apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Amazing..absolutely amazing. Thanks for sharing this with us.

coulda, shoulda, woulda been an insta-finalist!

LOVE LOVE LOVE it! As a bibliophile, I appreciate all spaces with many books that still look beautiful!!!

This is so beautiful, I love it! Deeply envious of your kitchen, bathroom, and that Jacobsen chair. The built-in bookshelves are great; sad that it has been demolished. I bet you absolutely loved living there!

I'd insta-finalize this entry. It has what P2 referred to as the necessary creativity (or perhaps he said innovation?) required to win. Those dolls at the headboard would freak me out a bit late at night ... but the enclosed and curtained bed is great. Plus I like the warmth of the apartment, though books and texture.

Dang! I didn't realize we couldn't vote on this one. I was scrolling up and down and up and...

I think it's quite great and I love the bookshelf abundance! At first, I thought that it was beautiful but might get a little tight and claustrophobic feeling. But I take that all back now, mostly due to the HIGH ceiling above the dining table.

Astounding effort, Kirk!

Oh, WOW. It was cool while it lasted!

stunning!!!

STUNNING! I had to use all caps. It had to be said.

---insert big applause---

baking tins? hysterical! love it!

Reopen the contest!

Looks a bit dated, but I vote WINNER!

-B

this is the raddest apartment I have ever seen! You must really miss it.

It's dated cuz it doesn't exist anymore ... scan the text. the apt was demolished.

Why would ANYONE demolish this place??? Story please!

Your art is amazing. I love the child astronaut over the dining room table. Can we see a post of your current residence? Please?

the baking trays as ceiling tiles are GENIUS

Hands down the best one so far. I wish this could win. And I second the request for why it was demolished!

Demolished? I'm sorry.

so so inventive and inspiring! so so sad it was torn down!!! travesty! oh the humanity!

THAT IS FREAKIN' AWESOME!

that's the most lovin' i've given any apartment, holy cow. The list of 'what i'd change' is microscopic.


flippin' wow.

where is that space baby image from?
it is so cool
it would be incredible in a nursery...

10 years ago? i have commented twice i am so in awe.

so are my coworkers.

Wow. This has many elements that I dream of. Nothing gets me more than hidden storage, desks, bookshelves, entertainment centers, etc.

I LOVE this! I always appreciate decor that is inspired and creative and this one fits the bill. My favorite element is that everything was happened upon rather than purchased new, which gives this place personality rather than simply recreating a page from the DWR catalog.

Kudos!

Nice design...the only issue is that (as you have mentioned) it is ten years old and looks ten years old. Some of the detailing would definitely need to be updated if it still existed to be an 'insta-finalist' in my opinion. The details bother me but the overall spatial layout is a success.

Is that tricycle always there?

love love love, and LOVE that you did it with your own hands and some very good salvaging
thanks for sending it in, even tho it's long gone

Doesn't look dated.

At all.

Looks fantastic. Now show us pix of your Aussi home, please!

Wooooah!

A rare example of loving and thoughtful inventivenes.

I, too, am sorry that your work has been demolished (may be the new owner had different priorities and concepts, and he/she was in his right; still - sad).

I wish I could see the floor plan in detail - and the plan of upper level, too. Am I right in thinking tere is a full height storage space behind the bed (I don't mean the pillow sorage inside the headboard)? And there is something, possibly another bathroom, above the one on the main level?

Also, a minor qiestion: why the bathroom sink needed to be swiveling? Looks like you have a partition between it and the laundry shute, so the sink is not on the way when the shute opens.

{gasp}

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Stunning!

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Fantabulous!

You. Win.

I don't care if you weren't entered, you still win.

But would you spot it as 10 years old if the photos weren't showing signs of age and the book spines weren't dominated by an older style of typography?

Blond wood -- very in.
Egg chair, Noguchi coffee table -- classic.
Dining set -- there's one of those that follows me around Phoenix (or else there are about six here, as I can't go to an antique store without seeing it).
Floating shelves -- very "in."
Yellowish walls -- that color appears in at least three of this years SC entries.
Vessel sink -- it was all over Bathroom Month.
White linens with black edging -- now available in stores, since b&w has made a big comeback.

Add two pillows in those stylized floral/damask-y patterns that are so big now, swap the calla lilies for an orchid, put a nice chrome-finished espresso machine on the kitchen counter, and you have your update to 2007. (Zebra, cowskin, or shag rug is optional but wouldn't hurt.)

This place kind of reminds me of Kris Kelvin's place in the remake of Solaris.

Interesting, and futuristic! :)

STUNNING
STUNNING
STUNNING.

whew.

the only thing i don't get is that this place is large enough to have actually been made into a one-bedroom, with walls.

you showed us that walls can have many purposes though, so thank you.

I have to go over and over looking at this space. ABSOLUTELY STUNNING. I can't even imagine how much sweat and blood you put into this, not to mention the thinking process. Please I would like to know: Are you an architect? or a background. And were you married and with a child here? the tricycle... and if yes, is there a small bedroom over the bathroom?

I have to agree that this doesn't look dated at all! i'd move in, as is, tomorrow.

