apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Beautiful!!!!!! Where are you Fridge Freezers from?

really interesting space.

and the sculpture in your bathroom is amazing....feels like it's going to walk around :)

is this real??? omggggg, this is sooo beautiful. Great job guys.

I love the dining table. It's so earthy but still so clean. Where is that from? Is it an antique?

I love the all white look (said for the 100 time) but this to me is the wrong way to go about it: Sterile, cold, clinical...

While I really like all the white, and how it still feels warm from the glow/lighting, I think that the overall flow of the space would dramatically improve if the three-seater sofa was floated in the room as opposed to stuffed in between the pod and wall.

holy wow - love the white and open spaces and backlit glowing closets....you really kept with the theme with the street marks on the floor.

Although I would add more colorful art (if it were my space) I really like the aesthetic you've created. I can tell that you committed to it and that's why it works. Great job!

I really love the pop of orange in the kitchen as well as the glowing walls...I can picture how lovely they would be at night.
If I could change anything it would be the institutional bars around the bed. Practical yes. Pretty no.

But I really do love it.

This is what heaven looks like.

Now, before people make sarcastic comments about the last scenes of 2001: a Space Oddessey ( actually, it reminds me of Sam Waterston's apartment in Woody Allen's Interiors) I hope the haters will stop and think before they impose their taste-religion on this beautiful place.
I can predict what I will read: it needs color, I could never live there, it doesn't seem real, ugh, etc.

Whether or not this place is your taste is irrelevant. What matters is that it is THESE people's taste, and that they have made a tiny apartment into the home of their dreams, and maybe a very few other people's dreams as well (e.g., mine, but not my wife's). The white seems very warm to me. If "White By Design" ( a beautiful book that has probably dated less than any other style book from the '80s) were being published today, this apartment would belong in it. So it can win this contest instead.

And it is a terrific use of space. Also, it doesn't seem like it cost an arm and a leg, though probably more than I think.... I'm also reminded of a New Yorker cartoon where the designer says to the client "we could do spare and minimal - but not on your budget."

Did you create your closet doors by yourself?

Wow. Just...wow. That's the most beautiful loft bed I've ever seen.

I really want a peek into that closet...

Beautifully designed, but it could use some color.

I love the use of white...keeps the space open. Minimal but warm, open..humble.

the light fixture in the kitchen looks very low. It looks like they have to walk around it bcs they will knock it down everytime you go to do dishes.... But again it might be the picture angle, maybe they took the picture standing on the bench

wow nice job tackling such a small space. if it were me, i might have switched the dining room and living room and added some splashes of color here and there, but you have some great ideas here.

I am weirdly torn between voting "Insta-finalist" and "Not my thang." I find the all-white cold and kind of terrifying, like a hospital. I think it's not so much the lack of color as the lack of textiles.

However, I admire your dedication to make your apartment a place that you love, and I also think you've done a lot of smart things with the space, particularly the smoky doors on the area under your loft, the seating and storage along the windows, and the change in flooring to mark the different living areas.

How high are those track lights hanging in your living area? From the picture they look like they're maybe 5' off the floor, but I assume that's just a perspective issue?

My emotional reaction is identical to Jenny's, and I'm sure for mine, the root is the limited use of softer or bolder textures. You guys really, really resonate to smooth, slick surfaces. (As the Princess of All That is Square and Beige, I can only note this fact, not criticize it.)

My intellectual reaction is to be fascinated by the popularity of all-white rooms this year. I wonder what this indicates about people's feelings about home and/or style.

It's super cool looking, but I would be sad without a few more splashes of color if I lived there.

These are people who are really making their three photos work for them.

Also, this might be the kind of place that feels a lot warmer at night. It seems like they have a whole lot of very warm light: the diffused light from the translucent closets, the pendant lights, the task light by the sofa...

Love the traffic markings on the floor!

crazy, so clean!

It looks like it belongs on the cover of a magazine. I agree it's very well designed but for me it looks staged. I personally don't like the idea of having to climb up stairs to get to bed. I suppose with limited space this works for some.
I do love the ktichen especially the hard wood counter tops. I also love that dining table!

Stellar! Great concept, expertly delivered. Love the kitchen light

I am pretty sure I would end up killing myself by trying to get into/ have sex in that bed while drunk.

Love the microwave nook. Brilliant.

Wow, really impressive. You made a small space seem huge. And you really made white work.

i'm not normally into the all-white look, but this is lovely. instead of looking sterile, it looks warm and glowing because of the wood and all the lights. i do echo the comments asking about the height of the hanging lights (in the kitchen and living room).

I love how your office space is incorporated into the design, but still set off so that you can close the door and leave your work behind.

it's hard to make white warm & you did it.

I too love your commitment and the simple but grounded touches of color: the table, the pillows, the lamps and the books.

