This place is making me giddy. I want it.

Wow

Gorgeous. The "before" set is sort of creepy-Fight-Club, dilapidated-chic. The "after" set is just beautiful.

I'd love to see a before and after floor plan. Great place!

What a wonderful story and wonderful results, it's beautiful now and still seems like there is so much space you must be very proud I sure would be.

champers nailed it.

I forgot to saw that view alone was worth saving, wow.

I almost had a heart attack when I saw these windows (& the view!), no kidding. Just... wow.

I love your furniture arrangement, so functional!

And it will probably take me weeks to get over these windows. You are SO lucky!

The outside, those halls, the walls and the floors...so gray and depressing. I guess it's about the view.

moi flabbergasted. stunning!

Great story, great building, great renovation, great view!

Spelling nitpick- I'm fairly certain that the fire department was citing "imminent danger", not sighting it.

Why are the thumbnail pictures ON this post linked TO this post? I'd press the F5 key if I wanted to refresh the page. It's unnecessary and annoying.

Is it just to increase page views for ad dollars?

I'm confused, how was she able to convert her unit into two smaller units and rent one of them out if she, herself, is renting? Or is this just one of those "only in NYC" scenarios?

drknam - in house tours those aren't thumbnail pics that enlarge as in regular posts, they're peeks of what's to come so you can decide whether you want to see the rest of the tour.

Geoff- I love your house tours! Well written and always unique and interesting homes.

I'm glad that Ivonne kept the beautiful floors.

Holy crap that view! So glad you kept those original windows, they are great, as is the rest of your place.

So the 1800sf was divided into a 1/4-chunk and a 3/4-chunk? This is a question clearly uninformed by actual pertinent info, but with NYC metro housing prices, why not four teeny apts instead of one teeny and one big? Couldn't you charge more?

I like the kitchen, though the crooked cabinets make it look cheap. It would have been nice to see a photo of the living-room with drawn curtains, so we can judge the space and not the view.

wow, this place is too cool for school

Prefer the un-Ikea look of the original space - it has more character and edge than the renovated space. Although kudos for downsizing.

Amazing.

love love love this, stunning, except the creepy weird bearded man painting.... makes me miss new york, fantastic view!!

I love both incarnations, and I want that view so badly it hurts my heart.

Way cool. I'm feeling everything but the tulip set.

I will definitely bookmark this one. Love it!

Can you please post some more photos of the bath from different angles so we can see it all - looks amazing! That view is truly breathtaking. i did wonder if you get lots of dust coming in, though. The post made me think of a NYC long ago, the one that was more Wild Wild West than strip mall. I would die for 1800 sq ft to dance around in, but it does make sense to rent part out if possible, given the absurdity of nyc's rents! I love that the place is fairly sparse. You don't need anymore furniture than what you have. As for the kitchen, I wonder if the photo was taken right after it was finished - before you did anything in it. I can't imagine someone keeping it that spotless and appliance free. Anyway, thanks for sharing. I really hate you for getting to live with that view. I hope you have access to the roof for parties.

The dining table seems out of place but I'm sure you have it there because of the amazing view .I certainly hope all those paint chips are lead free...

i like "before" much better. it was much more unique. especially the kitchen. the new one is just, well new...

My first and continuing thought was "brrrrrrrrr" - doesn't it get chilly? I can imagine those windows in summer would be spectacular, but a New York winter? Oof. Hope the new smaller apartment has many heaters...

Ok, first off, the renovations are awesome (not digging all the modern furniture in that setting, though). But the bathroom looks awesome. I actually liked the before shots, too. Like someone said, very Fight Club Chic.

But, she RENTS???

So she spent thousands and thousands of dollars in a renovation of which she'll receive no equity back? Sure, I understand that she's renting out the other space in the apartment to "up-and-coming" artists. And I also understand that her rent is probably controlled and she probably spends next to nothing in rent.

And being that she's renting to "up-and-coming" artists, does that mean she's getting paid from their trust funds? Or does that mean she'll sometimes go a few months without collecting any payment?

And the fridge is the top-right drawer under the counter? Are you serious? Are you sure it's not the large pantry-looking cabinet on the far left?

I get that this is her place, but I'm surprised the landlord didn't step in and have her put in a normal-sized fridge and an oven (I only see the electric cooktop). But, I guess this is 475 Kent, and its story is "famous" so that the landlord was probably happy to have ANYONE paying rent.

