apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Tantalizing. I need more photos, or at least captions under the existing ones. The whole thing is not my style, but I'm interested in knowing more about the plywood (?) unit in the living room, the wood pole and the cool little tiles in the bathroom, and what you did about the hot/cold water.

I'm giving it a Cool.

At least I'd give it a Cool if I could vote.

Sublime.

I'm unable to vote; I keep getting an error message but I love this apartment. How did you work out making these changes w/your landlord? And I would love to see "before" pics as well. I too want to know how you fixed the water problem b/c I have the same difficulty and it seems intractable.

Oh, and I would really love to know what the tiles are that you usedin your bathroom. They are wonderful. I truly love this space and all of its thoughtfulness.

voting fixed....

my favorite!!

It's adorable. Where do you put your cloths. I wouldn't care though...I'd limit myself to three changes of cloths to have a space sooo cute.

Detailed yet simplistic. I really like it. Wish we could see before pics though! I'd like to see what difference you've made.

I like seeing so many storage solutions in one small space.
What color did you paint the kitchen? It looks really good.

Interesting way you did the living room area- I never would have thought to use a flat screen+shelf+dining area combo. It turned out looking "finished" and provided storage and a eating/work area (instead of just a waste of a wall)- Very smart.

Great space, I give it a 'super cool'!

Ummmm... now the voting thing has disappeared. I can only see the votes tally.

it dissapeared because it probably did count your vote..a cookie is in place. I get the 404 messages too, but I can see that the tally changed so I figure my vote when through.

We need WAY more pictures! Especially in the bathroom and kitchen. Love what I saw though.

I'd like to know more about the chair with the brown cushions next to the entertainment center.

Absolutely one of my favorites.

It looks so fresh & clean.

And it really is very different from anything else I've seen...especially the bathroom. That sink is gorgeous!

I want to see more photos of this space but what I see, I really love!

The layout is one of my favorites so far. It's so snug and small - but somehow it feels like a very livable space. I love the cubbies in the bedroom and the mother-of-pearl tiles in the bathroom.

The dining table/storage unit is brilliant; where is it from?

Great design sense and realization. What are the storage cubes in the bedroom??

Great design sense and realization. What are the storage cubes in the bedroom??

Oh, good. So I don't have to remember whether I've voted or not. Now I can just obsess over small, cool apartment slideshows.

My absolute favorite! Your place is gorgeous. That is the clean and modern feel I want for my place but somehow mine just looks unfinished. I'd love to see more of the living room. The sketch looks like you have a couch and dinette area...love to see 'em.

How can I vote another contestant "super-cool" when I KNOW it's putting me out of the prizes? Dunno, but I just did. Beautiful job.

Very cool! Love the Russel Wright in the kitchen (even if it is the re-issued stuff...) The plywood built-in are great. Curious about the treatment of the heating riser -- looks like bamboo?

(Love the "golden handcuff" idea --- have that too, great rent, so I improve the landlord's property. Why is it they never have any taste or common sense????? Oh, I forgot -- GREED!)

Very, very nice! I would love to see more pics. Did you build the plywood unit (or have it built?) I love your sink, too. Amazing use of a small space.

Definitely a winner!!!
It's gorgeous. Nice job!

great space! simple! warm! & out-of-sight!

Wow! I too have a golden handcuffs situation and LOVE LOVE LOVE what you did. Are you available for a consultation? I've lived in my place for so long I can no longer figure out what to do with it and need a fresh eye.

KUDOS on your taste and a job well done!

Absolutely wonderful. My heart is palpating. Love the kitchen, bathroom tile and marble vanity, snug little bedroom, pillowcases, and floorplan.

Did you bamboo around a heating pipe in the bathroom? If so, great idea if it is safe.

Would love more pics.

even if Maxwell's comment is true... Man... Beautiful place. I do however have serious doubts about that "fixed budget"... What cowhide Eames chair is included in a limited budget?!? This guy must have some serious connections to free, high end stuff... and if that's true then... wow... You're definitely doing something right.

Paul, MGR meant that the voting mechanism had been corrected.

Lovely apartment. Inspirational since I'm golden handcuffed on the left coast yet have been reluctant to make big changes since it's a rented garret. . .