Beautiful, I wouldn't say dated, but items Wende named would make it look fad of the day. Wondering what details people are saying look dated. Where are the calla lillies? Couldn't spot them. This looks like the home of a boat builder. Love the baking sheet ceiling and astrokid. Sad it is gone.

wow!

and who's street trash includes an egg chair??? i need neighbors like that!

Really gorgeous... Like the idea of finding Arne Jacobsen chairs fron trash! ;)

http://kittyrenovates.blogspot.com/

Pardon my French but Holy Crap!
THIS is the entry I've been waiting for, insta-finalist!

Oh no, this isn't an official entry. I still adore it though. This guy doesn't even need a DWR gift certificate with his interesting design, unique style and crazy street finds!

Sorry that I didn't respond earlier, and there's a lot to respond to. Thank you all. Especially for not feeling it looked dated. You were all very generous -- it's so nice to get positive feedback (clients aren't always so appreciative).
The guy who bought it from me was very appreciative as well, and even tried to match the furniture, but I heard about the eventual demolition from someone who knew the next owner. It depressed the hell out of me. I can't bear to look in the window when I walk by (I think it was turned into a featureless white box where I once saw him watching TV looking terribly depressed himself).
BuzzyBee: photo is my son (photoshopped)
Archie: tricycle now permanently ensconced in my Sydney house (awaiting another baby to come of riding age)
Tatyana: behind the bed is a storage attic (above the glowing kitchen ceiling with access ladder stored in adjacent closet) & above the bathroom is closet space (a hanging rail in front with shelves to the back) and the chute tothe laundry. And you are absolutely correct about the swivelling sink -- pure folly!

Oh, and another little feature that I loved were slots I cut in the rightmost end of the butcherblock counter to stick knive through.

I will send in my Sydney house photos as well. It's quite different. I hope it doesn't disappoint...
Thanks again for your enthusiam, I think I'll stick with my profession. (I mainly design stores now, but happy to consider residential work!)
Kirk Lenard

Where are the calla lillies?

To the right of the fireplace, on the small table.

(I keep coming back to look at how many accessories are still "in" today.)

who's street trash includes an egg chair???

Remember, we're talking mid-1990s or earlier here. MCM was something you bought at yard sales or Goodwill or flea markets because no one wanted it.

I love all the lovely and creative ways that you have incorporated a LOT of books into a small space without looking like you have opened a bookstore. I own a lot of books too, and since I'm determined to ignore all the people who remind me that I can always go to the library (yeah, but not at 1 a.m. when I spontaneously want to read something new), I am always on the look out for design ideas for living with lots and lots and lots of books.

So sad that this place is no more! It reminds me of a well-built ship, and it utterly beautiful.

Thanks for response, Kirk (and apologies for my typos).

I understand very well why you don't want to look in the windows; I can't build up courage and walk past my former townhouse I renovated, landscaped and later sold - I fear what I might see. Especially after the city sent me summons for massive illegal construction on the house 1/2 year after I sold it; they didn't get the change of ownership' papers on time - god only knows what is going on there...

The bathroom that doubles as a landing sounds very intriguing. Shower in a cupboard...medieval, like all those secret passages in a English castle's library.

Omigod. You have so much talent.

Oh. My. Goodness. I could have moved right in, and especially loved all the great storage for books.... A featureless white box? What a travesty for such a lovely space!

This is probably the best residential interior space I've ever seen. Everything fits perfectly, and when you take into consideration the fact that everything was salvaged... WOW!

Is this place for real?! YOU did it yourself? It is absolutely, flat-out, one of the most amazing interiors I've ever seen: so creative, inventive, warm, witty, smart & timeless. In my next lifetime, I'll hire you and give you free reign. In this lifetime I'll just drool.

Hmmm - do you have any other interiors to share with us?

Seriously, the best! Completely great style. I would love to know more about how you did it. Such a same that the place was ruined. Great works of art can't live on forever.

With advance apologies to the bibliophiles, I seriously could never relax (my eyes) with all those exposed book spines (even if color-coded!!)

Fireplace elevation is STUNNING, as is your taste in art. Really nice to see "serious" art in an age of stretched Marimekko and DIY Blik decals.

Not entirely convinced about the ceiling treatment above the bed, but like the idea of "ceiling activity" there, since from the lower level, that ceiling is such an element. If around today, and the accoustic treatment weren't necessary, I'd aluminum leaf it.

And Leslie, whether a space is demolished or not has nothing to do with whether it appears dated.

Also if around today, I'd swap the bedroom "balcony" curtains for metal mesh/chain mail curtains.

point taken, p2. I got a little carried away by the excitment of seeing something I like. I didn't mean to suggest that the place looks dated because it no longer exists, only that it isn't current in its existence, therefore it is dated. I wasn't speaking in the visual sense.

This is the coolest one I've ever seen.

I am building some like this, no doubt.

Wow! I know I loved it, but it's nice to see my brother's work has other fans!

He's too modest. There were actually about 100 other cool features all hidden away he hasn't mentioned. He did it all (almost, Dad did visit from Toronto to help out a couple of times for a few days) moving his folding work-mate up and down, back and forth a million times to sand, finish, re-finish and begin new installations based on new inspirations. Two years or more of night and weekend work fell under the demo hammer! Hard to understand/believe.

