apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Congrats to all the winners!

Fyi, photo above for Laura is not from her place.

Congratulations to all the winners - all four were fantastic and very deserving.

Congratulations to all the winners. I have to admit though, I think Laura should have taken first place!!

fabulous!!!! congrats to all the winners!!!!

I'm so sad that it's over now. Do it again! Do it again!

Thank you apartment therapy and all the readers! I can not believe that I won. So shocked in fact, that I cried and embarrassed myself at the DWR party!

I found this site a few months ago when I was facing the idea of moving into a tiny apartment and discovered last year's contest. Apartment Therapy has been such an inspiration for me. Living in a tiny place is not only possible but can also be really enjoyable.

Thank you!

** oh and the photo of my place above is from the wrong entry.

Congrats to all the winners. It feels like a let down today that it is over. It's thrilling when those photos scroll up and have such wonderful surprises, I will miss the contest. I suggest a regular feature to keep the photos coming for the visually voracious among us and having a raffle or something to reward the entrants. The entries that came after the contest were wonderful to see and I felt sorry that there were eliminations from the contest. Tough job to choose, GOOD JOB JUDGES.

All 4 of you are to seriously congratulated because in my mind, this year was some of the stiffest competition ever, no kiddin'. Many of the other entries were sensationa, too. Maybe I'm also getting old, but I think the judges did a very good job.

Dear Apartment Therapy and Readers,
We had a last minute emergency last night and could not attend the party. We are very sorry, and we were disappointed that we could not be there to meet everyone and share in the fellowship of design.
We know our loft design is very different and we never expected to place in the competition let alone be nominated as a finalist. We entered only to show that good design for one's home is a very personal matter that relates to each individual's definition of home-what is most important to them. Needless to say, we were quite surprised at our third place finish.
We would like to thank everyone involved in the contest for their comments, encouragement, and support.
Victor & Soeun (Romantic Loft-NYC)

oh, i'm sad that it's over, too. congrats to all of the winners! thanks to all of the contestants for sharing such inspiring spaces.

laura - yours was definitely my favorite!

CRapola! Sorry about that wrong pic!

Fixed now.

In my fervor to put in new pics, I swiped one from Laure not Laura. Apologies and I blame the double latte....

Many thanks to 'Design Within Reach' too!!! Soeun & Victor

Laura: Congratulations! Representin' the West Coast, baby... You didn't embarass yourself at all last night. It was really cute, but also very touching...

Great meeting you and the other LA finalists who made it to the event last night: Laure, Eric & AMMO!

Thanks, Jill and Maxwell, for sending over the wine. Good stuff.

Whoops... I meant Laure & Elliott, too.

Congrats to all the winners!
I wish everyone the best and hope you have a great 2007.

I'll see you all next year for SMALLEST COOLEST 2008.

Tony G.

Laura, Laure, Lauren, Eric, Eric (and Ammo)...the SouthWest finalists were similarly named and equally all impressive. Congrats Laura!

Thanks Gregory! It was so nice to meet you!

are all the winners owners?
is laura the only renter?

This is a great contest. I really enjoyed watching it.

However I think there is the need for 2 categories: renter and homeowner. It's really not fair to the rental entries to be compared to someone who can do a complete renovation, remodel, etc... I'd like to know the statistics of homeownership among the winners, or even among the semi-finalists. It seems to me that an inordinate proportion of them were owners. Custom built-in anything is just not an option for someone who is renting. They have to be more creative by working only with furnishings, and possibly paint. If you're really interested in an apples-to-apples contest, you will split it into two categories next year. Otherwise you are unquestionably favoring homeowners by default, by inaction.

Thanks again for a very enjoyable time!

Laura, among the entrants that placed, you definitely should have come in first! Such a striking apartment!

Yeah Ron!

Thank you! Amazing! I've never won anything before. So sorry I couldn't be there in NYC.

I'd like to thank the "Academy"--apartment therapy team, judges and DWR, as well as all the rest of you out there.

To my fans, I say thank you for the good vibes and support and... excellent taste!