But I still have a hard time understanding how people really live with ladders like that to get to their sleeping quarters. I know from experience: my boyfriend lives in a converted fire house and he has an idential ladder to get to his loft. It KILLS your feet (ie you have to wear some sort of shoe to get up there), it sucks when you have to go to the bathroom, and it can be all kinds of dangerous in a drunken state.

I'm not saying it affects the overall aesthetic: I guess I just wonder if there isn't a better solution.

great job on hiding the wires from the TV screen ;)

insta-finalist for me - gorgeously organized.

love it.
love it.
love it.
totally agree with "wannabe minimalist."

this space looks downright palatial for the sq. footage.
and isn't that what this contest is about?

Given the ever present chaos of living in NYC--the filthy streets, the mobs of people, the ongoing overload of all things visual, aural, and tactile--this apartment is the perfect antidote.

LOVE it.
By the way it's all layed out, I assumed you own the loft and that you built the sleeping loft there?
Only problem is getting out of bed in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.
A lot of people in NYC have those half-fridges and when I was looking for apartments my big reqiurement was a full one. How do you live with that???? lol

Definitely my favorite so far. It's a well-thought out space, not a MOMA showroom like so many others I've seen recently (especially on the Chicago site). It doesn't feel remotely small. Of course, they had outstanding bones to work with in the first place.

I am with Kellen on this one - totally love the concept, but find the flow of the space awkward.

I think it comes down to the shape(size) and/or location of the sleeping loft. The living room sofa looks uncomfortably squeezed where it is, and the bed looks...dangerous. The rectangular shape of the loft/office and its location detract from the living room.

What I think may have worked better here is if the sleeping loft were located over the entrance, and were a truncated triangular shape (not too much of an angle protruding into the dining room, so as not to take away too much floor space). That way too, you would have a dramatic entrance from a low ceiling to the dramatic, high-ceiling interior heart of the aparment. It may make the office a bit of a design challenge, but nothing to faze this couple! The sleeping loft of my dreams (in a magazine clipping I have been hanging on to since the mid-eighties) featured short drywalled walls to keep the bed securely contained, lending the bed the feel of a true and cozy nest; I think that would be particularly nice here, especially the contrast of the translucent panels below with the solid gyprock above.

Just a thought.

extraordinary-dont know what you guys do for a living but if you were designers and i had money i would hire you in a n.y. heratbeat

WOW. this is WONDERFUL design. though it's not necessarily my style, i totally dig it. your place looks larger than my 900 sf place!

It looks great!

The whole minimalism vs. stuff debate got me thinking about this contest as a whole. I happen to think that the point of this contest is to find a small space that is not only efficient and aesthetically appealing, but also is attainable to the average person serving as an example of what we can do with our own small spaces.
Yes knocking down your walls and remodeling your kitchen might make your space feel bigger and more efficient, but can the average person who rents do this? No.
Yes buying only the best art and furniture might give your space a wow factor, but can the average person who doesn’t have much money do this? No.
And yes a high concept minimalist design might make your space feel open and more unified, but can the average person who has lots of stuff that doesn’t happen to be all the same color do this? No.
I feel line an apt analogy might be a comparison between a full time college student who gets all A’s, and a student who works to put themselves through school and gets B’s. While the A student might be on the honor roll, to me the B student is much more impressive, due to the obstacles that they had to work through.
I don’t want this to be contest about who can throw more money at their places, and hope that people take into consideration added challenges (such as budget, renting, living with kids, having a super small space, etc.) when voting in this contest.

Really love this. Very fresh, clean & crisp.

I love the layout and the lighting. But the space seems really cold.

Now THIS is how it's supposed to be done. I love how even the LCD is white :)

This is rad. This is so totally the winner so far.

Xeno, this type of thing IS attainable to the average person. Have a lot of stuff? Get rid of it. It doesn't cost money to get rid of objects, in fact you can often make money doing it.

Can't knock down a wall or do a kitchen remodel? There are ways around this (I convinced my landlords to let me refinish my kitchen cabinets on my own back when I rented).

Can't afford "the finest artwork and furniture"? Hit the flea markets and buy art from students. All the art in my home is original, and the most expensive piece was $400.

Meditating on Xeno's comments, love the student analogy cos I've always thought that as well. As for this space, on the one hand, love the quirky touches like the track marks and bathroom sculpture, but mostly feel so affronted by all white living spaces in general. Ok, I'm a neat freak, but could not possibly keep such a space clean for long! Of course, I don't live there so that's not *my* issue! Plus, I do heart the glowing office/closet though the sofa looks squeezed and the ladder precarious.

This is definitely one of my favorites so far. I really like the glowing loft, and the all-white. I think it would be even better if there was just one brightly colored thing, like if the sofa was a bright orange.

