wow. impressive, and nicely put together. Do you move the bike each time you shower?

I think this is the first time I've ever seen a bathtub used to house a bicycle. That's a pretty smart use of space.

Ha, it looks like you have way more dishes than you could ever use! (I do too). Nice place.

I'm curious too - does the bike always go back in the shower? Where do the other bikes live?

Gorgeous place and great job with the decor and storage! One of my favorites so far.

And how do the bikes differ that one person needs three of them? I don't own a bike, so these are real curiosities to me :)

I'd like to get some opinions on the one panel window. To me, it seems incomplete, even though it's a small window. If it was pulled across and then tied, would it seem more complete and/or acceptable to only have one panel?

I love the stone wall in the kitchen! I would love to see more of this place!!

love it! what a charming small space. you did a great job!

i love most of this apartment, but what a missed opportunity with the bedding and window treatments.

Love it! (Or, at least what I can see of it -- I would love to see a few more comprehensive shots that give a sense of the whole space.) Whimsical, but very liveable. Great job!

quirky charm! love the colors...

Winner!

Is the material in the kitchen actual stacked stone or a wall paper/decal? Either way it is stunning!

Wonderful! Also wondering about NIKKIANZ's question re: kitchen backsplash.

I really like this place! I wish I could see more pictures.

Love this! One of my favorites so far.

Amazing job. Just a gorgeous apartment, all the way around.

Inspiring use of space. Love the artwork, the colours, the kitchen wall!

And of course, the bike in the bathtub is awesome.

Jason, you've done a very nice job with little space. I bet you love the space you're in! I'm sure after roommates, a small space, especially one like this is a pleasure to live in. ENJOY IT!

This is beautiful! It is creative and eclectic and full of visual interest. The floorplan picture is so simple - most of the charm is in the choices you made and the fab fireplace. Great job Jason!

Where is the curtain from? Love the place. Great colours.

@PI, I have three bikes, and they are all different, and feel different to ride.

One is a Dutch bike that I use to ride to work everyday. It's design means I can wear skirts, heels, etc while riding if I want to. It's super pretty. But, it is heavy, and has few speeds, so it's a bit on the slow side.

Another is a cheapie mountain bike I bought when I was student. No skirts when I ride that one! But it does the job for riding around town and it's age and low value make it unappealing to thieves, so I never worry about parking it all over the city.

My third bike is a road bike, for long rides and overnight cycling trips. It's lightweight and goes fast! It was a little on the pricey side, so I wouldn't park it just anywhere. I pretty much just use it for big rides.

I store all three in my apt. It takes up space but whatevs, that's my lifestyle!

Jason has style...

I love this! Especially the stone trompe l'oeil wallpaper/decal in the kitchen - brilliant + awesome.

I want to favorite this over and over. It's absolutely dreamy. totally in love.

Hot damn. This is spectacular!

eek! i LOVE the stone wall or trompe l'oeil in the kitchen! how inspired!

also, PLEASE tell me who makes the chandelier pictured in the living room, and where i can get it!

Love the fireplace and colors combo.

Nice! ha on the bike in the shower. Would have liked to have seen the couch/living area too. Like the books in the fireplace and display over the desk area.

Love the plants on the mantel!

Cute Cute Cute! Small spaces can still be stylish. Love it :)

If this apartment was a basketball player it would be Spud Webb and if this contest was the 1986 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, it would win. Killer apartment Jason.

Very elegant and down to earth simultaneously. My favorite. ps - hooray for Little Boots sticking up for the elegant, earthy and sleepy terrier.

Wow...you are a genius for turning a dump into such a welcoming space. Great job!!

Fantastic details, details, details...it's NYC after all. Love the Frenchie too (-:

Not only is the apartment great, but you did a great job of using mirrors in your photography to capture the space. Got my vote!

Not only is the apartment great, but you did a great job of using mirrors in your photography to capture the space. Got my vote!

Shoeboxes need love too! It's very nice.
That stone wallpaper in the kitchen has been featured on Apartment Therapy before, yes?

First thing that caught my eye...the little dog yawning or sneezing or whatever its doing.

Jason - favorited!!!! Love it, and love the touches of bright yellow -- 3ould be too much in large quantities but perfect in these touches. I adore the yellow Buddha, and how you used your fireplace for books, and the stone backsplash (I'm guessing a really good picture), and - not sure why - the bike in the shower, and the blue wall around the fireplace (and the fireplace itself!). Where do you keep the other 2 bikes?

Not loving the window (floor to ceiling white gauze maybe, for light but a more completed look?) or boring bedspread.

