apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

This looks like a great doll house...but the slide show isnt working ;(

too tacky.

I hope there are atleast 12 families living in there.

This seems like a joke since all of the photos look like a hotel lobby.

I wonder if Snoopy would be jealous of this or fly off happy to be leaving.

Weird. Like a joke entry.

Dollhouse.

Ummm yeah NO. It's a different look, and that look can be done very well, as shown in Zara home catalogues. This is NOT it.

Yikes!

but 12000 sqft is probably small in abu dhabi! :)

Not really sure what to think about this. The space itself has some potential but the decor is somehow sparse and gaudy at the same time…also a little 80’s.

Tickety Tack, Ferocia! This is fiercely expired!!!

where's the cat?

Maybe a response to the complaints that were made about 700 sq.ft. being too large for the small / cool contest.

Not my style - I like small :-))

It just doesn't look lived in!

Why is this a small/cool entry and not a house tour? I mean...

... I'm just confused.

Anyways, aesthetically I think that it could be really cool if the owner lost the overbearing window treatments. In the first picture, take away the curtains (all 27 layers of them) and the space would be really chic and airy.

hope this wins, can't wait to see the other 48 rooms.

tack.eeee.

I agree that it's awesome, but why is it in the contest instead of being posted as a house tour?

That first picture totally looks like a dollhouse...

Okay...In what time zone is today April Fool's?

OK, let's just stop and think about how cool this just got. We're peeking into someone's home in the UAE! Love that! Anyway, on to the business at hand. Are there different sq footage requirements for the international posters? And the poor windows in this house our overburdened. WAY too heavy on the window treatments. The furniture colors are AMAZING though. The silhouettes are a bit boxy, but I admire the boldness of the colors. I wish this boldness would make its way into some of the other textiles. It does feel a bit hotel lobby to me. Is this more of a welcoming parlor for the home? What about the more intimate spaces?

considering it's from Sultan, I'm suspect.

Cool pix tho.

come on design god... read the pitch!

HUGE! wow! lots of seating! wow!

i don't mind seeing this at all, but i'm agreed it ain't my style.

still, interesting!

If you're going to showcase this sort of style, give us the inside of Jeannie's bottle. That would be small and cool.

Is there any way to search for a photo match in Google?

tack-tastic!

I don't mind seeing it. Just not under the Small Cool umbrella. Dilutes and confuses.

gross. whats the point of posting this?

This is typical of abu dhabi. It is traditional for that culture.
It is not unusual.

It might be unusual for the u.s.a. but not for abu dhabi.
Why is it posted?

You guys ought to get more and see the world as it really is.

Wow.
It just proves that you can't buy good taste with money.
Oh wait, maybe it is a grand/stylish interior design there in Abu Dhabi.

Where's the floor plan? (!)

I like the air-conditioners on top of the wallpaper.
Does it come wiith remote controls?
It is pretty high up.

That is simply awful. The only thing I like is that mosaic wall. Just goes to prove that money doesn't buy one good taste. 12,000 SF? I shudder to think what the rest of it must look like.

NOT COOL.

The clock over the TV niche is waaaaaaay too small.

FUG. 'nuff said

Yay, pictures of my dentist's office

ouch! Why was this posted again?

How many mini-split systems does it take to cool that place off? You'd think that with 12,000 sq. ft, they could afford to retrofit ductwork... I mean, c'mon now!

Thanks for posting homes from abroad, tho. These home tours are like Christmas presents -- you just never know what you're going to get.

I recognize this space. It's the waiting room at my dentist's office.

OOH! Must be an excerpt from " Homes of The Extremely Wealthy and Obnoxious".

What's so great about it? (besides the square footage)

It's just a mish-mash of expensive things tossed together including a bunch of mosaic tile slapped on a wall, but not trimmed to fit - and it includes that typical "Arabian Throne-Room Furniture lining-the-walls" syndrome we see on CNN all the time...