His work in retail interiors and fixtures is equally mind-blowing (I'll share if he doesn't!).

The Sydney house (I have a few days of labour into that one) is equally amazing. Tiny house that feels big and is very sexy top to bottom. I'd like to think that his inspiration for putting unused space to work comes from our Dad's work cutting and building teak doors into cubby holes on his sail boat, but maybe the drive to ultra-engineer space just runs in the family.

Kirk went from single to married in that space and did briefly house an infant but obviously needed to make a move, which took him to Sydney, but now he's back in NYC for a short stint.

This place is amazing, especially all the hidden storage done so stylishly... Oh, and I'm racking my mind trying to come up with a place in my home where I can use baking trays like that.

Would love to see a house tour of the place in sydney!

Okay, if this was demolished...what can you say...some people are idiots. Post of the place in Syndey please...

STUNNING!!!

Anxious to learn what retail work you have done..

Jaw-droppingly AMAZING!!! Can't wait to see the Sydney place! We've got a little terrace in Paddington that we're about to completely gut so we're looking for ideas and a good architect. Know any?

O. M. G.

You are an interior god - nuff said!

and you had Fabulous Nobodies! - I love that book!!

Kirk, please send us quickly more photos of THAT bathroom in Sidney, I neeeeed more details on the closet/shower.

I love everything but the living room furniture and rug, which I DO think look dated -- and out of synch as well.

Another call for a House Tour of the Sydney place, please?

Trendy from 10 years ago is dated now, but I stil think it looks hot. You could redo some of the colors and the cabinets and it would be fresh again. I love that fireplace, it's still fresh.

Truly stunning. I am inspired.

woooowwwww

Amazing, inspiring work. Kudos!

BRILLIANT - I TOO AM INSPIRED..........

wow wow wow

I sent in the Sydney Terrace photos so hopefully they should be up soon.
Stoat: I live in NY now but have a business partner managing our Sydney practise, so would be happy to help you out with your Paddo terrace. Go to www.lenardminning.com to get our contact details.
hdtex: I am doing work in the US for MAC, and Chantecaille (cosmetics) and a showroom in Soho for Toto, but much of our work is in Australia for Oroton (just published in Indesign Magazine), Simone Perele, and assorted jewellery / fashion boutiques, as well as McDonald's (believe-it-or-not Australia builds some really cool McDonald's! maybe that'll be the next post...)

To clarify about the comment that this project was perhaps 'dated':
My comment was directed at a few specific architectural details, not at the furniture choices, floating shelves, etc.
The specific detail(s) that bother me are the relatively large round step lights, the circular openings in the cabinetry and the circular patterns in the glass partition (?)--these items do have a dated look. If this was proposed now I am certain that the detailing would have a more decade appropriate linnear vocabulary. It would simply create more uniformity and a better visual flow given the size of the space.
Perhaps the choice of the round lights on the vertical surfaces dictated the use of this form in the places it was repeated, but to me this was an odd choice that I don't think one would make given the choices and precedents available to designers in 2007.
Again, it's great but these few things bother me. For the 2007 equivalent of quality and style see: #20 - London Urchin's Jewelry Box.

Fantastic! And mostly from street finds and fleas. Amazing. The "green"/sustainability dimension that aspects of the design demonstrated are worth noting, too. When found and flea purchases are the sources for so much of the design, it's classic re-use &/or re-purposing of manufactured items--good for the Earth, good for the pocket book.

Absolutely amazing.

oh my, i viewed the entire post agape. you built it all with your own hands? i wish i can borrow them.

The space is just spectacular. I really love its timeless design and your extremely creative execution. I'm very sorry to hear that it was demolished, I wish it had been landmarked.

I am just now seeing this wonderful place. I'm not often drawn by modern designs but I could move into this place tomorrow--if it still existed. I don't see a single choice that jars, and all the things noted as dating your design are things that I happen to like. Just because a specific design element can be dated chronologically doesn't necessarily mean it's dated in the pejorative sense. Klismos chairs, Pembroke tables & Tizio lamps can be dated, but each one is still just as handsome--and functional--as it was when it was designed. At any rate, I love your cutout kitchen cabinets with their reeded glass.

But what I like most is the way the different areas of your apartment intersect & borrow visual space from each other. When I visited FLW's Dana House in Springfield Illinois, I was struck by how, although we kept going through--or around--a single vertical space as we ascended the different levels, it was the changing scale of the spaces that adjoined it which made it appear to be a new & different space each time we encountered it, which, in turn, expanded the perceived volume of the place way beyond its actual size. The intersecting planes & volumes of your old place give it the same kind of spatial complexity, and it seems to suggest the existence of new, undiscovered areas just out of the line of sight. An excellent entry, even ten years late.

Magnaverde.

Simply awesome and stands the test of time. Love the fireplace, ingenious hiding the bathroom and the kitchen is fun (far from boring).

And if you have had anything to do with smartening up Maccas here then bravo (esp. McCafe's) they look great.