I'd love to see the rest of the apartment, here's hoping you make it to the finals so we get to see ALL of it!! You have my vote!

Very well edited.

Love the first 3 pics. Would be nice to see more photos to capture the entire living space.

I love it. But if I owned it I would take the cabinet skeleton down and put up shelving instead, with the cabinets still there, it looks a bit "student apartmenty". Otherwise, if I were in New York, this would be a great space.

Also wanted to add, that I would get rid of the apartment sized fridge, get a smaller counter height European fridge and have the counter go all of the way across.

Can't believe you made 250 sq ft look like that! Incredible.

Aw, man! I just wrote another entry was the smallest coolest I'd ever seen. Then you come along, Jason, even smaller and at least as cool. A pup will always put it over the top though, so you are the new undisputed champion of small cool in my book!

(Also wondering where the other two bikes live.)

PS: Pi, on the subject of the single curtain pane, it's actually balanced by a second one in the other direction for the other window in that wall (see shot of bed in mirror).

Nice! Like the kitchen and the big mirrors. Hey, with 12 ft ceilings, maybe you can get a pulley/winch and hang the bike up near the ceiling. Not as convenient, but you'd be cleaner :D

Although I voted for this one, it's really hard to tell if the photos and arrangements were just particularly cleverly organized for this one. At least two, maybe three if you count the fireplace pic, are really vignettes, which don't reveal that much about the whole place. I'd like to see more pics that show more. And DO you take the bike out ever time you use the shower or do you shower at the gym or what?

Wait, I'm lost... is it Melissa's apartment or Jason's? Or is "Melissa" Jason's drag name?

It's a gorgeous apartment either way, but I resent the feeling that someone's not being transparent here.

Very Cool!!

Hah, Blandwagon, I was confused about that, too. Maybe Jason is using a female friend/girlfriend's account to comment? Anyways, the apartment seems cool from the snippets we've been shown, but it's hard to judge the apartment as a whole from these pictures. Maybe the other two bikes are in the living room area and that's why we didn't get a picture of that space?

Blandwagon - I think Melissa was just addressing a previous poster's question of why someone would have three bikes. In a general sense.

I don't think she is, or is pretending to be, Jason.

I want your Buddha, Jason. Did you paint it? Love your place.

I love the rustic mirror and the branches. I hope they're real flowers.
I also like the simple white bedding. It feels low maintenance which is a plus for me.
I voted for your apartment. Yay!

This place has a lot of personality and looks so appealing. I, too, would have liked to see the living room space, but I guess when you only get to post a few photos, you have to pick & choose. Overall, one of my favorites.

I love the arrangement you have on the mantle!

Hi All, thanks for all the compliments, questions and feedback. it's very helpful and greatly appreciated.

I do have to remove my racing bike from the tub every time i shower. it gets a little frustrating here and there but i really love this apartment and have come to learn how to deal with and accept its short comings. My second bike is a road bike and i use daily for work and i keep it outside. It's old and beat up so no one bothers with it. I recently had to store the third bike (mountain bike) at my mom's house.

and yes, i do look forward to showering at the gym.

the stone wall paper came from burkedecor.com. i dont think they carry it anymore. It's a really great pattern and hides the poor condition of the wall. It also lines the inside of the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen that you cant see in the picture.

@Jewells , i rent this apartment and love your suggestion, however i sadly can not do that here. removing the old doors and sanding down and painting the frame was my version of doing what you suggested.

@JULIAAAA: Im pretty much in agreement with you about the bedding comment. However it is done out of necessity. I used to have bedding and higher end bedding but when Stanley was a puppy he had an accident ALL OVER EVERYTHING. And as he has gotten old he basically lives in my bed when i am not home, no matter what i do. So in short i decided on simple, inexpensive bedding that if it gets dirty or stained, i dont lose sleep over it. What you cant see in the picture is the white blanket is really a very modern white quilt with an interesting geometric pattern. It looks cool close up, but the picture doesnt capture the small detail.

As for the curtains, I used to have very long, billowing, saffron silk curtains. But i live 2 flights up on a busy street a few doors down from an avenue and i like to leave one window open. The panel near the open window was always covered in soot and cleaning silk curtains is REALLY expensive. I recently opted for something else that will block the light when i sleep but also can be thrown in the wash.

As for the one panel on each window. This was trial and error. When you put to panels on one window in such a small space, it looks REALLY busy. Truth be told it's sort of unnecessary for such a small space and i like the simple clean line of just the one curtain, it does the job, doesnt distract and it's cost effective.

If this were a living room, not an "entire life" in an 11* x 14* room, there would be two panels.

