apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

This is the first entry that has truly wowed me.

Excellent design, execution, and presentation.

I can't wait to see more!

I love love love the windows!

Would like to see the loft space, even if not for the contest... but nice job!

Your table is amazing. My god, it's perfect. Where did you get it?
Maybe it's because the thought is already in my head... but even the table is like a jewelry box! Everything is so clean, but you get little hints that there's so much hidden behind those clever little joints in all the furniture.
I love it.

can we get labels on the floor plan please? well, just for me I guess-- I can't read these things very well...

You might be broke but your place looks sooooo good! Beautiful home! I am in love with those windows and those beautiful floors! Also, love that blue kitchen!! Hope to see additonal pictures especially the hidden stairway and secret compartment!

Where ever did you get that dining table set? I love it!

Gorgeous. Love the kitchen/compartment. Your outdoor space looks beautiful.

AT road trip to get more photos since this has to be an insta-finalist...

I really love this apartment. Who doesn't love secret compartments in a home! Instantly I was imagining how I would decorate it if it were my own. Though I probably wouldn't change much about the kitchen.

Oh! And look how the chairs fit into the table! I didn't see that at first!

Hidden staircase and secret compartment? Please to explain--where are they?

holy crap! this looks nothing like the unheated basement flat with coin-operated electricity and no telephone that i lived in in London. This is the first apartment of the contest to make me mind-numbingly jealous.

where is the bed? or is the couch also the bed? you'd better close those (gorgeous) windows because i think i'm on my way over to steal that (unbearably awesome) table...

can i ask what part of town this is in?

Absolutely gorgeous. My favorite entry thus far. I love how you have hidden the stairs to the loft! This is a real example of amazing use of a very small space.

As an aside, I am incredibly jealous of your windows and patio space.

My favourite so far - this is so amazing I'm having trouble closing my gaping mouth!

Rubber floors?! I love. I need to know more.

The best. Hands down......unless....you sleep on a mattress on the floor of that loft.

It's kind of a Murphy kitchen or something! And that table is isn't just clever, it's beautiful.

I love those enormous windows, too, but I'd still like to see some kind of treatment. Perhaps a window shade made of something sheer. Not gathered or anything, just sheer and straight down.

And I love the bold color inside the kitchen, but I think I want art OR at least some bold color stroke in the the other part of the space. Too bad there's a 3-photo limit to this contest, because I'm just going to have to assume there's probably something wonderful above the couch.

Still, this is Stellar.

That table!!! That table has been haunting me for at least 8 years. I keep seeing it in vintage shops (in various cities none the less) and I covet it more each time I see it.

It is just perfect in every way. Seeing it in this beautiful space though makes it look even more wonderful.

Table obsession aside, this is my favorite place so far. The window/doors to the outside just make me want to pop open a bottle of bubbly and indulge.

Congrats!

I am in owe: please send us more ! The light is so well distributed, and the storage are shroudly thought through... A beauty.

I'm in love, but doubly so for the Gaston Bachelard quote.

Dying in anticipation for the finals to see more of this. Love the rubber floor.

Even better than the secrect compartments on "Webster." Seriously, this has to be the most coheasive architectural statement in the whole lot. Not over furnished like most--the apartment speaks for itself and actually becomes a sort of furniture piece through its design and how you conceptualized it in your statement.

Winner.

I think this is quite elegant. I REALLY love the table and chairs and how they literally interlock, that is quite cool! Plan-wise it's interesting because it seems to be all dining room-- no living space or bedroom (i assume the unseen bedroom is upstairs) Many tiny apartments in NYC forgo the dining room, but it seems like you celebrate it. I do wish you had images of more spaces, like the bathroom, bedroom, etc.

I agree with Curtis completely about hoping there's some sort of art above the sofa. I almost said it too, but I just couldn't bring myself to type, "You know what this apartment needs? A beautiful picture above the sofa."

But I do so hope it's there.

Gorgeous, gorgeous apartment.

Truly Stellar! When you live as well as you do, you're no urchin!

Doug -

I think I've pretty much just decided that this person either HAS thought of that (and we just don't see the art in the photo), since he's thought of SO much else, or he's decided that he's going to wait until the renovation is a tad more paid for so he doesn't have to put up anything until he sees the perfect thing.