12,000 s.f.
WOW! I was hoping to see more things in the house, or mansion...
Wish I could have at least 10% of the place. Wait, that's still 1,200 s.f. Okay, just 5% then.

Oh, man, the negative comments are so provincial it's shocking. See with your eyes, people, not your preconceptions about what window treatments ought to look like. As someone who has left 'the West' once or twice, I think Sultan's pad shows a real eye. I love his white leather sofa, his wallpaper, his coffee table, his funny landing strip sofa/chaise, and his mosaic tile. I can also say from experience that the swooshy lines and multi-level floors in these very elaborate, creative, decorator-renos can sometimes transcend what you're all calling the tackiness to make a very luxurious living experience. It's a little hard to explain, but I promise you, you've never been in a dentist's waiting room like this.

It would be nice if people weren't so judgemental and more accepting of the design tastes of other cultures.

Look at the note at the top and notice that there isn't even a place to vote.

Interesting, but pointless in the Small Cool Contest.

You know what, if I was that rich and that autocratic I would also have whatever I damn well pleased in my little town pad.

Is this some kind of joke? Also, somethings not working with the voting.

Oh, I just got it. It's not in the contest. It's still kinda bare.

I dig the doors, windows & tile.

I think it's nice sharing an international house tour, and the design shows the difference in culture. I like all the silks, but would probably only be used as pillow coverings in my place.
Also, whoever submitted this into the "small" cool contest and thought it would pass is crazy!

I think that red leather sofa and the double aqua and gold sofa are hot. Totally ostentatious, and I like it!

Moral to this story (post):

12,000 sf is not small, 850 sf IS small.

They should have sent their entry to arenatherapy.com

Pixie, that was so funny!!

I am reminded of the news footage of dignitary meetings and all the furniture pushed against the wall. I thought they did that to make room for cameras and lights but I guess that's the way they really arrange furniture - all jammed up in a row.

And why is this in the contest context? If you want to show us a place in another country just do it without the pretext of the Smallest.... Contest. It obviously has nothing to do with this contest.

Funny, but I think if that living room shot was cropped, and it was presented as "My Super Sweet First Out of College on a Shoestring West Village Thrift Store Bohemian Rhapsody" and had a cat-- excuse me-- KITTY-- on the sofa, y'all would be voting it Super Cool and begging to know where the wallpaper came from.

And it would be on the cover of Domino next month.

this is very funny.

someone photoshopped out all the russian diplomats in ill fitting suits and there chain smoking, army regulation eyeglass wearing, black and white suited american counterparts who used this place for a summit of some sort in 1968. then they added mismatched colors.

the comments on size, politics, multiculturalism and
xenophobia on this design board are even better.

...more than the furniture needs to LIGHTEN UP.

What was the point of this post? Its a huge space that is not utilized properly. Guess it just proves that wealth doesn't always equal taste.

You guys are so mouthy, read people read, and comprehend what you are reading. There is no need to be so rude about the home someone loves, bad manners. I guess all you wannabees need to get a life. OK rant over. You are not worth it.

ugh-lor, maybe the sultan needs the challenge of a small space to be more creative...

i'm all for more international entries, but it needs a lot more of somethin, somethin please!

Hmmm How do they treat women in this part of the world? Or is it just the house boy you have slaving away for you? Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

Oh my....

You people (commentors) are kidding me right. This place is mint. Clean- a little too large but- clean..and ethnic. Size aside, people totally missed the intricacy of the mosaic's those gorgeous wood doors.

This is the same group of people that submitted 1000 super cool votes for a guy who designed his place after a bottle of captain jack..jeez..

12,000 sf! I am super jealous!

Hmmmm....

This place is mint?

"What's your favorite resource for your home?"
"Myself..."

"What is your one favorite element in your small, cool home?"
"The coolness."

It is minty cool. It may have details inherent, but the applied details are kind of furniture showroom, yes in Abu Dhabi. I don't think it's personalized. I think some wealthy people point to pictures in magazines and say, 'this will represent wealth, this will impress my friends' and instruct their designers/contractors to do this.