Paul, I think Maxwell meant that the voting mechanism has been corrected, not corrupted...

Oooh, improving a rental is a touchy subject to me, but at least your place looks beautiful, and I'm sure you'll be there for a while. At some point you might want to inquire about purchasing the property from your landlord so that you won't lose the money you spent on it.

Definitely supercool, and I love the fact that the bedroom is the exact width of the bed, a perfect pocket. Where do you keep the ladder to get to the top cupboards?

I must be missing something - how do you know the tv wall unit is also for dining?

i love it - can you provide more details about how you renovated (materials, contractors, etc.)?

[I had this trouble at first too..I had to sort it out]

If this helps any....look at the floorplan, it's across from the couch..and there's a pic of half of the red chair+table edge

Thanks, I understand what Maxwell meant now.

Dear Robert,

I would be ever so grateful if you would agree to give me a consultation on my apartment or talk to me about what you did and how.

My hope is that you will contact me. You have the best apartment in the contest and certainly one of the best I've seen.

Best of luck on winning!

Terry

Paul, I think Maxwell just meant he had fixed the problems people were having voting. Unfortunate turn of phrase though;)

This place is beautiful! I am joining the general cry above of more, more, more information. I want to know EVERYTHING.

Wow, lots of activity here, I was only on the phone one second, and my comment to Paul is so yesterday's news.

Well, if that wall unit has a table, we need details! I've been thinking about something like that for my place -- a fold away table/desk. I too wish there were more many more pix. I voted top of the scale for this one.

This contest is totally addictive.

Comment to "N" above, re "Contact the Landlord to see if you can buy it" -- Let me familiarize you with the rental market in NYC -- If you have good deal (ie rent stabilized apt with a rent much less than "market rate"), then the landlord will not want to sell to you. Instead, he/she wants you to DIE, so he/she can gut renovate and raise the rent and get out of the rent stabilization rules (happens when rent tops $2,000). Most of us with "golden handcuffs" would love to buy our apts. Pray to the coop gods!!!

To Frank - Boy, NYC sure is quite a bit different than Manchester, NH!

Oh, wow. I'm completely blown away! This is not the little apartment that could. It's definitely the little apartment that succeeded. Super luxe and very modern. I'd probably give up ownership if I had a rental like this...

I am confused. Frank is a renter, yet his LL let him retile the bathroom and install that beautiful sink? I am very confused as to what "came" with the apartment and what Frank did. Please note that this is not a "why don't you give your LL credit" comment, merely a question as to what was added (and how he got away with it). Thanks. Karen

Karenw,

Ask yourself, if you were his LL, would you let him do this to his place? I sure would!

I just wonder, can Robert guarantee that he will be able to enjoy his investment, or could his LL choose not to renew his lease?

gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!!! soooo clean and concise! beautiful.... the floor plan you've included looks like it was drawin by an architect or a designer - are you a professional? or did you hire one? either way - gorgeous!

Really nice work and great choices... The kitchen is especially nice, and I love that you've made a bed-sized bedroom seem like the right size...

Jon B -- In NYC, the renter is the one who chooses whether or not to renew the lease and it's really hard to evict people.

JonB,

I'm butting in, but I think Karenw was asking about another entry in the contest. (Assuming Frank the commentator above is the same as Frank the contestant)

I think most of Robert's changes are not really permanent (Murphy bed, window seat, plywood unit). That's just my take on the question, of course.

So far the best one I've ever seen!

Ask yourself, if you were his LL, would you let him do this to his place? I sure would!

Perhaps in theory, but the LL has no idea about the quality of a tenant's potential renovation and they could end up with a bigger problem than they started with. I don't think it is at all clear that a LL would allow this type of work, and am also interested in hearing how he received permision to do the large scale work.

Beautiful.

It looks great. I also want to see the before and afters.

The only prob I would see is for the LL to claim that HE had made the renovations and up the rent.

BUT... the place is looks like Heaven itself should look. The way those teardrop-shaped cabinet door pulls are turned at the angles that complement the grain of the wood are the kind of subtle details in which people say that God resides.