I keep having to look at this again and again.

jaw on floor.

gorgeous table.

Agreed.

And, I'm doing the same thing. Can't... look... away.

I think I just had an architectural orgasm.......

Complete and total lust for the kitchen... I could spend hours there just opening and closing things and opening them and closing them and opening them and (did I mention?) closing them.

Smashing!

Incredibly excellent example of how smart and stylish a kitchen can be in an apartment. Your kitchen furniture is just as stylish as the rest of your pieces.

Wonderful place, congratulations!

oh my god. that's perfect. is there room for a roommate in there? i could stay in the secret compartment!

Hold on, I have to say this in British: SPOT ON!

[Commencing with general fawning.]

[Also, terrible, sinful jealousy.]

Elegant and cool at the same time. My favorite entry yet. It's just gorgeous.

Love it! Want to see more, regardless of whether it makes the finals or not. I want to see more!

Kudos!
(and envy!)

God, this three photo thing is just crazy. We had five last year. Three photos are enough for one room, but to get a feel for an entire apartment? It's just not enough.

What everyone else said.

BTW, stairs are behind the kitchen wall with the oven (kitchen under the stairs as opposed to cupboard under the stairs?) and the other part of the kitchen (with the stove top and sink) can be hidden with the large sliding panel to the left.

Go Brits!

Would you give us some dimensions please, for this lovely apartment? It looks like 300 sq feet on each level to me. This comes from seeing Maxwell and Sara Kate's slightly less than 300 square feet apartment photographed many times and comparing it to what I think I'm seeing here. Am I wrong?

Excellent!

I see the staircase, or at least the first gray step, peeking out of the perpendicular wall in the kitchen in the last pic. That dining table is an incredible find too. Am I right that the secret compartment is behind the big blank white wall on the right side of the apt, the green section in the floor plan? They look like they may be folding doors just like the ones in the kitchen that hide the glassware. Please give more detail, this design is so clever.

The upper level only comprises the smaller rectangle on the right and it looks like it is about 8' by 9'.

Hands down winner. Wow. Brilliant kitchen (love the blue). Brilliant layout (talk about maximizing your available space). Brilliant table (I covet it, like everyone else). As the Brits say: You're a Star. Cheers and good luck.

Mathew!

"Webster" is where I began my dream of one day having secret compartments in my home! So glad someboby remembers the show! I drew so many floor plans, as a child, trying to copy that place!

Superb! Seeing what can be done to such a small space has changed the way I will view listings from here on.

I love the ventilator above the cooktop.

And I think I just spotted two closets/enclosed storage compartments upstairs.

I like it but there could be an even smaller entry with less furniture in Paris that we haven't seen yet so all I'll say is "very nice." I'm leaving it at that.

Tony G.

[Not sure if this is allowed, and may disqualify myself but then again these apartments are all so great I am not holding my breath...]

Thank you for all the nice comments, it's very affirming when you've risked it all to gut a studio in a foreign land...the carpenter will be also delighted since it's all about the carpentry...aka 'joinery'.

In response:

-apt is in "gritty" Bayswater, on edge of rather ridiculous Notting Hill...only gritty by comparison, in truth.

-rubber floor from dalsouple..wears/cleans excellently..this is dark grey

-table is Danish, Hans Wegner, found on ebay. ...four-legged chair version rather than tripod chairs which are less comfortable...take note if you are looking for this table on Ebay!!

-there is art above the sofa...Cusco school painting from 1600s of archangel with arquemada [for those who care]...bought at Paris flea market...could easily be fake but it's cool

-only three photos allowed, but on plans you can see aqua study, also in custom laminate, that serves as prison/office, with keyboard tray, shelves/drawers etc...

-mattress is on floor of loft but ceilings are high enough so as not to feel like coffin, and mattress is a hastens which i got at a mega floor sale so it all worked out in the end ... although one side is 'soft' and one 'medium' which is charming if strange when you roll over

-there are window shutters but i can't afford to renovate them yet...they have been painted over by decades of previous slum lords..right now heavy simple white linen curtains are hanging

-sofa is roche bobois, modular, dark grey linen, can sleep three if you lay out the cushions for visiting friends

-the little circle on top floor plan is a laundry chute into the hamper below in the 'laundry room'..yes, i am that lazy

- the pots are Cristel, the handles come off for easy storage and they are GREAT, highly recommended.