But, someday she won't be renting anymore, and in this gentrified neighborhood (rents of up to $4000 in the building) the next tenant may actually want a functional kitchen, and shouldn't have to shell out thousands of dollars to re-renovate a rental kitchen so that it's actually usable.

Forget the reno into the present, smaller apt and rental: The original apartment (as shown in the house tour) is absolutely the perfect home, period, no need to look further, just substitute my stuff for Ivonne's stuff and live happily ever after!

re: re-renting // i'd s'pose it'd be like renting a 3BR apartment and subletting two of the bedrooms out to friends. i'd guess this area/building is rent controlled... so even by offering a good deal to artists, with today's market rents, her overall rent might be covered (and able to re-coup -- in short order -- the cost of the renovation). plus, she now gets to live in a more human-scale space with non-rusty fixtures. many industro spaces like this have a history of free-form renovations -- i doubt her "landlord" has ever been to the building much less cares/knows about the individual units in the building. excellent job.

where can i find that black double hanging lamp?

gorgeous

i like the AFTER much better than the BEFORE.

after is clean and modern, and livable.
before is cold, ugly, and SCARY.

on another note...maybe it is because i don't live in New York...but is it common for the exteriors of building to look so ghetto? based on the just the exterior...no way in hell would I have ever considered living there. i would be afraid that I would get attacked at night if i dared to wander out on my own.

I thought this place looked familiar! I rented an author's loft in this building for a week in 2007. AMAZING building, view and rooftop! Love that rooftop! Well done Ivonne, makes me want to move there. One thing I really remember about the staircase is how each floor had some different art doodle on the floor number, like in picture 4.

And, yes it looks ghetto from the outside, but its a relatively safe neighborhood...or at least it was in 2007.

@Coletta

Well, in many cases, no, but this building, 475 Kent, is a well-known case study where the building was zoned commercial and was an old, worn down warehouse. Artists started to move in, fix up the building themselves for mixed-use live/work areas. Then one day, the inspectors game in and kicked everyone out due to several code violations.

Now spaces in the building rent for $4000/month. Go figure.

I'm confused. I couldn't tell which was before and which was after. Cool to look at, but I worry about toxins.

And kudos to the architect, Mr. Skip Boling. Lovely work!!

that view! so incredibly inspiring.

I prefer the "before" kitchen, too; it's more industrial and fits the setting. The new one looks... too new. And too IKEA. Not what I'd expect -- or want -- in a W-burg loft.

The rest of the place is great, though. And the view... what more can be said? Amazing.

Wow, this is a really gorgeous space.

Any idea what heat/AC would run in a space this size?

Uhm .... Totally bad-ass.

"Totally bad-ass!" says it better than I. Major fav! Love the windows/view, the tall, slender bookcase that makes use of space, and the spare-smallness of it all.

I'd live there, if it weren't so damn cold! :)

I have to agree with a majority of the posts...what a cool space, before AND after! My favorite part was the wood dressor with wavy-front drawers...is this vintage or can I find something like this somewhere...?

Does anybody know? :-)

very courageous to live in such a place, but the view is really worth it. A beautiful job very well done , not too crazy about the nouldy ceiling in the living room but i guess that can be helped. Everything else is very very pretty the single bed is just so simple and amazing at the same time.

this is the way >99% of the nation rents housing: every lease is at market rate, all the time! as for the bizarre nyc otherworld of rent control/rent stabilization? the building is to be built & zoned as residential, w/ units defined by law as rc/rs; this is not, so the owner has no obligation to supply heat, a bathtub, anything, unless it is spelled out in the lease (if there is one). non-res tenants can both subdivide & net lease, w/ fewer restrictions than res. everyone, however, has to follow building & fire codes, like two forms of egress, working standpipes, ventilation, supporting columns support; death by building is to be avoided. reno can be done in any rental by a renter, even rc/rs, as long as all parties agree & all appropriate codes are followed. costs can be negotiated against rent anywhere, even rc/rs; written contracts are conformist, but a good idea.

seriously amazing! great job. im very jealous.

There's much to be appreciated about the architects work. I've seen other spaces that Skip Boling has worked with. The guy is great.

I agree with Chester/Trudy on the kitchen but wow - it does my soul good to see that real loft bldgs still exist in nyc. This loft reminds me of my friends apts in soho that I would play in as a child. Of course my friends parents were actually artists with full on studios in the living space. Usually when you see an apt described as a NYC loft you cannot tell it apart from the brand new condos - this is the way these buildings are supposed to look.