[To my detractors, I say, nothing. I ice you out cruelly and ignore you in my inflated, wicked glory -- despite the fact that yes, it’s true I cannot hold a camera to save my life and yes, of course the other entries were fantastic!]

Congrats to all the other winners -- formidable adversaries all, and people with great eyes and much can-do. I was definitely sweating this. [Ron, I look forward to seeing your new show ‘Lamp Tramp’ on Bravo. Someone sign this man to a deal!]

Thank you so much to everyone who weighed in and also special thanks to Parisian grande dame France Faver, a woman now well into her 80s and onetime enemy of the 'smelly, drunk' Edith Piaf (her words, not mine) who gave me the black basalt Wedgwood collection in my current possession, and who, as a former couturiere (google her) and art and antiques dealer taught me everything I have ever learned about style and the art of living including the proper way to cut a steak, a woman who has befriended a girl from the Midwest whose mother she accidentally once met at a flea market fifteen years ago, and shown her what it takes to have an Eye, and a woman who assured me Roche Bobois would 'suffice' for my couch -- thank you for personally approving my own Cligancourt finds, and may you and your dog Moushka forever entertain me in your Parisian salon with stories of the good old days! Like a movie plot but actually real.

And now…I dedicate this award to all those of you out there who have lived in miserable, dark, dank, loud, lead paint-filled, walk-up, ill-conceived, crappy, miserable rented apartments belonging to yet another slumlord and populated with furniture from college or worse, high school....in New York or elsewhere...to those who have moved around year after year and have found themselves sobbing in Ikea when they realized that for the fifth year in a row they are buying the Very Same Spatula AGAIN (same Spatula, different Ikea)…

...those of you who have toiled for the Man for years with only a vague dream of home ownership on the horizon...

....may you too someday experience a small windfall (ie in my case some freelance work) that makes you so giddy with the glow of employment and a positive bank balance for once that you recklessly, ill-advisedly thrown it all into a down payment for your first teeny tiny micro apartment in the world's most overpriced real estate market...despite the chorus of friends and family who think you are insane...

and that you too decide to, say, gut this space to build a sleeping loft and other whizz bang features so that you can turn it into a place that's truly nice -- a small, really lovely place that's finally your own, rather than a bigger, more mediocre, place -- a place that you aren't embarrassed to bring your friends toddlers into [lest they encounter a varmint and contract something], a place that has the floors you yourself have picked out, a place with real furniture, a place that lives like a treehouse, a place that finally feels like home though far from Home, and a place that-- even when you are having the most horrendous of days --still manages to make you smile and feel proud – smug and self congratulatory even – a rare privilege in this urban world.

I'm just a girl from Milwaukee, living the dream in the Big Smoke. Thank you for the honor.

[sobs of happiness…London Urchin collapses and faints, quite rightly, on selfsame couch]

I second what tbd said. I'd also add that something seriously needs to be done about the professionals vs. amateurs problem. Wende in Phoenix did a great analysis of this and it was glaringly clear that the entries done with the HELP of professional designers or by professional designers were highly likely to be rated highly and those that were done completely by amateurs employing nothing but their own wits were highly likely to be rated poorly.

If this just winds up being a contest for a slighly younger, slightly less affluent (but still relatively affluent) version of the Metropolitan Home set, well... that would be pretty fucking boring.

London Urchin, darling, your prose is outdone only by your apartment. Well done, in both cases. Congratulations. (...Now send some of that freelance work my way!)

thank you one and all who supported me and my home through out this contest! it was a shear joy and honor to be included in the finals. the exposure has lead to some amazing new opportunities. in fact, you will soon see my home in a national magazine!

there has been a lot written about how this contest should be run, "professional/non-professional" or "homeowner/renter". and whether or not it was fair that i be included in the competition. like "londonurchin" i chose not to respond to any of the negative comments that were posted. (besides you all did a great job of arguing the points amongst yourselves! haha)

however, i would love to clarify a few points.

first, yes, i am a designer. i started my business a year ago, and am now working on my fourth client. but this entry was my own personal home. i do not have access to any more resources than anyone else. i do not have a resale license and i do not shop "to the trade." i shop at flea markets, second hand stores and major retailers, just like everyone else.