-also not pictured, the custom cat flap that goes into the utility closet downstairs..the litter box is in there so it doesn't intrude on the rest of the flat..they have a little hatch they crawl into...yes there are two cats living in this flat as well

Thanks again for all the nice words! Project of my life....how sad is that??

London Urchin

s: I'm American, not British...just average New York refugee who really wanted to be able to have a garbage disposal...

Gorgeous.

I like that the kitchen area is blue so that the place isn't wall-to-wall white. It has clean lines without feeling cold and sterile. I really like the partial wall abutting the kitchen counter. Clever geometry. Pleasing to the eye. And I'm not biased by being an Anglophile, really. Well, not much.

Please - Identify that table!

Wow. And since I got here late enough to know that there is art somewhere, I don't even have to worry about that! You may be "in owe" but I am in awe. This is the fastest I have yet to lunge for the InstaFinalist button! I can't wait to see more pix!

spectacular! i love everything about it, my absolute favorite so far.

Look at that, you did. Hans Wegner. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to be broke one day too.

Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of Smallest Coolest 2007!

(If there is something yet to come better than this, I almost don't want to see it--I don't think my heart can take it!)

ps: the counter pushes in completely to form a false wall...it's just extended in the photo to show that you can have extra counter space..all the white doors slide closed to hide everything away. just for claritication..i sense it's confusing..you need to see in motion!

I agree with palousian...game over, I think it's a wrap.

I'll echo what everyone else has said - that table is too nice!

I think this is the first time I've ever seen something painted purple look fairly decent - that's a tough task to pull off!

I'm with everyone else on this one... WOW. fantastic work and worth being broke for awhile! inspiring for sure.

i hope you win!

D A M N !

love the hidden compartments..very secret agent man!

...love the contrasting deep blue and stark white

the dining area is divine...love the table and the huge windows

gaaaaaaaahhhh....

this apartment fulfills fanatsies I'd forgotten I had.

this is so amazing! i love it. i always wanted to design my own walls/ cabinets/ loft etc but have no clue how to actually do it.

I cannot wait to see the rest of this space. Well done!

Who the hell were the 4 people who said "Not My Thang, Baby"?

And the winner is...

i love this use of space! the dining room table is making me drool...

I just looked at the Cristel site and was blown away just by the wall rail hanging accessories - great for a small kitchen. Must be $$$. There's only two locations in the US, one in NY and one in Westchester County!

We're going to need an extensive video of this to see it all work and to view every nook and cranny.

When you make finals, definitely submit a Flickr slide show so you can show those doors in motion, o.k?

I'm one of the not my thangs. The table is kinda cool and the color of the cabinetry laminate is nice, but otherwise, its all kinda rather bourgeois "meh." Which is about how I feel about 90% of the submissions so far.

I don't know it is, but most of the submissions this year are all rather ordinary in a professionally staged/designed kind of way. There's nothing really all that impressive to me about the ability to whip out the wallet and hire someone to build and design a nice plan for yourself and buy some expensive antiques on eBay. Its less a function of design skill and personal creativity and more a function of one's income status.

I realize some might convince themselves that the ability to pick something nice out of a catalog or off a website is somehow a "skill", but its not. None of these are even in the calibre of David and Im's Onespace or Jane and Darko's Cozy Thicket - spaces that looked and feeled like the owner's/renter's had put some real sweat equity into, some real DIY, personal creativity matched with personal handiwork and on a budget that real people, with some ingenuity, could achieve.

This entry and most of the others so far, feel merely like extensions of their owner's personal credit rating.

This is perfect.

i love the table.

we have a winner.

Gorgeous! I have wanted to replace my small rectangle table with a round for a year and put it off due to $$$$. These pictures make me want to restart the hunt for the perfect round table.

WINNER WINNER WINNER. I am channeling my inner energy. WINNER.

Really, love it.

