apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Is there some kind of invisible railing behind the desk at the edge of the floor there? What happens if things fall off the desk? If toddlers come over?

I'm thrilled that this is a finalist. I love it! It's my pick for No. 1!

Yes! As polarizing as this entry proved to be (at least on the original comments thread), I think this entry was deservedly one of the top picks. The additional slideshow pics give a better sense of the space. I'm not a minimalist, but I really love this space and could feel very comfortable living here.

like the use of space, appreciate the architecture, but -

Brrrrrrr! It's cold in there!

What I'd expect as a finalist, but not my pick.

I think this place is brilliant. If toddlers come over, their parents can keep their mitts on the kids.If toddler burglars come over, well, tough.

Enrique, I agree with you. There seems to be a lot of debate about what "design" in this contest actually entails, but I definitely think this entry makes great use of design.

Of course, not every entrant can restructure his or her house, but there was obviouly a lot of thought that went into this entry.

Congratulations to entrant, but this is too
cold a place to call a home unless you're
The Abominable Snowman.

What I noticed (and am impressed by) is the use of diff materials in the varying sizes of square/rectangular shapes. The brick, the slate entry in narrow rectangles, the large slate squares of the living room, the tiny tile squares of the bath. It's not dizzying but very striking - perhaps the result of the diagonal element.

The absence of railing freaks me out a bit too. Even as a full grown human. It's funny how this (missing) design element creates this odd tension.

Well, everyone does what they can with what they have. So, this person has a bit more than many, right? But I think there is no shortage of people who have a decent chunk of change and have no taste whatsoever and/or no originality and perpetrate some serious design crimes on the architectural landscape. But this is a gorgeous piece of thing! I hope this at least does well, since I think it's so outgrageously beautiful.

Still the best entry, in my opinion.

Now I regret that I didn't vote; I thought I should leave it to civilians (I'm a professional int. designer)- but now I see I was wrong.

If one of the judges awards honorable mention to a log cabin...

I disagree with the folks who equate the clean lines and mimimalist aesthetic of the space with "cold". "Cool" yes, but I don't read "cold" at all. The (obviously) carefully chosen objets and art add a nice rustic/earthy touch to the modernity of the space. Personally, I don't have the skill (or self-restraint) to successfully strike this perfect balance. And the fact that Doug rotates the art and accessories makes me appreciate even more what he's done here. And as JenPDX noted, the overall effect use the various materials used is stunning; and provides a lot of visual interest and texture. Maybe the subtle variances are lost on some? At any rate, yes, I'm in complete awe of this space.

[Hi, Fiona!]

Who was it that said "Art is dangerous"? This place is an objet d'art, but watch your step.

juanito: That was funny.

Not every minimal place seems cold, but this one does to me b/c of -

too much gray - not set off by any color, slate tile floor (which is literally chilly to the touch), and the repition of sharp pointy triangles -

there's no 'softness' to it.

The kitchen is the best part. It's minimal, but has a hint of warmth.

Gorgeous. I hadn't noticed the lack of railings in the first pics. If you insurance person sees this you might lose your liability coverage.

The stairway is exquisite. The kichen cabinet color is perfect...I am so tired of brown wood kitchens that try to look like they aren't kitchens! The space appears to flow very well, and the color range is well chosen. I don't find it cold (per above), but I think it would benefit from the imput of a practical (not designer) person. A ledge at the back of the desk, safety railings where there are none (or plexi panels). Chairs or stools under the protruding kitchen counter. There are so many jutting sharp corners here! I think they need to be softened for design and safety reasons (and no, I don't think the entire world has to be made safe for toddlers, but I have banged my hands, and head on things too many times, and have fallen down stairs myself).

My eye is drawn (this is my own quirk) to some bad tile cuts in the transition between kitchen and living area, and in the bath. Your tiler should have planned the tile placement in a way that you didn't end up with a strip of narrow (slate) tiles going into the kitchen. And in the shower, the angle of the floor squares meeting the mosaic tile is jarring. Since your place is so spare and sculptural, these contstruction details matter. My tiler plans it all out before cutting.

