apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Not sure if last night's Small Space Big Style was a repeat, but was really taken by the couple living in the 350 sq ft 2 bedroom in NYC. That room divider was so inventive and inspiring. SPBS has now become no. 1 on my list of must watch shows. Always makes me rethink design plans for my place. It is so refreshing to see people that are willing to think outside the suburban vinyl clad box.

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_design_small_space/article/0,1793,HGTV_3382_4215170,00.html

Technical question: tried to review photos from "Kitchen Smackdown" (in March "Best of 2005" posting below) but links took me to "file not found." Are the kitchen tours not archived? Or does someone have any tricks to share with me?

Thanks....

Enrique, really curious to see your Ikea kitchen...thinking of going Swedish for my (hopefully next year) re-model...

dave- just checked out yr flickr pics. nice place!
did you install in the marble backsplash yourself? looking to diy a tile backsplash in our place here in chicago. not sure how to cut the tiles, etc.
also are your cabinets from home depot?

Michael-
I'm not Dave, but in case he doesn't see your question soon enough, there's such thing as a "wet saw" that you can probably rent somewhere that you cut tiles with. It works with actual water, so that it doesn't catch fire or something because of the sparks that the blade makes when it hits the tiles.

The guy who repaired a couple of my vintage 4" inch tiles searched the world over and only found 5" tiles and measured very carefully, and cut them down at his house and brought them in and installed them. That's what he said he has at home, and that he used, and whenever I see people do it on HGTV shows, they show them using them.

But hopefully, Dave will see you question, too, because if he's done it, he'll probably some interesting little tips about specific ways to finesse them.

Michael, I did not install the tile myself. I purchased the tile at Home Depot and had an expert install it. I'm glad I paid the extra $s to have someone else do it. He had a hard time making it look right. The backsplash wall was not perfectly flat so there was a lot of finessing with building up the wall with mortar to smooth it out. The tricky thing about polished marble is that like any glossy surface it will show any inperfection. Like Curtis said the tile was cut on a wet saw, which is no big deal if you have the right equipment.
As far as the cabinets; they are the one thing that I splurged on. They are custom "Quality" kitchen cabinets ("Quality" is the company name). I really wanted wood stained cabinets and Home Depot's and Ikea's look cheap to me. The wood finish looks like wall paper (which I think it is) and is too shiny. The cabinets were not cheap but they are such a focal point in my place that I have no regrets.

Jennifer. I'll post some pics of the kitchen on the LA site's Flickr slideshow. Just click over. They'll be up shortly.

I tiled our bathroom floor and tub surround and am going to do the backsplash in our kitchen soon. You can buy a wet saw for $99 at Home Depot. I did a very complicated layout in the bathroom, which I don't think the average contractor would have been able to pull off, or at least not at a reasonable price. However, I ruptured a disk doing it and had to have back surgery. I'm still not sure what the moral of this story is.

Thanks Enrique!!! Have a lovely holiday weekend.

DC Dave,

Hi and thanks so much for the positive feedback! I was really surprised to see your comments here about our apartment, thank you. : )

My husband designed the divider--we were inspired by this very cool restaurant on Abbott Kinney in Venice Beach, CA. The apartment was a rental and we needed to find a unique way to divide the space that could be moved when we left. We originally put our space up here on the AT site for the Smallest/Coolest contest. (I think it was titled "Stephen & Christina's Beautiful Surroundings if you want to read more about it.)

About four weeks ago we moved out of our 350sf nest and into a true one-bedroom in the South Street Seaport that is about 800sf! I guess that still qualifies as small to some but to us it's huge! As I look around our new apartment I see so many influences from this website and wanted to thank everyone who posts such interesting, inspiring material.

Thanks again, your words made me smile. : )

Christina

WOW Christina!! My brush with celebrity. 800sf what are you going to do with all that space? I moved up from a 250 sf apartment into a spacious 480 sf co-op. To me it is more about quality over quantity.
Hope your on SPBS again so we can see what you have done to you new place. Good Luck.

DAVID

Christina,

I could only see one "bedroom" in the photos. Where is the other one?

Welcome to my 'hood Christina. The Pearl St. diner is now open on Saturdays. Fresh Salt on Beekman is a cool hang out bar while The Paris has Big Game Hunter with a real plastic pump action rifle and great spicy wings. The seafood in marinara platter at Carmine's (no relation to 'that' Carmine's) is yummy & I recommend sitting at the bar because the bartender is also a paleontonogist.

Hi David, I agree, quality over quantity all the way. I don't think a repeat performance is in our future but I would love to share some photos of the new space with the AT community at some point; our exposed beams and uneven floors and walls are details that only an AT junky could appreciate. Thanks again for your kind words, we really appreciate it. Happy New Year!

Anne, I think that's just referring to the loft area that we turned into a "guest room" of sorts.

RR, Hey neighbor, thanks for the tips. Fresh Salt, love that place. We found that our first night here. I think it was the generous two-for-one happy hour special that pulled us in and we ended up staying until about 11pm. Seems like a great group of people that work there and I really enjoy the eggplant sandwich. Very cool, neighborhood vibe. I'm forseeing a night of draft beers and plastic rifle action not so far into our future, thank you. Ah, Carmine's, that's another reason we love this place. My father-in-law used to have lunch there in the 1960's and he loves that it still looks exactly the same. Have you been to Pasanella & Son on South Street? It's the wine store that just opened last week--good wine, although I think they really need to work on the price points some, and they are supposed to open a tasting room in the coming months. Thanks for the warm welcome and great tips, I hope to see you around some time at Fresh Salt.

Can anyone recommend someone to put up a wallpaper mural who can do a great job on a budget? thanks!

Hey foodies,
Made a pretty great dish last night but I need help naming it. Right now it's shamefully called "Italian casserole" because "italian sausage, pepperoni, bell peppers, pasta & cheese" sounded too long.

Pictures and recipe are here:

http://www.myaimistrue.com/archives/2005/12/italian_casserole.html

Leave comments and help me name the dish?
Thanks!

Amber -
It sounds delicious, but I still can't think of a better name for it.

I thought a bedroom was a room in and of itself. I now see that bedrooms, at least on this site, are spaces in which a bed will fit with some kind/any kind of space divider. So my small studio is really a one bedroom? Great!

anne-
Speaking of bedrooms, I'll chime in once more with my refrain of, Oh How I Love My Murphy Bed. My big ole 12'x20' living room in my studio apartment turns into a big ole 12'x20' bedroom every night, leaving no trace of itself when I'm not sleeping.

But I also had one (a different style, and not elaborate) when I had a small studio.

I went to Pasanella, that new wine shop on south street-found a yummy red from Sicily for 13 bucks-and it seemed like there were other good deals, cool place-check it out

Correction about a South Street area comment from 12/25/05: Carmine's Italian Seafoor USED to be a nice place but I haven't see L the bartender in some time now and the food has really gotten lously lately. I think the owner might be toning down her involvement because the place really has gone downhill. Shame too since the ambiance is sort of cool. But to eat there? Skip it...