second, i am a renter. yes, a renter, i renovated the place myself with very inexpensive upgrades with my own money. why do that for a rental? because to me, it's not a rental, it's my home. i want to feel comfortable in my home and i want others to feel that way too. i worked very hard to get it to that point, with my own money, sweat, (and, yes, some blood and a few tears!)

if you were all to come to my home, i would shake us up some cocktails, tell you to have a seat on the all white sofa, feel comfortable putting your feet up on the plexi coffee tables, and set your drink down on the side table, WITHOUT a coaster! it's just furniture, it's not the smithsonian. i want everyone to feel comfortable in my home. that is why there are all of the pillows and all of the lamps, making the space feel comfortable and inviting. if i were a better photographer, i would have taken pictures at night so you can see how comfortable it is.

like, londonurchin, i am from a small town, (in iowa!) just trying to make it on my own in the big apple. trying to live my dream. i am on my way, and the exposure from this contest has helped immensely, and for that i say thank you.

if you are ever in new york, let me know. i will shake up some martinis, we will put our feet up on the furniture and discuss design tips!

thank you again one and all.

ronmarvin

Congratulations to all the winners and all the rest who entered! This has been a terrific competition this year and intimidating to anyone who would like to enter next year. There was scarcely an entry that wasn't an "insta-finalist" in my estimation. Thanks for showing us your homes.

I don't see why the contest shouldn't be open to designers and architects, and used by them to further their careers. - It's nice to have new designers 'discovered' by AT!!
However, I agree with (I think it was) Patrick (too)'s suggestion that the contest be closed to apartments that have already been 'previously published' - i.e., already appeared somewhere in a magazine, or showcased on a prominent design blog, etc. (personal webpages of the designers themselves shouldn't count).

As to excluding those who've had any professional design help - how could you possibly police that? Such a restriction would just increase the chances of dishonesty, and acrimony in the readers' posts, seems to me.

But a side note on the overwrought acrimony on other threads: I think it's not all a bad thing! It indicates how many of the readers here are passionate about AT itself, and that is ultimately an essential part of the success of AT itself. After all, it wouldn't go anywhere if no one cared where it went.

Ron: you have a really great apartment and you deserved recognition! Congratulations on all your hard work paying off.
You did some inexpensive upgrades, but not a complete tear-out and renovation. In my opinion as a renter you had a special challenge to work with what was there, and you rose to that challenge. My suggestion is not that homeowners be excluded, but that there be two prize categories.
Also I don't think that designers who enter their own homes should be excluded, but I do think that those who hired outside designers were not quite in the same DIY spirit that Apartment Therapy seems to embrace.
Don't let our squabbling over rules and categories ruin your glory. Enjoy!

GMK... Eric and I are renters!
-AMMO

Congrats to all the winners (and everyone else of course)! All are very deserving.

Kara, Michael, Jamie and Brad.

"arrogance is error against".

thanks none of that.

what wonderful comments. congratulations all!

Hurrah!! London Urchin, you go!!! And you too, Ron. And all the others.

Nice words from you both: thanks for the good wishes. As a renter with a nightmare of a mess at the moment, I look forward to making my space, if not as wonderful as yours, at least nice and livable.

Inspirational, truly.

This year's competition has been incredibly inspiring - so much so that I've bitten the bullet and have just bought a 580 sq ft apartment! Who knows, I might even muster up the courage to enter next year!

Big congratulations to all the winners - you all deserve it for your hard work. Thank you!

I'm happy that Urchin's entry won, it was one of my favourites ( maybe even THE favourite) from the beginning! Congrat's!!

Absolutely, I think that the winners chosen deserved to win.

I hope that "professionals" are not excluded from future contests. We need their ideas. Besides, I anticipate that there would be much controversy over what constitutes a "professional." Does that term only include interior designers, decoraters and architects? Or does it also include artists - graphic or otherwise? How about carpenters and seamstresses?

I have mixed feelings about creating separate categories for owners vs renters too as it might skew the awards. Laura's space is spectacular and she competed with those who own.