Conrad sent over images of this amazing home in the Old Kensigton area of Philadelphia that was featured on his blog Streets Dept: "Hidden through a fabulously patriotic door in a perfectly unassuming building in Old Kensington sits the home of Doub Hanshaw and John David Mahaffey — one of the most amazing homes I've ever been to in Philadelphia. Doub, creative director at Free People, bought the building a little over a year and a half ago when it was still a simple storage garage and turned in into the awe-inspiring space it is today…
Deciding to keep and paint the original roof, Doub tore up the stained cement floor and replaced it with a new cement floor with radiant flooring. John, a lighting designer and all around handy man, nailed in — with hand and hammer — the Lathe finish surrounding the loft that elevates the couple's bedroom and bath.
Lathe, if you didn't know, is reclaimed wood often found inside the walls of row homes to help hold up plaster. All of the Lathe was free and likely about to get thrown away — INSANE! John also made a few of the light structures around the space including the tremendous chandelier over the dinning room table.
Thanks for sharing Conrad!
You can see more of this amazing apartment at Streets Dept | Apartment Complex: Doub and John.
Images: Conrad Benner
10 No-Fail Decor Tricks & Tips for Small Spaces
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Shaw's Original Fir...
How to Bake a Potato: Three Easy Methods
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Love it! And I'm pretty jealous of that bathtub!
The clock projection on the shower wall is beautiful. Any details about that?
You can buy projection clocks fro $100-$200 at any Sharper Image-type gadget store. Wal-mart and Sears stock them, too.
I'm utterly failing to see the appeal of this place, and I really like industrial lofts. Maybe it's better in person with the radiant heat floor and all, but it just looks like a bunch of garage sale stuff in a big empty space.
I love wandering around free people stores, though I am rarely that fond of their actual clothing (some important element will break a garment for me... which is good, because that stuff is not cheap). So the creative director lives in philly? WHY IS THERE NO FREE PEOPLE HERE. (Or... was there one a little while ago and the location closed? Did I hallucinate it?)
I agree, Chinadoll. My first thought was that the furniture seems too underscaled for the space. It has a certain feral charm, but not obvious good design.
Very likely a proper House Tour would show it in a better light and disavow me of my poor impressions.
P.S. Projection clocks are awesome!
I feel like the bedroom area should be divided from the rest of the space with a large bookcase or some large piece of standing artwork. It just looks like one gigantic room filled with random stuff! However, it does have a lot of potential.
This is a cheat. You really have to try hard to screw up a place with such great architecture.
I wish AT would feature ordinary, cookie cutter apartments more often. I would love to see how people make those spaces extraordinary.
I love this, it looks like a real converted warehouse, where creative things happen and it's not designed to within an inch of its life. Following the link to the the rest of the pictures makes me love it even more - it seems the bed in the main space is a spare bed, the "real" bedroom is on the curtained mezzanine.
Full Tour please!! Really. I'm begging you. Do a full tour of this fabulous place!
LoVe it!