An aside...this place does not read as an occupied residence. It's a guesthouse that's rented out, yes? So is it occupied at the time of this shoot? It looks as if no one lives there yet. As I posted in the voting phase of this contest, putting places like this up against rented studio apartments that hold all their occupants' possesions is comparing apples to oranges.

(And splitting the discussion threads into east and west is odd, AT folks. Everyone seems to go where there's a thread going anyway.)

I love this entry. I think it's the most visually interesting one in the whole contest. The angles, the lines, the use of light and space, I would love to go and see it from the inside.

The only problem is this is not a real home. It's a lot easier to get a place to look nice when you don't have to worry about hiding stuff.

I do not worship at the altar of minimalism
yet this place
makes me want to live a double life
based in Chicago

just.gorgeous.

See, guido, power of good design: we agree again.

there is no doubt that this space exudes
cutting edgeness, but as a home, guest or otherwise, it doesn't express a soul.

nevertheless, congratulations to this finalist.
this is really quite stunning.

Not my cup of tea.

I agree that this place seems cold and tense.. throw in a little color, a railing, and maybe a few more rounded edges and I think I'd dig it a bit more. As it is though, it is somewhere I could never imagine being comfortable.

Not to mention that all of those angular points jetting out must really mess with this apartment's bagua!

This is a guest house? Next time I visit Kathryn in Chicago can I stay here? LOVE IT

JenPDX finally helped me figure out why this entry makes me feel tense just looking at it. No railing. That really opens the space up, but it makes me nervous just to look. Not that I wouldn't move in in a heartbeat!!! This place is stunnnnning.

Enrique, I agree 100% about your 'cold' comment. Minimalist doesn't equal cold. To me, the downstairs of this place feels cool while the upstairs feels warm.

Why only eight pictures in the finalist entry? Anybody else notice some of the furniture is different than it was in the original entry? Different couch, different TV? Odd.

I'm not sure I get this one. I assumed when Maxwell said there was an entry disqualified and then re-qualified to make the 13th finalist that this was it. The person who entered it appears to be the builder rather than the tenant. Hmmm. Seems odd. So, if a prize is won, the builder gets it?

The place is off the charts awesome though! WOW!!!!

Rob, he's not a builder, he's an owner who happens to be an architect.

Why people keep regretting the absence of the railing @ the stair? It's right there, in the 1st and 2nd picture. See the wavy thing, starting almost vertically at the bottom step?
This is it.

Tat - saw the staircase railing.

In 'main' photo, the area on the second floor is largely 'unrailed.'

Also, there is no "regret" about the absence of railing. It is just a "response" to the space (in my case a little neurotic nervousness/tension about whether this would be a safe place for me as I ponder the melancholy on another dateless Friday night) just like one responds to color, texture, light, dark, etc.

Since the overall design of the place is so overwhelmingly appealing, I was trying to figure out what element in the design was causing that tension for me. As much as I like "airy and open" this pushes the limits for me. That might have been the exact intent of this design.

Tat - gotcha.

I think the absence of a railing we're talking about isn't the stairs. It's the upstairs as seen at the top right of the first picture (by the desk). It makes me nervous, though visually, it's stunning.

Speaking of the stairs though - I don't know if I've ever seen a sexier staircase.

I love this place I really do. I think it's a fantastic use of space and presents a cohesive design.

I have noticed however that many of the entries and finalists are condos or owned units and not apartments. There is a fundimantal difference between a condo where one can modify the floorplan, make investments into the space etc. and a rental where the limits are more imposing.

This difference is not a small one. The way one designs in an apartment is vastly different than in a condo or owned space; I cannot tear down a wall to open the floorplan so I have to accept and work with my tiny hallway... And while one's creativity is not limited the extent to which they can flex that creative muscle is.

I'd like to see a contest that acknowleges the difference between the two; Coolest Small Condo and Coolest Small RENTAL.

Otherwise it's not a level field...

That staircase needs a nude descending it.