Seriously, if that is a trunk of bamboo hiding a pipe, and if that IS safe, it is one of the most seriously beautiful solutions I've ever seen in my life for such a thing.

That kitchen is so beautiful, you could almost weep aloud.

I'm probably going to have to post again later to mention other things I love, since the slide show goes so fast, I don't even see most of the pictures.

simply put, incredible.

robert, when can you have us all over to share the details (who? where? how much?)

i'm free on sunday!

I'm curious about the "cowhide" eames plywood lounge chair. I've never seen one before--did it get its spots sometime after it left the factory?

Robert, if you are interested in a free trip to San Francisco, I'd love to have you come re-do my home. Seriously (sort of). This is beautiful and incredible.

Nora--- ponyskin LCWs were produced in the 50s. (maybe later or earlier, too, but the 50s that I know of-- and haven't been produced legitimately in a while).

looove the plywood built in. love it, love it.
and orange as an accent color.
i was gushing over a previous entry, but u've brought me back to beauty w/out muckety muck.

please tho, more pics, yes, of the pieces together, the whole living room for example.

Now this is a way to redo a whole place from scratch. Unlike another contestant I won't name who re-did his place with questionable results and LOTS of comments, this is a renovation done right! Great taste and function. Simply amazing. Since I don't live in NYC, I'm still not fully understanding the renter/landlord relationship. Is it common for renter's to invest so much money in their spaces? Couldn't the landlord not renew your lease and then you'ld end up losing the place? This renovation looks like it probably cost a nice sum, how does one recoup on that investment since they don't own it? Just curious...

Do my eyes deceive me or have you added a new picture - of the couch? This just gets better.

Just lovely. Clean, simple, liveable. I'm just waiting for folks to start asking where all the "stuff" is. I think they just don't get it. Funny how it's such a tiny space and we all want to see more photos. I hope it makes it to the finals!

Your place is like a turquoise margarita. Clean, cool, refreshing. You did a really lovely, creative job and I like the light colors a lot. Lots of elegance and simplicity, awesome tile job. My favorite entry!! Want more pictures!! Would love to get a better look at the layout.

Robert says that now he has an apartment that he loves, but now he has an apartment that i love. looks great.

klate....your email doesn't accept my message.
how can i accept your invitation to SF?
rober

I don't drink margaritas, but I think Rachael's analogy is perfect. Completely refreshing. You could probably cure diseases by having people stay there for a month and having their endorphins shoot their toxins down like a game of Pacman.

Those tiles in the bathroom, etc. are beautiful. The cabinet doors with those long thin handles in the kitchen are beautiful. I think that you and a couple of these other guys like patrick should design furnished turn-key pied-a-terres.

robert, it's not san francisco, but my foodie partner and i will make you a three course dinner plus wine if you want to come to our 450 sq ft one-bedroom in WA heights and make some suggestions . . .

Where did you get your bathroom sink?

I'm trying to vote supercool, but my vote doesn't register in the total for some reason. This apt looks like one postage stamp of pure luxury!

I remember when... you could sit on the toilet and look out into the kitchen, even with the door closed. That's because there was no doorknob and you could use the opening as a big peephole. Big improvement!

How clever. I wish you could do my apartment.

So seriously would give up current job and husband to move to NYC and live in that apartment. Luxurious. Very livable. Very impressed with the use of pre-fab and owner designed built ins. Great way to hide the rads. If there were a higher award, I would have selected it. More Pics PLEASE!!!

Your pad really proves that 'small is the new big'.

I've got same dilemma with my itsy-bitsy bathroom. Since imitation is the best form of flattery I'll go ahead and ask you, where could I find a similar sink?

Sigh . . . My apartment has a crush on your apartment!

I love every aspect of your place, especially the color of your kitchen and your bathroom!!

Love the place. Please tell us what paint you used in the kitchen... If you remember.

Thank you

wow, great apt.
ditto on the consultation.
nice dinner at a restaurant for your expertise (serious!!).

I want it.....

supercool! clean, warm, efficient, modern. the bathroom is particular is delicious and sensual. beautiful work in 300 sq. feet. are you kidding me?!?!?!?

Beautiful !!

I know this is an old entry, but I've loved this place ever since seeing it on small space, big style.