Although there is a lot of white it doesn't feel cold to me - which is nice. I LOVE your table and have a feeling it make my search for the perfect round dining table that much harder. Seems like TONS of great solution, space-saving ideas. Would love to see the rest of the space. Well done.

k*

perfection, the chair table is a wonderful piece of sculpture, you could just sit on the sofa and admire it. brilliant!

That's all folks. Nothing more to see here. We have the winner by a wide margin. Done. Over and Out. Congrats. This space is simply perfect.

This is lovely, but I'm not sure I understand all the furor. It's a great space, but I think the major assets are the windows and the table. The rest is certainly nice, but not mind-blowing. I agree with Dave that the Onespace and the Cozy Thicket from last year were much more creative than the spaces we've seen so far this year--which, as I said, are very nice.

More pics more pics more pics more pics more pics...

I get the feeling that this could be a winner, but I'd like to see what's going on with the upper level. The rubber floor is an awesome idea.

assuming you crash at friends' places when you visit nyc, and would rather have your own space when in town, how about an apt swap some time? me in your puzzle place and you in my funhouse. how about it?

amazing use of space! it looks so much more spacious than the actual size. love the kitchen and lovely dining table!

Definitely in my top 3. I would love to see more of this space, though I have a feeling that many of the solutions are only relevant for those with huge reno budgets ;-)

fantastic. it is all about sleeping above when it comes to studios... truly inspiring layout... rubber floor? and clearly you know how to manage the detritus of life... i don't see any. and the table/chairs... james bond kitchen surprise. hats off. thank you!

The one to beat. Absolutely fabulous. Who knew that rubber floors could look so chic?

I think it's close between this one and the "romantic loft" with lots of white posted a few days back. Both places are graced with great bones though, in terms of their windows and and very high ceilings. I think the table in this place is amazing to say the least. This definitely has a great shot at taking the title.

Winner!
Like everyone else, I'm ga-ga.

Please, please post more pictures and also if you would your carpenter's drawings and schematics.

If you don't win, I'm going to be very upset.

Are rubber floors expensive? How difficult to put down? They seem ideal in terms of maintenance.

Perfect place! Best entry so far!

LondonUrchine:

Very smart (both in American and British sense).

Excellent use of under-stairs space for a wall oven.
And my usual objection to the open-shelf kitchens, that the dishes need constant washing due to dust exposure, is negated - by the hinged 2-leaf door.
Purplish-blue for the cabinets doesn't look like the perfect color choice to me, but I'm willing to write this off to the photographic distortion.
Is that a split wall radiator on the window wall? Did you design it to be split, or it's a happy coincidence that it fits your cupboard cabinet perfectly?
I like it that you broke the alignment with the window frames by ending the radiator panels higher, and placing the convex mirror higher yet, for the beautiful stepped/centered Deco-ish line.
The false wall in the kitchen would be even better if you'd extend the counter width-wise (you gain more counter length) and pivot the wall on vertical centerline, so while in closed position it would separate foyer from the room, simultaneously adding counter/serving space to the kitchen inside and a clean wall - to the foyer. Also, this would save you add'l interior kitchen cabinet space (as it is now, when the wall is in closed position, it takes from the inside of the cabinet approximately 2" of hight, right?)
BTW, I don't see tracks on the ceiling or floor - how the false wall slides into the closed position now? Only on tracks inside the kitchen cabinet?
About the rubber floor. Being a less-expensive alternative to the lacquer-polished colored concrete, it serve same function - and looks good. A question, though. Why did you go for a large-scaled rubber tiles? Why not a sheet rubber? It would be more homogeneous and poured-concrete-like.

The laundry chute and the kitty litter tray/door are very clever, too. I also like your choice and placement of the rugs - not a round or diamond one under the table, as the obvious logic would dictate.

The scale of furnishings are complementing the architectural envelope. I like the gentle continuacy (is that a word?) of the form and craftsmanship from more ornate Victorian cupboard to the elegantly detailed Wegner table to the sparse sofa convertible. The colors are not loud, sofa upholstery is a shade or two lighter than the floor, chairs - darker. Quiet and confident, not boasting - that's the general impression; a big plus with me.

The corner of the shower pan is a wee bit too close to the lavatory for my comfort (on the plan); I'd like to see the picture of the bathroom interior. Did you use the terminated partition above the toilet for a shelf? And there is a double-door mirror?