Did I see this in Architectural Digest? None of the chosen contestants needs to win a gift certificate. They can obviously afford to spend lavishly on their "custom" apartments. How about a contest for real apartment dwellers- those that can't move walls and hire contractors?

I agree with JULIAN.

not very "lived in"...

That wasn't me at the top of the thread! That's some new Martha. But I've never really loved my name, so I'll change it. But New Martha will have to watch out for all the people I've annoyed.

This is my favorite entry and I do hope it wins. Love it all, the broad horizontal overhangs, the gorgeous bathroom sink, the stone as a first step, the twisty stair rail--so many great details; a beatiful whole.(There's a half wall along the short edge of the upper floor triangle, and the desk acts as a wall for most of the rest.) Although I love my place, this makes me wish I could afford an architect and a gut rehab.

In re post by Julian: What is the definiton of an apartment? Outside of major metropolitan areas apartments are generally rentals, not individually owned. If individually owned they are condos, even if they are than rented out.

Regarding the staircase, does anyone know what those treads are? Wenge? Walnut? I fcking hate my sh9t a(s oak treads, which are ugly and look cheap and disgusting. now i have to rip them out and get this stuff.

I just think that apartments belonging to professional designers and architects (and apartment dwellers that used pros to decorate/design) should not be allowed to enter. The contest would be much better if open to only "regular" people being as creative as they can in full-time living spaces, not guest houses.

Agree with reee on all fronts

Plus, there are a TON of professional contests. They're not hurting.

Professional arc./ design is all about contests/

I totally agree with reeee as well. The pros should be the ones judging not entering. How about a reverse contest where we get to judge pros homes?

This apartment is a showstopper, but it's not right to have developers entering their work if they don't even live there.

I think places like this ruin the spirit of this contest. That point further made clear through who Wayne picked as his favorite entry. He picked the other professional finalist entry.

I think we all assumed the DWR prizes would be used in the entries we were looking at. Certainly not the case if/when Wayne wins.

It's not like architects make that much money, unless they're stars, so why shouldn't they be in the contest? They need furniture too.

I'd be interested to hear how much of the work on this place Wayne did himself. I've seen a beautifully designed house made out of a cookie cutter box where a husband and wife team of architects did *everything* themselves except the plumbing and wiring, and it was as much a labor of love for them as for any amateur.

I don't think people should be penalized for being good at something.

This entry is great. I love it and am completely and utterly envious of Wayne's very considerable abilities. Fantastic. I wish I had the money to commission Wayne to do a layout for me and help me with a reno, little by little.

I love the stairs -- the absence of a railing doesn't bother me at all; indeed, I've seen this a lot in Mexico and it's fine.

Thank goodness Wayne has a store room; else, there might be clutter.

Kudos to the photographer: his work truly shows off the archtecture.

The only thing I'd have done differently is I place the bed so as to face the window, but that's my own preference. This obviously works for Wayne.

The thought put into every detail of this place boggles the mind. I love it, love it, love it. (And though I'm not a fan of minimalism, I love it for the architecture.)

This and the entry where the gentleman was doing his apartment in stages and people complained about the bedroom's being unfinished are my favorites by far.

ali, would you mind giving the url for the professional architect/contest site? I'd like to have a look. I did a google search but couldn't find it.

About the tension and the angles...angular, hard-edged spaces, furniture or pictures affect people just as certain chords of music affect us. That's why you feel one way looking at, say Guernica, and another when looking at a Degas painting. And feel one way when listening to Metallica (sheer volume aside) and another when hearing Chopin. This is an angular, hard-edged place, and yet the tension (for me) makes it visually exciting rather than unsettling...overall. That's where the skill and taste of the designer comes in. It's why some of the other very modern places didn't work as well. They just come across as cold and bland.

About the need for railing or other protection...the latest Dwell mag features a loft in NY that has a plexiglass protective railing/half-wall on the side of the sleeping loft. It doesn't impede on the open feeling of the tiny apartment, but keeps the resident (or anyone who might share his bed!) from falling into the lower floor. In this place, that open space could probably be filled horizontally with plexi (like a floor/skylight). Or railings of wire grid. Aside from the safety question, something about that open space looks unfinished to me, the more that I look at it.