@Dylan_can: I used some left over paint from the bathroom window to paint the buddha. A friend brought it back from India for me. he wasnt to happy to learn i painted a brass buddha, but i love it with the bright yellow paint.

bathroom mirror i mean.

@PI: I tested out two panels and it looked so busy. As for draping them, i kind of just love the simplicity of the hanging panel. it works better in this small space.

For everyone who asked to see more. here is a link to a story about my apartment, the colors in the art and curtains have changed. Im constantly moving things around and finding new use for other objects in other places. While i LOVED the old curtains, it became cost prohibitive to keep them clean.

Hope you all like!

More pictures here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/realestate/10habitats-chelsea.html?_r=1

@Blandwagon, Melissa is someone else. If i was going to pick a drag name it would NOT be Melissa. Would probably be something more like Pandora Menorah...

@Pixie: here are some shots of the full place:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/realestate/10habitats-chelsea.html?_r=1

this is awesome! so refreshing to see a real nyc apartment :)

very clever use of space and I love the palette of colours you've chosen...

cute dog too! :-)

I'm not Jason. I was responding to Pi's comment about how three bikes could differ enough to warrant owning all of them.

Thanks for the link Jason... your apartment is darling!

Thank you Stacey!

Jason, those extra shots really help a lot. Thanks!

@Pixie
Glad you like. it was hard to capture it all in 5 shots. if i had an extra wide angle lens it would have been easier to capture a full shot. lesson learned...very hard to shoot a small space.

Jason, your place is THE BOMB! I LOVE your style. I'm totally OK with you sneaking up and (inevitably) beating me in votes. Boston Terrier Power! --Diana (Exposed Brick Bonus)

So clever and charming! I especially love the use of color. I don't know how anyone couldn't see the potential of an apartment with such a gorgeous fireplace and good bones, so good for you for ignoring the naysayers!

i like everything except the bathroom mirror zone

Love the dog, love the bathtub bike, love the clever uses of space.

www.the-bs-hive.blogspot.com

I have to admit, hate the bike in the tub.

This is not a place "with potential" -- it already has mood, charm, and it really flows. Great job!

That first photo looks like a magazine cover. Nice.

great job, very cute and i love that you have a fireplace

amazing!!!!!! i may need your help:)

Your apartment is just charming, So inviting and functional. I don't know how you did it, but everything just seems to work. It looks like an apartment in a design magazine! That fireplace is so beautiful. How clever to use it as a place to display books.

I love decorating and do believe that I'm okay at doing it. In searching for an apartment in Seattle, considering my budget as a college student, I went to see a unit that was of 250ft and within 3 minutes, I jumped out of the space. The floor was super squeaky and kitchen appliances were looking like 1960s'. This studio here looks so beautiful and just gorgeous but I don't know if it is possible for me to attempt to try decorate a unit that is structurally so old and kind of too much to even begin with so to speak. any thoughts?

unsure about the bike in the tub idea - kinda glad if i kept mine here, there's a storeroom downstairs I can use or i could hang it up on the wall - but I love the color scheme and the lovely plant adds character. very clever...

I loved the first picture, then fell in love with the bike in the shower. Bravo!!!

To all the naysayers, you've never lived in 250 square feet. Such ingenuity should be lauded. A song should be written about it and flowers strewn at his feet.
Seriously. My neighbor keeps his bike hanging over the railing in the stairwell. This would not do for a racing bike.

Seems rather crazy to have to clean the tub and move a bike every time you want to shower. why to do a pulley system from the ceiling or hang it from the wall? Also not really getting a good idea of the space. guessing someone sent this to all their coworkers at the brokerage firm judging from the amount of votes. would hate for this to be a freaking popularity contest yet again.

I love everything about this place. Best I've seen in the contest so far.

@indigo, i dont clean the tub every time i take it out. it's the only place to put it. my walls are made of concrete and i cant suspend anything from them...and it would clutter up an 11 by 14 space. and no, i didnt send this to everyone i work with. crazy as it sounds i think people just like the small space as all the comments are from AT readers.

LOVE!

Once upon a time I lived in a NY studio apt that must have been about this size. I wish mine had looked like this! You have fantastic taste and make it look easy to live elegantly in a tiny space.

A bike in the shower. That is brilliant. I had a bike that I kept in an apt but it would always track mud into the apt from the tires. I love your fortune cookie story.

wonderful in every way!

I also have 3 bikes -- 2 in the basement storage and my favorite is beside my bed! Nice job and cute dog!

Jason,
Your apartment is fabulous. Please provide the specs (if available) for the cool and simple chandelier.