I love the overall layout and design but this space lacks a warm lived in feel. I'm trying to get a feel of what it's like sleeping that close to the ceiling - creeps me out.

I agree with much of what has been said already.

The one thing that stood out to me as "awkward" was the placement of the sofa. It just seems weird tucked in the nook there.

However, I love the dining table and it's placement, the colour in the kitchen, the pendant lamp, the bathroom scuplture (and on and on).

I completely agree with Monika's suggestions. Having the bed over the entrance would be dramatic!

All in all this is a really fun and interesting space.

It seems to be the year of "white" apartments.

wow.

I think the all-white thing works nicely here. It's a fantasy that they've fleshed out very well, I think.

Last year everything was green. This year white.

Fantabulous! Love the all-white - a calm oasis in the urban chaos of New York (there's plenty of color outside, folks). Love the translucent elements. Love the washing machine cabinet.

The only complaint I have is the placement of the sofa in that nook. Just doesn't work for me. I agree with the idea of moving the bed to a loft over the entrance, making for a kind of entryway, and using the back of the room for the sofa and television and such. Would consume dining area space, though - maybe consider a drop leaf table, or rotate the table 90 degrees to free up space for walking.

Or just swap the dining and living areas. There's no law which says the dining room has to be right next to the kitchen.

I'm not crazy about the all-white color scheme, but the egg-shaped objects/fixtures and the tracks on the linoleum floor help break up the monotony.

As with Eric and Ammo's LA entry, I'm left wondering where you guys keep all your stuff. I see the books, but does everything you have fit in the clothes rack and kitchen cabinets?

what a great use of space! i love the bench. the washer dryer space. the microwave nook. everything is so well thought out.

i think the white highlights the warm wood surfaces. and the orange interior of the lamp. love the dining table. beautiful.

and i'm a fan of the sofa nook. liking nooks in general.

and the light/ sculpture in the bathroom are so intriguing.

I love how the ladder goes all the way to the ceiling -- past where it needs to go for the loft.

I also wondered about the height of the kitched light...Seems very low.

I am so curious to see what's in the office/closet!

Wow. I really love the glow of the translucent closet. In a city that can feel like chaos, this loft feels like an urban oasis of calm.

Well done!

Spectacularly futuristic, clean and cool. I like the rounded pendant lamp and the alien-bug looking thing (a lamp? a sculpture?) in the bathroom - they add whimsy. I'd love to see a large piece of art (even a big white fabric square stretched over a balsa wood frame so the frame is invisible) or an ultra-simple mirror above your couch! This place is so beautiful!

I just fainted from all this beauty! WOW!!! Stellar indeed :)

I like it a LOT, but then for years I had white couches, white bookcases, white tables, white chairs ~ partly to go with whatever rental I was in, and partly to set off artwork. I would also get colorful pillows :)

The one change I would seriously suggest would be to pick up a couple chairs to face the couch to make a seating area. If you're patient, you might even get chairs that work as seating and as extra dining chairs.

I LOVE this apartment! I couldn't live in an all-white apartment; I'm too clumsy. But I LOVE this!

I like the sofa where it is, cos I like nooks, and it looks cosy.

Love it.

smoking hot. enjoy your prize ....

How did you make the enclosed room? I'm really interested in that idea.

The suggestion to get some chairs to face the sofa is a good one. That might make the nook feel a little more balanced. They might also want to consider relocating the television to a wall-mounted arm that pivots out for use. That way they could sit the chairs in the space currently occupied by the set, but still have the set available for use when needed.

One other idea for the nook - a sectional. Have it wrap around the wall of the office. Place one segment where the television currently is, and have it face the rest. I think it would make the nook feel very cozy, and more complete.

White walls frighten me and my first inclination is to put color on the walls...but that is why this is not my space. The light that floods that apartment is amazing and even though it is drowning in white, it does not at all feel sterile. It looks lived in and beautiful.

You've really made the most out of the tall ceilings by extending the storage spaces upwards. This space seems to get a lot of light through the small windows which is complimented by the hanging lights and backlit storage. Very clever office/closet. I've never seen such a small space look so BIG! Very well done! My favourite so far!

sooo jealous of the washer/dryer!

Finally! My first insta-finalist vote. It just feels really good and clean.

My god this is lovely. It sure must take a lot, lot, lot of discipline to live like this.

I've been thinking of the two other white apartments shown so far. This one, like Giuseppe's, seems as though it has no borders.

Again, how do you keep these places clean?

Wow... I love it!! I'm normally too lazy to comment on anything, but I just registered and voted! beautiful! I'm so jealous!

Stunning-very nice job.

color!

I love this one. New favorite.

I adore that glowing closet space, but I think the couch might be a little more inviting if it had some space to breathe!
Overall, lovely. Thank you so much for sharing.