I disagree with

1) the people who see this as a cold place. The warmth comes from the way one would feel in the well designed space. It's night and day, being in a place with fantastic architecture and a space without it.

2) the people who think Wayne ought not to win because it would seem he has money. Unless Wayne has family money, he's probably as broke as the rest of us, and the nature of his job puts him at greater risk of financial instability. Also, as another person wrote, Wayne may have done a great deal of the work himself. But, should Wayne have family money, he might donate his prize to a worthy cause if he wins -- as he deserves to.

I also like the pocket-knife apartment.

Wow. I just noticed the stairway does have a railing. It's almost invisible and looks like sculpture, as does the stairway itself. I'm so impressed.

Had I done that stairway, I wouldn't have had the imagination to add that railing and would have left it alone. The more I look at this, the more I love it.

In terms of quality of finishes, this one is the best entry. I love the modern bordering on minimal aesthetic. I don't find this place cold at all. The sparing organic touches like the staircase branch railing add the needed warmth without going overboard. I say this is a good pick to finish top 5.

It would be perilous to get drunk in this apartment.

I waited for others to post this time.

It's too pointy. It is. Pointy things jutting out all over the place. The whole place is an accident waiting to happen. Bottom stair tread a rock? Looks cool. Very cool. Anyone wear heels? Anyone ever twisted an ankle on some tiny pebble? How about twisting an ankle on stairs? Or falling down stairs? Yes, different stair shapes look equally cool, but make traversing them sheer horror (dare ya to go up or down the stairs with an armload of laundry so you can't see your feet!).

Kitchen counter can also serve to bruise internal organs, but it looks nice, sticking out there in the pathway...looks nice because it's "different" ??? "Ooooh, look at me, I stick out into space for no real reason". LOL!

Yes, I love the upper level idea. Makes the best use of the space. I don't know how you'd fit in enough living space without it being there.

The pointiness of it serves no physical purpose, only a visual purpose. Leaving it open, with no railing and nothing behind the desk but a drop to the hard floor below means either I'd need a new computer or a new hip eventually. I consider high injury possibilities or equipment damage to be POOR DESIGN, no matter who does it.

It is, to ME, also a cold looking space. Which would be swell in a desert climate. No where else. It looks cold, hard, hostile, unfriendly, uncomfortable, and painful. Too many things pointing out to stab and jab and twist and break my various body parts.

The BEST part of the whole thing, for ME, is that beautiful face, leaning against the wall, by the kidney-damaging kitchen counter in picture 7 of the finalist slideshow. Also seen a bit in picture 1. Gosh, I love that. I could gaze at that forever. Say, if you send it to me, that's one way to get me to shut up for awhile. I'll be too busy staring at the face to type.

So, yeah, it looks good, but there are way too many things that are missing or just flat out dangerous to be a contender. It would make a neat underwater aquarium design though, fish don't fall off ledges or even have ankles to twist on rocks.

Matty:

Re: Contests

Do a search for "Call for Entries" in your favorite search engine. Or check out sites like this that have a smattering of various "Call for Entries" requests:
http://www.interiordesign.net/

Many of the "Call for Entries" are done on a specific website, like they had the Pantone one ON Pantone.com, and the Ben Mo one ON Ben Mo's site.

Can you believe the eyes on that woman who is on the cover of the magazine? OMG! If only...maybe in my next lifetime...sigh...

Add on in your search any additional things that might be of interest, like architect, architecture, landscape, photo, photography, color, textile.

Andree, one word for those eyes, and the word is "photoshop". (and the other three words are "ton of makeup"). Pretty, though. Thanks for the search tip.

There are a LOT of differences between the original photos and the finalist photos. It almost qualifies as a makeover in that time frame. How many differences can you spot? Looks even less lived in now. Even the pencil cup is gone!

The design is essentially unchanged.