I don't see how this is an example of small cool. It's not small, and be it foreign, I don't see how this exceeds the eye for and execution for detail of a lot of other spaces entered into this contest in earnest. Some people are drawn in by tolerance for "exotic" tastes as long as they are applied in other countries with non-similar cultures, but does it win? What would it win? Token acknowledgment from the site. So, good on ya, Sultan. You have already won!

I've been getting caught up on all the recent smallest coolest places today....after all the snarkiness about size, I LOVE this post. A little perspective never hurt anyone!

Perhaps Sultan thought the s.f. requirement was pertaining to one room only!!!

This house has such awesome elements. It looks pretty spacious, but I love the details like the doorways and niches, and the decor seems formal and modern. Fantastic architecture.

I would love to set foot in such a place. Hopefully more people will submit from this part of the world! A lot more people view the entries than actually post feedback.

Thank you, Sultan!

Interesting. Not really my taste, but I like the white chairs in the living room.

I don't like the racism and xenophobia in the comments, though. This is probably why we don't see more international posts on AT... don't you think?

Um, the first 3 pictures were all of the same room, with 2 pictures of your tv, one of them considered a vignette? The next 2 shots were two sides of the (an?) entrance, and the 6th picture was another place with sofas and no tables, they are placed with alternating chairs, arm to arm with no breaks. What is the purpose of that room? Why did you waste so many pictures showing us your tv with the poor use of wall space there, the niches beside are underutilized; all your couches in the last room are shoved up against the wall. What of your kitchen, your bathroom, where you keep your harem, etc. ??????

"where you keep your harem, etc. ??????"

A new low! And people said it couldn't be done.

Yeah! Polygamy is legal in Abu Dhabi.

My post was a joke for people who get jokes about people who are being sucked into this entry by the exotic locale and affording more sensitivity than we afford our American entrants, even though this entry (despite being so far over the size limit) makes similar mistakes: wasting too many pictures on the same thing, vignette shot of the tv? was a horrible wall particularly, furniture put up against the wall and end to end with more furniture in another room, lack of tables, lack of obvious purpose, not showing enough pictures of other rooms? I don't know Henrietta, get jokes better.

having lived in Kuwait, I'm going to weigh in on the "wow so spare" side of things! The heavy window treatments help keep down the brutal heat and super-bright/harsh sun. In the Gulf states, there is almost always a diwaniya room in the house with all the seating lined along the walls to accomodate large group gatherings to discuss politics etc. while drinking tea or coffee.

Funny- these pics triggered some unexpected nostalgia for a place I didn't think I missed...

random.............

never. waaaaaaay too big, too much. especially in an area of the world where so many have so little.

thanks for a peek into a home in a country some of us may never visit.

You can call me negative, but I don't see anything here that was worth posting (and if Domino ever has a cover that looks like this, I'll skip it and buy something else).

Sultan,

What are the 2 units on the wall in the living room? Are they smoke eaters?

Please, this has nothing to do with another culture as some people here say defensively. I come from another culture and good design is universal. This just doesn't cut it.

There is a lack of space and color sensibility here. I agree that it doesn't look lived in. Or should I say it looks like a hotel lobby in a small town in a third world country. Ever travel and see these places? Or it just got hit with an ugly bomb. I do appreciate that it was submitted so that we can see the differences and degrees in style and taste. "To each his own."

I am sure that in the heat, this would be a fantastically cool and serene space in which to sit. And I love the shape of the chair in the entrance.

And I suspect that if this home had had been thought to have "European bones" rather than Middle Eastern ones then the clamour would be to praise it regardless of decor - vis a vis, amongst others, the (also perfectly fine) apartment which was voted super cool simply for BEING in Barcelona.

While I'm always fascinated to see how other people live, I believe that this post has gone a step too far. The apartment's only redeeming features belong to the architect.
Most upsetting are some of the really dreadful (I would say racistist and bigotted) comments made regarding this apartment. NOT NICE. I was led to believe if one can't play nice, one must leave the sand box???