Overall - a very pleasant home to visit and live in. Thank you for giving me a privilege to see it.

Beautiful photography. I still miss art, but I'm sure many above would argue that the apartment itself is art.

Dave--
So interesting your inclusion of Jane and Darko's place in your list... I'd have to go back to visit that one again, but I remember more purchased things than structural cleverness, floorplan innovation, or sweat equity... and they certainly weren't shopping at Costco.

(NOTHING against Jane and Darko... their space was great, and they have a great and clever eye.)

All the above, plus the way the flower arrangement curves around the wall clock. I have to talk about the flowers and clock because I can't even get my mind around all the rest.

Do you see that first view of the table/windows when you come in? (I can't make this out from the floor plan) If that's the view you come home to, how could you ever feel broke?

Through the window, the furniture in the garden looks like it might be at the same height as the window bottoms. Is it on a deck?

@patrick (the other one) - Good question. I don't mean to suggest that one's whole apartment needs to be done on a $500 budget in order to "keep it real" or anything.

However, there is a very big difference between the "credit line rehab" that I'm seeing in a lot of these submissions and the DIY/collected over time/designed over time apartments of some of last year's top entries. London Urchin's place, as nice as it is, feels like a credit line rehab - a done at one time, let's "charge it", function of the owner's credit rating.

In contrast, Jane and Darko's place feels like HOME. A place where they filled it with belongings that they had gotten (and treasured) over time - a sense of personality and personal history. There are obviously some high end touches in their home (like their bathroom sink), but also mixed in with unique little flea market style finds, like the old wood library card catalog (or apothecary chest?) with each drawer filled with a little treasure. Or some of the kicky and kitschy tchcokes sprinkled throughout. Or that almost tacky, but fun tree photo wallpaper they put on their bedroom closet door.

Also, their space looks like human beings live there - I see books. I see little bits of art collected over time spread all over the apartment. I see a worn red wood bench. But mostly I see the warmth of a home, the laughter of friends and family, a soul. Watch the video of their apt.

With the London Urchin entry and many others, I see the next photo spread of Metropolitan Home. Its rather dissappointing actually.

After months of lurking this entry has finally compelled me to register to comment. I love it. I love all the secret compartments so that all clutter can be hidden when needed. So London Urchin spent money to achieve the space he (she?) wanted - so? Did the contest specify that it had to be a budget design? Lack of visible clutter a drawback? I don't think so. As I survey all the clutter in my space I would be in heaven if I had a place where I could put all of it away.

We're actually in the process of thinking about moving out of a rather too-large and hard to maintain place (with a lack of storage) to a smaller one and this apartment is just inspirational. Thank you for posting it!

Now I need to go lie down to bring my heartrate down.

What I love about this is how you have not only managed to renovate this so cleverly, but how the space still speaks for itself. It's seamless.

And what everyone else said. I can hardly wait to see the additional photographs when you're named one of the finalists. :)

I think what you cite Dave are the differences between show-ers and hiders, closed storage and open, stuff people and, well, non-stuff people, and people who put the money into the shell, and people who put their money into the "top layer"... none a function or symptom of creativity, originality, or bank account.

And I don't mind that you have a preference for one over the other. But you come across like there is some great and grand conspiracy afoot, and those who don't see it are blind at best, idiots at worst. That's what bothers me.

And oddly, Jane and Darko's apartment has since been featured twice in home publications, so that sort of oddly counters your point about "lived in" being at odds with "magazine spread" (a distinction that continually irks me, whoever makes it).

And it would give me great joy to see an AT contest discovery featured in the pages of ANY style pub.

I also think there is a love-affair period with a newly renovated space where the owners are so enamored of end result (and rightfully so) that they do indeed keep "top layer" to a minimum. But I'm sure the stuff of life eventually creeps in.

But I'm also sure they sweep it away when company comes.

Ah patrick, always missing the trees for the forest.

It is not the lack of stuff per se that I find soulless in this place - one can have a rather clean and tidy and even minimalist space without being soulless. Rather, it is the lack of the stuff of life.