I don't think the point reee made is about a designer or architect having money or not. I used to work at a big famous architectural firm... so I know that most firms are usually struggling or in the red (just trying to get a job costs lots of time and money for research, drawing, creating 3D models, hiring artists for renderings, making teh presentation, etc.). And, yes, of course architects themselves often sweat and labor over their own homes using friends and lots of elbow grease, trying to keep on a small budget - that's not the issue. The issue is that they are TRAINED. Designers and architects are TAUGHT design and color theory and all these neat tricks and techniques to utilize space, enhance "flow," reference other creative works, and alter the "bones" of a place. Personally, I think it's much more exciting for someone who is untrained to make it all work and express their sense of style without having had years of intense education telling them just how to do that. This contest isn't about poor and struggling apartment owners/renters going junking and making it look nice. I think it's about people doing it on their own, without a pro, whatever their budget. So, in that sense, I agree with reee. It just seems unfair for pros to be allowed to enter this contest -- and worse yet to be a finalist.

Oh, and the fact that it's a guest house really burns.

But dIANE, you can't assure that amateurs are uneducated in design -- just that they didn't pay for the college degree and didn't get a professor's feedback when they took their first steps in trying the stuff that's in the textbooks. There's no bright line between the trained and certified professional and the "natural" amateur, but rather, a continuum of education and talent.

I'm a-stayin' out of fussing about "why is this a finalist" -- the decision was clearly based on the popular vote, and we were told it would be. (We weren't told precisely how, but I found one formula that matches the actual results.)

Whatever. My opinion is just an opinion.

I don't want to get all argumenty, but part of the point of having a contest like this is so we all get to look at pictures of ingenious and beautiful solutions to small space problems, and I would be disappointed if we didn't get to see the full range of skill levels and possibilities.

I wonder if Peter Eisenman still lives in a brownstone in the West Village.

Henrietta, don't no about Eisenman, but Koolhaas lives in Victorian house in London (click)

Hey Andree:
How do you REALLY feel? Don't hold back...

Matty: Perfectly put. Also, may I add that some architects suck? Why would being an architect guarantee a good design? I say let designers and architects in. They give us so much...

A practical question for Wayne:

I don't see an exhaust fan in the open bath area. Usually one would be placed as close to the shower as allowable by code. Do you have one? How do you control moisture in an open bath?

And I don't want too cause trouble, but in my county the stair arrangement (the stone at the bottom) would not pass code. Nor, of course, would the open floor behind the desk. I won't ask directly, but I am wondering if this place was built with permits.

On the positive side, I didn't notice the lovely dusty violet of the sofa before. Great with the mustard and the slate.

I think that the debate over pros and amateurs being judged together is not anti-professional (though I've noticed some sour grapes in some postings). At least on my part, I feel a litle sorry for the entrants with tiny space, little money, and no other place to store their stuff. It seems that the bar is raised too high for them to have an even chance. So maybe they should have had their own category...in my opinion. I tend to root for the underdogs in any contest.

Thanks for the compliment Wayne I like your place too. This audience does not seem like jagged or disobedient geometry that much. I think your shifts and schisms are a lot of fun.

Just an FYI for Henrietta, I styled Peter Eisenman's apartment (not a brown stone, actually it is in one of those 60's-70's white brick high rises) for a shoot for Interior Design Magazine about 2-3 years ago. He did not design it; it was done by firm owned by a protégé called Resolution 4 Architecture.
It was all white very rectilinear and was beautifully if haphazardly decorated with a nice collection of early 20th century furniture and architectural drawings including two big beautiful ones by John Hajuck. The Eisenman place was more like Dixie's than Wayne's.

...I see from previous posts that you did a lot of this work yourself, Wayne, so I'm sorry if I dissed your tiling previously. I do this kind of stuff (bath design), so I see individual tile cuts at fifty paces. Just pity my contractor.

I see from another thread that I am called Pat the Picky. Guilty as charged!

Training does NOT guarantee success, ESPECIALLY in a designer's own home, especially in a smaller-than-national average space.

