New York City is notorious for small and awkward apartments that take some serious problem-solving to bring up to snuff. Carly Yates has built her interior design firm by helping people tackle their apartment dilemmas. In fact, she used to work as Maxwell's project assistant in his days as a one-on-one Apartment Therapist.

Here are a few good photos and smart solutions from Carly's portfolio. Add them to your idea file...

Brooklyn Duplex

The floor-to-floor Vitsoe shelving provides storage for a large art library, but it also creates a focal point in the dining room.

Brooklyn Loft

This is a rental home that uses color to customize the space. A large-scale painting sets the tone for the living room, where layered color and pattern warms up a white box. Special attention was paid to "treating each surface with a different material and mixing pieces carefully."

Tribeca Loft

Maxwell and Carly worked together on this apartment — the standout piece is the custom wine rack, which doubles as a space divider.

Soho Loft

Mid-C furniture coexists with custom storage units and oversized lighting in this apartment. Check out the full tour for a peek at the amazing Timorous Beasties “London Toile” wallpaper in the media room.

Brooklyn Duplex II

Such a smart way to frame the bed — a new wall, painted green, reveals sections of the apartment's original exposed brick. The wall adds storage and visually extends the headboard.

For more photos and information, visit 8.8 Design online.

8.8 Design, llc

http://www.8point8design.com/

25 Dikeman St, Brooklyn, NY 11231, USA

347.721.3711

Visit the store page

Comments (7)

please explain how lofts are "...small and awkward apartments that take some serious problem-solving to bring up to snuff." Most lofts I have seen require more defining space within a larger volume. I read the intro thinking it would be about small spaces. Just a thought.

I appreciate how stylish, yet livable, these designs are. I am wondering where some of these fantastic textiles are from: in particular the red patterned rug in the Brooklyn duplex #1 and the pillow in the Brooklyn duplex #2 pictures. I am always on the lookout for unique textiles with a modern, international sensibility.

Brooklyn Duplex II's orange and green are so pretty and homey together.

Thanks for looking and commenting everyone, we are very glad you approve!

dottedline-the rug is a vintage piece owned by the clients. They loved that kilim and wanted to integrate it into the new design. I think it is important to showcase items the client loves in order to achieve a successful design that reflects their style identity.
We make most pillows custom but another source we use is etsy-antique pillows.

Miami's Elaine-I believe that green is BM 2034-40 and it would mix well with most shades of primary orange and off white as shown.

Thanks!
Carly

I hired 8.8 Designs to handle my large scale home renovation and was thrilled with the work they did. Carly's attention to detail is impeccable. So much so that I trusted her to manage the majority of the project while I was out of town. She also knows construction well so I never felt like the contractors were running the show without her input.

Decorating Manhattan apartments is always a creative challenge. We love Carly Yates' use of space, particularly books as decorative elements.