There is nothing - NOTHING - in this space that speaks to the character, personality, history or quirks of the individual living in it. THAT is what I mean when I say it looks like something from Metropolitan Home. (Which is why I specifically referenced MH and not a generic reference to shelter mags in general. I means what I write and I writes what I means.) It looks like Shelter Porn - high gloss but superficial, that excites the immediate impulses but leaves one generally unsatisfied after the initial rush.

As I said, I see no books. No photos of loved ones. No real art on the walls aside from a teeny tiny couple of frames next to the pinboard in the kitchen. No nothing that says a living, breathing person lives there. Its not about hiding stuff vs. having stuff that is everywhere. David and Im's Onespace hid most of their stuff behind that giant curtained wall, but the space they built for themselves still had soul.

This, this aside from some artfully and self-consciously laid out dining settings - how precious! - (or the artfully open book and glass of drinking water) seems hollow, like a stage set on Top Design.

Is it aesthetically pleasing? Definitely. Does it look like someone's home? Not really. And there is the rub, between that which is cool, and that which is merely cold.

Dave--

Just really trying to understand the differences, and you are making it seem like an argument (here, and especially on Davy's thread, where you are being even nastier to me).

Have fun during the rest of the contest. And share your home with us some time, huh?

It's nice, but I'm not knocked out by it. Didn't vote "not my thing", however.

Dave and P(2): not wanting to occupy more space in the thread than necessary for this tangential, although very interesting topic, I've commented at my own place.

Sorry, wrong link. Here's the correct one.

The mix of contemporary bones and antique furnishings feels very personable to me. A flea-market-find painting, a fish-eye mirror, the tall chest, the carpets, the much-discussed dining set all seem organically collected to me and convey much more personality to me than a grouping of photo frames from Exposures would. (Heck, even the beautifully lined canister jars and bursting spice rack tell me something about how the owner uses this space.)

@Tatyana - I was never scolded by anyone for the quality of my workmanship, but thanks for the armchair psycho-analysis. I also never worked for an architect or designer - generally speaking, painting big old Victorians generally doesn't involve the participation of a "designer." Generally speaking, it usually involves the participation of a picky homeowner and a crotchety painting contractor. The rest of us schmoes on the jobsite just kept our heads down and did our work. Well, except for the young Irish guys on my work crew who often had to also worry about falling off the ladder due to massive hangover issues. But I digress.

You provided a perfect example of my problem with some of patrick's comments and a good example of one of the common bad habits netizens on message boards seem to fall into - namely, extrapolating or projecting some underlying psychological or other historical/personality cause behind what someone is writing. It's like saying "oh, you must have had a distant father" based on a few lines on a blog. (I also note how you hilariously think that people who regularly saw a psychoanalyst as a child is more likely to have a messy home with lots of stuff on display. Armchair quarterback much?)

Instead, just take the argument/position I have presented in writing at face value and deal with it on its merits.

As far as what the clutter in a person's apartment says about someone, PUH-leeze. If someone likes their place neat (like I do), great. If clutter and disorder makes them happy, great too.

Its not about that - its about the presence of anything in the space that defines it as something personal and distinguishable from the anonymous high gloss shelter porn in your average high end shelter rag. The space screams obsessive and uptight. Maybe that's the owner's personality - but if it is, then I doubt I'd like the owner anymore than I like the space.

Not that has anything to do with anything, as that would be armchair psychobabble on MY part. Rather, I'll just leave it that the space is devoid of personality or soul and is certainly not "cool".

Gee, Dave, I guess I'm not getting that invitation to your house any time soon, am I?

If you never worked for a designer, maybe you should, all I can say. Maybe then you'd allow a little trickle of realization of what that job consist of to get into your head. let me just say - if the work looks effortless to you, it's the sign of a good professional, not of an easy work - true for any number of jobs, yours included.

Let me assure you - no projecting on my part when I talked about therapy sessions and their connection to the personal habits on display . Just a factual life observation (had clients like that). My own personal view on the subject I explained amply, and don't have much disagreement with what you said in your comment above on this topic.

Still hope you'd change your mind and let me see your abode - and hear your stories of how effortlessly you made it perfect and personal at the same time.

I don't know whether it is flattering you "reviewed" the discussion here on your own journal, or just creepy.

Is this the Tatyana I've met at past AT parties, formerly posting as "Tat"?

