i'm sad that nicole from NY didn't make it to the finals - she had the most chic apartment in the competition.

i'm disappointed in the contest overall...

Yeah, I have to agree. While I actually like both of these final two quite a bit and I think they both show off good thinking and planning on how to use a small space, there were some REALLY fantastic entries that got eliminated early on, and that's a shame.

I'm stunned Beth got eliminated by 2 votes...I really thought it was going to be Chris vs. Beth in the final 2.

Lots of great spaces this year.

I agree that lots of much nicer spaces got eliminated early on, but I guess that's all subjective, huh? It seemed I picked the "loser" in a good portion of the matches, so maybe my vote is just the kiss of death. I do like both of the remaining international choices though, at least.

What ho-hum finalists.

They're both perfectly fine, but yeah... ho-hum. My world is not rocked.

I'm *slightly* disappointed that one of these final two had already been featured on AT. I know that was totally allowable, but I love this contest (generally) for discovering the hidden gems.

and duckumu--

I respectfully disagree. :)

Yes, pretty dull compared to some really great entries.

I am so so sad Beth didn't make it to the finals. She easily had my favorite place this year.

The International are the most disappointing.

These are the final two? Eh...

Yes, these are pleasant places but pretty uninspired finalists. I'm wondering if this method of conducting the contest results in the winner being whoever has the most Facebook friends they can recruit to vote for them...

I think the first round went well but in the second round some of the match ups should have been changed.

These are both lovely, but it seems that the "safest" choices made it to the finals. The fresh and bold ideas got voted out.

I wanted Daniel to make it to the finals since he designed and built that great loft IN A RENTAL. A lot of the entries that advanced had nice decor but didn't solve any real space challenges (like weird layouts). It's the same thing that happened last year (?) with the family of 4 living in a studio apartment; they had that great wall divider/bed unit they built. And they didn't get very far in the competition.

this is ridiculous. i didnt like either one of these apartment. i mean they're much better than mine, for sure. But come on. I knew this would happen though. It happened last year. Beth should have won. But, hey, at least she gets to live at her place.

I am so annoyed at the way things turned out that I decided I was going to boycott voting in this round, but did anyway. For Chris, because he's a Houstonian. The bracket was arranged poorly, but AT voters are also to blame. That Beth is not in the finals, as many have pointed out, is RIDICULOUS. Boo!

the grey versus the beige...

*sigh*

i'm not voting in this final.

Since all of the spaces with character and charm were eliminated, I don't get it. The Brooklyn place is inside of one of the newly erected soulless stainless steel buildings popping up all over Williamsburg, which makes me automatically dislike it. Those buildings are the Ikea of architecture. The other space has some interesting aspects but overall feels like it was put together for a catalog.

Also, why are there categories for different sized apartments when ultimately there is only one winner? There should be a winner in each category. Someone in a 250 sq ft place is going to face different challenges than someone in a 1000 sq ft place.

Agreed to all. There is no character, no charm...nothing. These are both so...standard. And while I love a good mid-century modern style, for heaven's sake PLEASE decorate with some personality! Ugh. They're so run-of-the-mill! I didn't vote and won't.
I was so rooting for Beth in teeny tiny and Shelbey in tiny. I also completely loved Nicole in little. You know why? Say it with me: PERSONALITY, CHARM AND CHARACTER.

I'm voting for Chris only because he kicked my butt in the second round of the finals* ;) Good luck!!

*I actually really like Chris's place :)

"...in the second round some of the match ups should have been changed."

I agree - some matchups seemed more a contest of style ie: "IKEA vs Craigslist" or "Traditional vs MCM" - and some entrants were clearly more about showing off their new real-estate purchase than any degree of creativity.

I think the contest needs to be redesigned for next year.
I agree that it makes no sense that to throw together the winners from different categories. Also, it seems that the contest could be conducted to reward entrants who actually do something progressive with regard to space solutions. That was my understanding of the purpose of this contest.

I love this competition and look forward to it each year. Although in my opinion some of the more interesting homes didn't win, I still love peeking into each entrant's homes and am often inspired by their creativity and ingenuity. I am hoping we might be able to access the full range of entries again at some point as i forgot to bookmark them!
Corrie, I agree- in addition to the overall winner, it also seems a bit unfair that all the internationals are lumped together regardless of the size of their apartments.

The level of the competition was very high this year and the outcome is kind of boring. I liked the former second round of the competition better, back in 2007 Laura and London Urchin amongst others had produced those very chic video clips, it was exciting. Wonder why this was cut off ?

"It seemed I picked the "loser" in a good portion of the matches, so maybe my vote is just the kiss of death."

My thought exactly......

I am abstaining on this last vote. I vote every year but the last two years the brackets have been the problem. All the brackets early on pitted 2 similar style apartments against each other ie here is the very neutral MCM apartments against each other, here is the two bohemian chic etc. Thats why this contest has been a big fail the last 2 years.

During the last Color Contest I disagreed that there had been ridiculous amounts of 'friend voting,' but this time I'm not so sure. A very small, select few people were getting upwards of 500 (or 600) votes in the thumbs up portion alone! While 200 or 300 was at one time considered a lot of votes. It kind of took the fun out of the competition, for me. I know that AT wants contestants to get friends to vote (and sign up for the site), but if they're voting blindly, its not really fair, is it?

One thing that bothered me a bit was no distinction between renters and owners. Owners can do pretty much whatever the hell they want to make their places better/more livable whereas renters are limited in what they can do, often times severely so. Being a renter requires more ingenuity in order to work around landlord imposed limitations and should be rewarded accordingly. Maybe this means having separate renters and owners competitions. It just seems really unfair to pit one against the other.