Best place up to now.
This time was possible to get the idea of the place with only three photos.
Great use of space.
Do you keep your things underneeth the books, too?

This is the first submission that I see really accomplished the description of what the dwellers set out to do. This is so un-NYC! Calm, uncluttered, bright, thought provoking, easy paced. WOW!! Vision accomplished! It has more of a cosmopolitan / Scandinavian feel. No, not Ikea, not Danish teak. Yes, snow caps and open slopes. The orange and wood touches keep it from being cold. The translucent panels (and the bathroom interloper) are not of this world.

BTW: The bed railings could be camouflaged by hanging a semi sheer fabric panel / banner on them that has some orange in it, say an ombre fade from white top to orange at the bottom hovering just below eye level seated. That would bring the color into the living end of the room without adding bulk. I agree the addition in the open room of two upholstered chairs with clear acrylic or translucent light bases that can double as dining chairs would give the sofa area a more inviting presence.

Agree that the seating area looks squished in, but love how you decided on a vision and achieved what you set out to do.

Love it.
And very interested in learning how you worked w/the Canal Street Plastic. How did you cut it? And how did you make doors out of it?

OMG! - this is stunningly beautiful in every way - i LOVE it!

I love all of the clean lines. simple, but not so simple it hurts.

Love about 99% of it, but agree that something is not quite working for me, furniture layout-wise.

I also want to see something organic on the sofa/living room end, to balance the wood counters and table.

Also wouldn't mind seeing a big felted-wool carpet anchoring/defining the seating area.

I also want to see something brushed aluminum or stainless steel somewhere here.

But these are all "what I would do nit-piks" in a really gorgeous successful space.

It seems very WHITE to me. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. It’s just very WHITE.
When I saw Gregg’s West Village Modern my mind was thinking, “Holy Mother of God.â€Â� When I look at your place I’m thinking, “It’s very white.â€Â� I know I shouldn’t judge your place against other places but Gregg’s place is so dramatic. Your place seems rather “sleepy.â€Â� Sleepy is not a bad thing. Sleepy is good at one o’clock in the morning. Maybe, you just need to buy some lights to highlight your place the way Gregg did.
Dramatic photographs might be able to accentuate what you know about your apartment that isn’t conveyed in the photographs you’ve submitted.

Tony G

This is soooo beautiful. Very inspiring.

beautiful place. I love it.

great job. My favorite color is white.

Too white for me. But I do love the kitchen light fixture.

Would love to see a close-up of the sculpture in your bathroom. Is it self-made? What's the flooring material that transitions from wood? It's a very peaceful looking place.

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Very Nice !

Who is the architect/interior designer that you used for this place?


I've seen it on a designers webpage, however I don't recall his name.


The bathroom sculpture is very reminiscent of the aliens from Spielberg's "War of the Worlds", where did you obtain it?

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looks amazing! Love your book storage, sculptures, closet and overall style. I hope we get to see more pics! I agree though with the others that weren't wild about the couch setup. I think the office/closet makes a brilliant storage place but I would personally go nutty being cooped up in there for my office work. I don't know though... it could have this wonderful womb like feel in there...

My favorite eastcoast entry so far! It's very clean and white but not stark. The more organic elements make it so beautiful and inviting!

LOVE this one!

Truly inspired and well done! I would do a couple of things differently, like take advantage of the high walls to showcase some art and add more seating. If you're going to stick to white, consider adding more texture to help give it depth. My only "oh-no?" Cushions on the Prince AHA stools. More substantial dining room chairs would double the seating capacity. (See whiteonwhite.com for excellent prices on reproductions of the classics.) But, hey... I'm just an armchair designer. Overall, nicely done. This captures the spirit of the contest! Hope the judges agree.

I love the use of translucent plex to create storage areas that are functional but feel very light. I also appreciate the space's white and spare aesthetic, and enjoy the small touches of orange. Bravo!

amazing!!! alot of really good things going on here. (I think a few comments focused on the living room area... Thats where I saw the only 'problem' as well. I think they new a new couch. I think it's not up to par with everthing going on in the apt.) I'm planning on doing a similar all white thing with my new room. This is very inspiring.

This is a very clever design! As a New Yorker i know that you have to reinvent the space that you are living in ,since it is extremely expensive !! And you guys are a proof that it only takes dedication and imagination ( and of course good taste ) to make it happen.

I would love to know who designed the loft bed , and what other materials did you used to build it ? I am almost on the same situation and thanks to both of you found a solution to my design problem... Thanks and Awesome job Lyzzma

LOVE THIS! You are SO talented. Can you tell me what wood you used for countertops/island???? I would be SO appreciative if you could give me this info. as soon as you can as I am right in the middle of a kitchen remodel and want to use wood.

Thanks!
Judy