Dave--

Sorry, you totally opened the door to the "psychobabble" you fault me for. I sincerely regret walking through it.

Again, I originally was really just engaging in dialogue, whether you choose to believe it or not.

Yes, P(2), my full name is Tatyana, and my friends call me Tat. Don't feel obligated.
I write on my blog on topics that strike my fancy and use any examples to illustrate my thoughts I find around the 'sphere. If you find that creepy, I can only feel sorry for you.

All I will say Tatyana, is that I don't work for designers in my day job - they work for me. But there is a BIG difference between being a client to one or picking through a catalog for your home or what not, and being a designer or architect as one's day job. The former is not work - its spending (save for those situations where the spending is pursuant to one's job and where the spending decisions have direct business consequences.) The latter IS work - which is why I happily cut six figure checks to the talented architects I hire to design my buildings.

As for your "factual" observations about people who have seen psychotherapists - that's not empirical proof - that's anecdote. And they're not the same thing.

Finally, I agree with patrick (@patrick - hope you didn't pass out hearing that!) - I'm not sure if its flattering or just downright creepy.

@patrick - My apologies as well. Its a bit of a pet peeve of mine - the psychological projection folks engage in based on a few lines written on a message board. Its better practice, in my experience, to just address the argument presented on its face and on it merits, than to attempt to extrapolate from it. Because one is rarely correct in the extrapolation. (and if I myself engage in it, I hope I'll be swiftly and roundly called out for it.)

Gee, you have always been nice to my face!!

I was also just surprised to read in your journal that you mostly disagree with me.

Oh well.

Hey Dave, now that we're buds again, can we gang up on Tat?!?!? ;)

Oh, wait, over on that other thread, you called me a bitchy queen (actually, a caricature of one), a priss, and passive-aggressive (did I miss anything?)

So, um, no, still not buds.

I know you are *devastated*.

Don't you think being nice while disagreeing is a normal thing for civilized people?
Anyway, Patrick, I'm sure you might recall many instances our opinions differed on variety of subjects - still I value your outlook on design matters; if anything , you have taste, if not a professional training.

Sorry, Dave, to spook you. I felt the discussion strayed away from the original topic - LondonUrchin's apartment and quite striking job he/she did with it. So I attempted to offer another platform for the "strayed" discussion, and leave this thread for people who want to stay on topic. "It's done all the time in the blogosphere", to use your argument.

I'm not sure I'd buy your line re: differences between designing professionally and making selections for your own apartment. For somebody who is not a professional, doing what professionals do is more, not less, difficult. Look at every open thread here, at Apartment Therapy - people have million of questions they don't know how to resolve. If you ask them, I don't think they will agree that planning a kitchen, buying cabinets and tracking a perfect table on ebay is only a matter of time and money.

Please, gentlemen, be my guests, do gang up on me. I have to give you a fare warning, though: I'm used to handling US Criminal Judges and Court Attorneys, as well as people from Mayor's office. A handicap, for sure.

A genius space....WOW!

@patrick - Yes patrick, but I made those comments over there way before I made kissy face nice with you over here, so those snarky comments don't really count, now do they?

i broke my giraf can i borrow your lens.

where is the bed? do you sleep on the couch? I NEED MORE PICS!!!!!

@patrick-- good points--and nicely put--how the "top layer" creeps in over time, and about a predeliction for "showing or hiding" isn't "a function or symptom of creativity, originality, or bank account."

I've felt about other spaces on AT that that they seem more hotel than home, or that they seem more bought than built, but I don't feel that way about this space, though I'd look forward to seeing a bit more "top layer" over time.
This space feels full of human choices to me, evident in the deep blue of the kitchen, the way the whole house moves, the juxtaposition of rubber and rug. It feels like a labor of love, even if a good deal of the "real" labor was the carpenter's.

Selection is a form of invention.

Tatyana, darling, you have such a way with words.

Dave--
I love how, "in the blogosphere", serious name calling can be dismissed as "snark" once the dust clears.

Yeah, um, not so much.

This place is exquisite ... wish I could see more photos.

And my goodness, that table/chair combo is the perfect small space item!

