottom up, while I appreciate the sentiment that if they owned, imagine what they'd do, I'm not buying it. Rachel is working with grad school chic, kudos to that, and is out of her league. Stephanie needs to calm her reupholstering bug but does seem to have an eye for incidentals.

Then, there's Lisette. I do like it a lot, the colors, the mix and match… the music poster is awesome, but it’s floor-crowded. I want to take a nap in the bed, but I’m afraid I’d wake up, stumble to my feet, and stub a toe. Every time. Plus, while I own up to my psychosis here, the duvet is terribly reminiscent of my mother’s early 70s dressing room drapery and makes me oddly uncomfortable.

Suzi, oh Suzi, pristine, airy, fun.

1. lisette
2. suzi
3. stephanie
4. rachel

1. Suzi
2. Lisette
3. Rachel
4. Stephanie

1. tie-Stephanie & Lisette
2. Suzi
3. Rachel

I think Stephanie has accomplished the most with the space she has--I just really like Lisette's vibe.

LOVE Suzi's #1-so unique, so much different than the other entries
#2 Rachel
#3 Lisette
#4 Stephanie

#1 is Rachel - by far. She's a renter with an extremely tight budget who has some really great pieces and has made her space work. Not only do I love her space, but I feel she could put the prize to good use.

I'm not inspired by people who throw as much expensive stuff as they can into a space, then take pictures of their stuff to say "hey, look at all my expensive stuff!!"

Don't care for Lisette, love Suzi, the others are okay. Favorite part of Stephanie's is the controversial wall of antlers.

tie stephanie and lisette
don't care for the other two

Tie btw Suzi, Lisette, and Stephanie, I think. Rachel's is nice, but nothing special. I think that Suzi and Stephanie were better funded, which underscores my reservations with their kitchen and bathroom, respectively, and has me leaning towards Lisette. I'd prefer a winner chosen b/c of their creativity, not their wallet.

The Pie!
one of my favorites too