I personally would like to see MORE pros enter any and all future contests. And I'd like to see the "civilians" rise to the challenge and kick some professional butt every now and then.

This is an amazing site, and I think the interiors shown here should blow the doors off of anything published elsewhere, regardless of who created them.

I've also seen architects create a space and then totally screw it up with bad furniture choices, lack of (or the wrong kind of) art, or just plain bad interior decisions because they didn't want to "spoil the honesty and integrity of the space" or some pretentious b.s. like that.

Not so the case here at all.

What's your formula Wende? (Yes+Maybe)-No?

Desk, yup, that's it, though I'd have to take another look at my spreadsheet to be sure that it's necessary to subtract the No votes (and I'm on vacation and LAZY today).

I could still be wrong about what was actually used -- it's just that this formula accounts neatly for how Christine's disputed apartment made the finals.

Pat

Re: Lovely Dusty Violet sofa

You didn't notice it before because it wasn't there in the original entry. The things that have been changed, removed, added since the first and second group of pictures include:
The sofa
Living room wire chair
Living room TV
Living room art
Living room end table
Living room vases
Living room plants
Kitchen counter stools
Kitchen leaning art
Loft area bedding
Bed endtable objects
Loft area chair/stool
Loft desk shelf contents

No one else in this competition changed virtually all moveable objects. No one else in this competition hired a professional interior photographer to feature the home in it's best light. It appears as if a pro-fluffer came in and moved everything around to make it camera-ready. No one else did that.

Henrietta says the design is the same, which I guess means that it doesn't matter what is put in an apartment. Or how often it's changed during the competition.

Funny, 'cause I thought it had a lot to do with what the choices were for all the items in the homes. Otherwise there wouldn't be gripes about various styles or colors or whatever.

Terry, the open thread today says "Be useful, funny, helpful, sharp, inspiring, curious, puzzled, and above all, polite..."

I'm a lot more puzzled than sharp, and my ability to remain polite is wearing thin.

Tat and Gideon Gelber,

Thanks!

Everyone,

Sorry to have spammed misinformation.

Pat, I second the permits question.

Like this:
"Guard opening limitations. Required guards on open sides of stairways,
raised floor areas, balconies and porches shall have intermediate rails or
ornamental closures which do not allow passage of a sphere 4 inches (102
mm) or more in diameter."

Of course, at the top of the page now is an Eames house, and it doesn't have any guards on the stairwell either. I don't know where that home is. I don't know what kinds of exceptions are made in all the muckety-muck of codes.

Much of it is (un)common sense. You put up railings so clumsy oafs like me don't plummet over the side when we have a shooting nerve pain and list to one side.

Or when we're carrying laundry down the stairs and slip through the railing onto the cold, hard rock of life, stationed at the base of the stairs.

..an addendum to my comment on the pro vs. amateur discussion. It's not just about raising the bar too high. It's as if the different kinds of entrants had different assignments, with varying limitations. Renters with only one space have to organize all their day-to-day stuff and generally can't make architectural changes (some landlords don't even let you paint). People with a second (or third..)home can be much more careful about what they put into a space in the first place (they can always do another look in the other home, and have more options for where to put the snowglobes). Architect/owners (or owners who can hire an architect) can completely scalp a place and start over. It does not have to do entirely with money or training, but with the uneven parameters. I like things to make sense, and throwing all these people in the same hat doesn't make sense to me.

I could draw you a picture of twenty vacation homes and guest houses I'd love to put together. Given the money and opportunity, I could make them knock your socks off. What's hard for me (and most people, which is the point of this site) is organizing and designing the home I live in -- and share with someone else, who has lots of stuff he won't part with -- with a budget and limited space, and lacking the financial wherewithall to either gut the place and start over or get rid of all my old funiture and start fresh. I don't resent people who can (financially) do all that. I just see them as working with a different hand of cards.

Make sense?

