apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Awesome place. An unassuming exterior that leads to beauty.

Was the wood dining room wall already there or did you add it?

was just wondering the same thing, what a wonderful way to add texture and depth to those white walls. very cool!

I really love the second bedroom, especially the full wall of wardrobe. And the lower sloping ceiling, I think it's a plus, and you handled it well.

The quality of furniture and accents over quantity, the mixture of the old and new -- love the ceilings -- is something that really resonates with my own style. Thank you for sharing.

Immediately thought of Ingo Maurer when I saw that light!

Love your place -- love how it is a gorgeous hidden oasis. Am most impressed with the dining room wall.

Are those bird wings on the hanging light? Did you do anything special to preserve it?
I'd just seen a dead Canada goose on the shoreline, whole body perfectly intact, and wondered what I could do with it. Too expensive having a taxidermist preserve it.

Ooops, you already explained the bird wings...gorgeous apartment and love the low bed and ceilings. Soothing and calming.

your taste is impeccable

I love the giant matchstick in the bedroom!

That lampshade 'Nevermore'.

Beautifully done. Love the lamp. I visited the Shikumen Open House in the French Concession for the first time this week. Enjoy your time in Shanghai!

Your entire dinning room belongs in a museum. It is perfect in every way!

This place is great. I lived in Shanghai for a while myself but in a corporate high rise. I was always jealous of people who had these great places in the old sections of the city.

it's a great place, congratulations!

Gorgeous!

Stunning design! I love the white against the dark woods. The bones, kitchen and bathroom could be remodeled.

I don't quite get the dead bird on that lampshade, but the rest of the dining room is nice...

I'm so sorry about the death of your pet raven--especially unfortunate that in its final throes it seems to have impaled itself on an otherwise quite lovely red lantern. I wish you well in recovering from your grief enough to have it removed. Here in LA, DWP kindly provides this service. Perhaps you can find a sympathetic garbage collector to help. Best of luck.

Imma be harsh here--look, I love the lighting and I love the apartment. I am also in awe of the sinks. But really, I love the lighting, both the fixtures and the effect.

However, many of the rooms just look like expensive furniture next to someone's neatly arranged personal shit, without an ounce of style applied. What I'm saying is there's nothing aesthetic about it. It's just someone's (very expensive) modern furniture. Am I supposed to start drooling because of the price tag and not notice that the room flow is poor, or the overall composition is displeasing or that some things seem to be just put there for the hell of it?

The loft, for example, almost works quite well for me. It seems to invite sitting on the floor and reading. But then that ugly duckling plastic chair intrudes. I mean, why? Doesn't sitting in that (without craning) cast your eyes towards the ceiling? (Which is blank.) I would want to sit on some nice cushions (like the pillows suggest) by that low table and have a nice read and some green tea.

Okay, so that's just me. It's obvious Xing spends most of his free time in that swanky (rather nice, really) looking recliner playing xbox, with the space heater cranked. One further speculates that he or his friends smoke (although where would friends sit to play xbox?) and hence the air purifier. Should I really be able to (want to be able to) tell all that from a home tour?

Hazukashii ga (in light of what has been snarked above), I think the wings on the lantern work. Stunning, actually.

(oi, nihongo ya chuugokugo ga chigau no ga shitteiru yo.)

Love that you left the label on the fridge!

The dining room wall and the master bedroom are nice. However, I feel that the place is lacking warmth and flow.

Funny, I think the loft would look drab without that chair. It turns a somewhat bleak space into a lively one.

Re: the air purifier (which I cannot, for the life of me, find). Most people use them for allergens, which I'm sure are abundant in a city like Shanghai.

What the F is the point of explaining that chinese and japanese are different in japanese, eh? (Oh.. that's directed @580sqftofbliss, which is what s/he's said in case any non-japanese speakers missed it.)
Presumably you've lived elsewhere than your 6LDK in Roppongi or Shimokitazawa and know that in many places a drab, homely exterior suggests a similar interior. Xing has obviously put a lot of though and work into rehabbing a place that is old and has not been kept up in the same way a landlord in SF or Tokyo would. And if you are indeed living in Japan, you should have a better understanding of small space living and the difficulties of bringing modern furniture into a home like this. Is it that you're jealous, do think small asia must =japanese aesthetic?
(I understand that I'm being bitchy myself, but using japanese in that way really pissed me off.)

Xing: Love what you've done. It's gorgeous and calm and inviting. Please do tell us about the wood wall; also where is the dining area located? Thank you for photographing the living room in daylight as well as eveining. I wish I saw that on more home tours.

Thank you for sharing the exterior photos. Most people don't do that and I am always curious about the outside just as much as the inside.

Also....I love the wood wall in the dining room!

I like how high they hung their curtains. Looks great.

one of the most interesting uses of space i've seen on your blog. many of your house tours are good but this one uses the constraints of the rental extremely well. with only a few pieces of furniture/accessories it says so much for his imagination.

love the asian lighting, where would I find anything simular?