And count me in with those who think there was something hinky in the voting. I was stunned at some of those numbers for meh spaces. And also count me in for not seeing the point of having size categories when everything is just going to get thrown together anyway.

Btw, I love Chris's apt. Love it. Could stare at it for hours which I have come close to doing.

what does the winner get? I recall a gift certificate to DWR or something of the like. Honestly, I do vote for my design faves, but sprinkled with a little bit of consideration for _need_. i.e. if someone has a picture perfect place that oozes $$$, I tend to lean away from them and toward a place that might really benefit from incorporating a new piece purchased from their win. anyone else think this way?

I should add that I tend toward the more eclectic, craigslist meets ikea meets eames aesthetic, so I tend to generally prefer the seemingly "needier"(?) entries...

lol. You can't please all the people any of the time...

Proven yet again by the fact that some complain that the match ups weren't enough alike... while others complain that they were too much alike (similar types of apartment, making good ones less likely to make it to the finals).

This contest has always been and will always be part design, part popularity. Enjoy it for what it is, a chance to see individual homes from around the world. Design (art) is in the eye of the beholder.

Beth should have been in the finals. Her space is so much more interesting than Andrews.

I loved Chris's space from the beginning, so I'm glad he's going to win. Beth's, however, was my absolute favorite. But I have to say, I loved A LOT of the entries. Many of my favorites didn't make it very far at all, so of course that was disappointing. But what I love about the contests is the opportunity to see real homes/real design solutions, so I'm not really disappointed. My favorite part isn't the voting, but the looking. Maybe that's what happens--maybe people lose interest and stop voting during the finals.

As much as I thought it was lovely (it was one of only a few I actually commented on), and well-photographed, I'm not getting all the crazy-love for Beth's.

To me, for this contest, on this site, there needs to be some innovation to the solutions... it shouldn't just be a decor story.

Although I would love to see a Decor contest on AT...

i think it would be fun to do an all star challenge - take the winners from all the previous years and pit them against each other. of course they might not all still be in "small" spaces so maybe it wouldn't work...

and i'm with the posters who like this contest for seeing into real people's spaces - we no longer have cable and this replaces my guilty hgtv pleasure.

Patrick, in my opinion, it's never just a "decor story" when it comes to very small homes, especially the teeny tiny ones. It's hard to make a tiny space look great! So when it does, even though we don't necessarily "see" the solutions, it's a safe bet they're there.

By the way, I too would love to see a decor contest on AT. I'm sure there are a lot of very talented readers out there!

Compared to the outcome of last years contest, these two are much more appropriate contenders for the competition. It left somewhat of a stain on the competition. In part, I think that is why Room and Board didn't act as a sponsor this year. I think most people in AT land were outright shocked and it was a clear case of cheating with his facebook friends. To me it was an embarrassment.

I also have to agree with the comment Corrie made above about the Brooklyn place. Quoting her "The Brooklyn place is inside of one of the newly erected soulless stainless steel buildings popping up all over Williamsburg, which makes me automatically dislike it. Those buildings are the Ikea of architecture" is 100% correct.

There is nothing genuinely cool about Andrew's apartment. It's really become a competition about items and some paint colors, etc.

I also have to agree that Beth from Chicago should be the winner based on an actual small cool space. I said it a few weeks ago and I'll stand by it, but am I surprised by the outcome, no, not in the least bit.

We should all probably thank AT for the providing the opportunity to participate, because it really is a great idea and has been for years and the site provides SO MUCH useful information. I don't think we should outright blame AT for the outcome. We have to keep in mind that the better part of probably 80% of the viewers and entrants for this competition quite frankly, have absolutely no idea what the competition is truly about. As I said earlier, it's mainly become a decorating and popularity contest and pretty much only that. In relation to everything in todays society, should we be all that surprised?

I agree the new platform is not all that ideal. I basically tune out during the "finals" stage since these places are paired up with no apparent reasoning. If I were to criticize AT, I would think they need to do a much better job of monitoring the competition meaning, break it down, take it back to the way it was originally done. A true small cool competition. Nothing over say 500 or 600sf, upon entering you MUST have one cool architectural feature that makes you stand out. High ceilings, 10 foot windows, beamed ceilings, something. From there AT should send back to the poster or put on the site. There are far too many entries these days which probably complicates things. Poor photos, no entry and so on...

I do think AT is a little at fault here, but less so in regards to how the brackets were originally laid out (and this can easily be fixed next year), but more so with not providing a clear description of what the contest is about. It used to be maybe understood that the contest was more about how cleaver a use of space was, like Jenny and Clove's space in the 2006 contest and less so where their furniture came from, or how well its decorated (though this has always been a part of the competition). Now it seems people are voting for places for all sorts of reason, and people are upset because no one seems to be voting to a similar goal.

I personally tended to vote for places that had a more creative use of space, not who had the nicest mid century sofa. *shrug*

I have to agree with corrie and others on this- why, WHY have size brackets at all if you're going to pit a 250 sq ft place against a 1,000 sq ft place by the end of the contest anyway?

What Jose A said.

So I was just double checking the constest rules, and I noticed something regarding the brackets. The text in the rules reads: "In the first round, the semi-finalists will be seeded in this order: #1 v #9, #5 v #13, #2 v #10, #6 v #14, #3 v #11, #7 v #15, #4 v #12, #8 v #16." [Source]

But instead things were seeded #1 v #9, #2 v #10, #3 v #11, and so on. Had they been seeded as stated in the rules, then the bracket issue people mentioned by many would not have been a problem, that is to say #1 would not have gone against #2 at the second round but #5(in theory if it won against 13). Was this a technical error on AT's part, or is the order listed in the rules not how they were to be put up?