OK, I admit, I'm new to this site. And I've been put off by some of Andree's comments. (Sorry, Andree.) But she hit the nail on the head with this one. And, for the record, Rob touched on it first. The "original" and "finalist" entries are just too different. It's one thing to allow contestants to submit new/additional photos with better lighting, additional rooms, etc. And I understand that it makes sense to "stage a home for sale" or make it "Designed to Sell." But this is a small apartment/home deisgn contest. And I don't know if it lives up to the spirit of competition for it to be "Staged to Win."

Lovely space. Honestly, it IS my taste. It's just a completely different decor from the original entry.

Pat,

It makes sense.

Wayne's place has a lot more to do with architecture than decor. So what if he changed a few objects around to enhance the space? Good on him.

If it only had to do with architecture, then no one would have griped at all about Christine's place. She has lovely architecture.

Rules didn't say you couldn't go out and change everything that wasn't permanently installed, but a reasonable person would assume this to be so. In that most people do NOT change out their entire home in a week during a contest (or otherwise).

I'd consider it unfair, cheating, immoral, unethical, dishonest to alter as much as was done in this entry. I think the rug is the same. The permanent items weren't changed. Everything else was. And I know darn well that original sofa isn't stuffed in the "storage" area on the second floor.

I don't care if it's a space designed solely for photo shoots, porn movies, or new products, it's not in the spirit of the contest. IN MY OPINION ONLY.

There are, what I would consider to be, SERIOUS LEGAL ASPECTS, in that I can't imagine any county or city allowing open space in a residence.

It MIGHT be allowed in a photographer's studio...for decorative purposes...I dunno. But if it's been certified or whatever as a photographer's studio only, then it's not a legal residence, and does not belong in this contest.

Let's say there was a photographer's studio with a really cool cliff face, without railing. Think "Indiana Jones". Just because I put a bed on the cliff doesn't make it a legal residence, nor does it make it safe.

I'm going to pose a question in today's open thread. Let's see what others have to say...

Thanks for your patience. And, yup, Lisa, Rob posted it first, and I was responding to his post in this post: Posted by Andree at 04/18/06 6:25 AM, although I didn't put in his name, my mistake

Wayne designed the interior architecture of his apartment. Christine didn't introduce architectural elements into her space.

Big difference there you're glossing over.

So I thought everybody might appreciate an insiders view on the issue of what is euphemistically called "propping and styling" in the design industry. I love Pat's coinage "pro-fluffer."

I have, over the years, done a lot of "pro-fluffing" if you read the shelter mags or read home books you probably have seen my work. My own feeling is that there are a number of different ethical borders relating not only to the level of styling and propping but also to the publication plans for the photos.

If the photos are being taken for a journalistic piece, then I feel that only very lite propping is acceptable. One could argue that the photos in a shelter mag are coverage of a newsworthy design...That being the case any propping beyond pillows, linens, flowers books, fruit arrangements and rearrangement of light furniture is probably a getting into a journalisticly gray area. There is a general feeing in the industry that taking things out is usually acceptable in almost any circumstance it's adding things that is more problematic. However if the shoot is for a book and the author wants to illustrate an idea or reveal an aspect of the architecture that is very differnt...In that circumstance, I say anything goes as the point of the shoot is not news coverage but the authors concept.

The question is what category does this competition fall into? For my own entry I adhered to the journalistic standard...Adding flowers, setting the table with my best dishes, artfully arranging the books on the coffee table etc... The question however is an open one...The shelter blog is a very new form and the standards and boundaries are not yet set. This might be an interesting thing to explore on a future open thread.

I thought I said "pro-fluffer" when addressing Pat.

When you talk about "propping" and "props" then these are things the people don't even own? You're breaking my heart. Really.

I just don't want it to be a contest only about money. If I could get my place into the shape the folks here have, and then found out everyone had changed out their furniture for the finals, I'd be in big trouble. I can't do that. And it would be TOO LATE to do that.

Sure, change the flowers, change the table setting, but not everything.

And I'm still really disturbed about the lack of railing and the stairwell railing. All the info I could find states that there MUST be a railing. And that Chicago updated it's requirements to be no more that 4 1/2" between vertical posts on railings. There aren't any of those in this upper level, or on the stairwell.