I personally think the space is amazing. The fact that you were able to fit two levels, indoor and outdoor space, a dining room, a lounge an office, kitchen, bathroom and laundry room in 600 square feet is amazing.

At first I thought the kitchen extension was on rollers and could be expanded, but is that opening for you to see people soming though the door while working? Also, what appliances do you have in the kitchen? Where are the dishwasher and fridge?

I like the hidden stove under the stairs- is there pantry storage as well in there.

Love the table, fantastic style and space saving. Am curious to see more of the living room area. The art sounds like a cool, "Traditional" piece of art to contract the more modern style of the apartment. It also looks as though you have you have integrated a TV, media storage and office all behind the the sliding doors there, which would be something I would like to see more of. Add the sleeping loft to things I wany to see as well.

For the outdoor space- is it a balcony?

This place is just freaking great. It is small but that first pic makes the place look huge. I love that there is a formal feeling with the symmetry of the windows and dining table in the center. But, nothing about this apartment is stuffy. It looks so comfortable and real.

To those who think there is NO life in these photographs...

I happen to see next to the kitchen, a few photographs, greeting cards, etcetera. So there IS life in these photos. However, I think there is more life than you think.

We, too do not show much of personal items in our apartment, aside from books, which I think tell alot about a person. We keep our personal mementos in our tiny office, away from the "living" areas.

I also happen to think that each of the items "on display" may have their own personal story to tell. We happen to have several items of furniture/art/objects that we "display" (in lieu of family photographs) to spark conversations when we have guests over, or just to think about every time we see or use them. To me, it is much MORE personal to reminisce how we came about owning a certain item, building it or receiving it rather than display photos of our wedding day in the front hallway.

I am much more interested to hear about how this submitter came about owning the table, the rugs, etcetera, than about why they composed their wall of family photographs in a certain way.

1. I'm in love with your table.
2. Secret compartments FTW

OMG! This is it for me. The best!

Looks like we'll be seeing some more photos soon. I hope London Urchin is able to put together a video for the next round...and if that's not possible, we want photos of yet unviewed space, not just the same space from a different angle.

I love, love, love it -- especially the kitchen cabinetry. I also love the windows opening to the garden behing the dining room.

I do not like the bickering. Take it somewhere else, guys.

Especially great job on that first photograph! That breaks the rules about photographing in the daytime.

Also love the unexpected kitchen color.

So many great things about this space.

What are the rules about photographing in the daytime?

While there is a lot I like here, from an ingenuity perspective, I can't help feeling that sitting on that sofa, the whole room has to feel slightly off-balance... one sheer, tall wall of unadorned construction, opposite a wall punctuated by mostly windows.

Too many white walls... I wish all the other rooms were inviting as the dinning room...

No life? Absurd!

If you lived in a work of art, would you clutter it up with tchotchkes? The life is in the space, the rugs, furniture, plants, lighting.

Imagine trying to doll up the piazza of the Seagram Building to give it more "life." Preposterous idea.

Please, please... more photos, schematics. I adore your place.

table:
Hans Olsen Dining set, by Frem Røjle, Denmark, 1960s, teak, round table with one 19.75â€� self-storing leaf and five chairs with original black vinyl upholstery (one not shown), chair backs fit into the apron of the table, original finish, signed with branded marks, table: 41.75â€�dia. x 29.25â€�h, chairs: 19â€�w x 18â€�d x 28.2â€�h


it's on ebay

How much does a place like this cost to rent?

Such a great use of space, but so, so white. Needs some personality, some jewels in the box.

Wow... this is the same table and chairs I had in my kitchen growing up!!!

The table and chairs are not Olsen. The Olsen chairs have three legs, while Urchin's have four. Also, the Olsen table doesn't curve out slightly around the rim, which IMO is the detail that makes the piece.

Urchin,

Can you snap a couple pictures of your kitchen and enter them in the smallest, coolest kitchen contest? I beleive your kitchen definately qualifies as cool.

epgaff: there's more than one design. Here's a four-legged variety, look down under "sold objects".

http://www.retromoderndesign.com/chairs/chairs.html

I haven't been able to stop thinking about this apartment.

amazing!

can't wait to see more pics of this (the windows alone, yes, genius)!

the table is hans olsen. not hans wagner.