I watched a little kid play on the balcony, slipping through the railing to the outside of the balcony and back in and back out and back in. Kid could have been killed. Yikes.

It's all over pretty soon anyway.

A suggestion for the AT people -- (if possible) *more* contests.

Because the criteria is just too broad and (as we've seen in this thread) confusion results: 1) architecture vs. interior design 2) self made design vs. well bought design and 3) big ol' budget meets big phat taste vs. cash-strapped but ingenuity-packed

now to keep this post relevant about Wayne's apt -- I think it's a sophisticated apt, and somehow very Chicago too!

FIRST - thanks to all of you for your very insightful comments on my submission - I haven't responded earlier because I was out of town and away from my computer until my return mid-day today.

I think that conflicting points of view are healthy and obviously many of you have thought seriously about all the entries, considered their pros and cons and, I assume, responded in a way that reflects your own point of view - it's wonderful that we are NOT a homogenious society.

My offer to purchase the space was approved by the Condo Board in May of 2003. At about the same time Doug twisted my arm because he wanted to live in the apartment - he had just signed a one-year lease on his then current apartment, so we figured that with close to a year to build it, we would be able to do some of the work ourselves. It took the Association almost ten months to finalize the sale of this common-element area and the closing was on 15 March 2004 - 12 weeks later Doug moved in. It was impossible to do most of the work ourselves in that short a time so I hired a general contractor I'd been working with for 15 years to do the demo and most of the construction and a cabinet maker I'd worked with for 5 years to build the cabinets. Doug and I did do some of the finishing work, the trim around the platform, window sill and mezzanine floor - installed all of the light track, sconces (not in photos) and undercabinet lights, shower curtain rod - and Doug did a lot of work fine tuning the drywall edges around the stairs and a great deal of paint touchup. The apartment, including the purchase of the space, demo, construction including heating, hot water, elec, painting, the cabinets, fixtures and appliances cost about $200.00 per square foot.

SECOND - Both the original photos and the 'finalist' photos were done by my professional photographer friend, Alan Shortall. The original ones were scouting shots which led to the magazine 'Chicago Home' commissioning him to photography the apartment for publication in their Spring 2006 issue. As in most shoots of this type, a stylist was involved in placing of accessories for the shoot. When the original photos were shot, I was still saving $$$ for the sofa and the LCD TV you see in the finalist photos. Doug doesn't fill his apartment with things he collects and his own photos, but rotates them, so the accessories are constantly changing.

RANDOM ANSWERS TO SOME OTHER OF YOUR QUESTIONS/ISSUES.

All the tile was set guided by an overall planning grid and not in the usual tile-setter manner. I have a running battle with tile setters about how I want tile laid.

Henrietta, are you available for the nude descending photo shoot Doug would like to do?

Jonathan, the stair treads are also MDF with poplar edges dyed ebony with an aniline dye. Up close one can still see the texture of the MDF.

Terry, the view out the window is across an alley to what will soon be a townhouse development - and this way, the headboard doubles as the railing.

Pat, the bathroom has a very quiet panasonic exhaust fan above the toilet to the right of the image. There is also a larger exhaust fan near the ceiling above the stairs to exhaust warm air during temperate weather times, since cross ventilation is impossible. The stairs are code complying. Most codes require that treads and risers be consistent, and for residential use allow winders. There is no requirement in most codes that all steps must be the same material. In private residences, the Chicago code is quite generous in the kinds of railing systems that are required. Since the apartment was not designed for kids, protection is not required, alothough I did skectch out a cable baluster system for both the stairs and the mezzaine behind the desk if it becomes necessary.

Square and rectangular corners are usually 90 deg. The mildly acute conrners on the counter and desk are 76 deg. The sharp desk corner is 28 deg, but it is impossible to bump into it because it is at the edge of the mezzanine. Pencils rolling off the desk is no different than pencils rolling off a table except at the back side of the desk where they would fall 9 feet instead of 3 feet.