Your kitchen is fantastic!
Full-height cabinetry is such a smart move.

Your light fixtures are great - Would love to see the one over the dining room table at least a foot lower. Enjoy it while you're sitting down! It's beauuuutiful!

I love it! Very well edited, not too much stuff cramping the place and well chosen pieces.

But it needs a better fitting dinning room table and a bit of storage in the "office".

Lovely- nice use of color, very harmonious.

But, this confirms- minimalism is not for me!

Love those curtains in the bedroom! The blinds in the living room look very nice as well.

It does look a little bare for my own personal taste (especially the office), but everything that IS there, is spot on.

the plished concrete floor is beautiful, and a very clever choice to make it seem larger. add a few more personal touches and this is a perfect small and cool dwelling. good luck in the competition. great job so far.

I don't know where the names Sayf and Shruti derive from, but there is something exquisite about how 'ethnic'ly minimal' this place is. I love it. It is spare yet lived in, and has someone's personal 'mark' to it so that it feels like there is something traditional or 'family' to each room.

I love the sliding doors to the bedroom and the raised office floor. But I do agree it seems a little unfinished. Beautiful, but unfinished.

Very beautiful, but wow you have only 1 book as a non-furniture possession, it seems...

I don't know...it seems cold and impersonal to me. I do think you two selected nice pieces though. And those windows are fabulous.

From all the small apartment I check, this one is the one. It's my style, simple, very simple and spacy and don't want to be a big deal in a small space, it's just what it is, a cool small place to rest and be ourself.

Too minimalist for me. Where do you sit if you want to talk to people sitting on the couch?

Although it is a nice execution of a minimalist aesthetic. Good job.

it's true. beautiful, but looks like a show-home that nobody has lived a day in.

i am also a minimalist, but this simply lacks comfort.

thumbs up overall.

what is that beautiful piece over the sofa? did you make it? or where did you purchase it?

Love the sliding doors to the bedroom...did you install them yourselves? where are they from?

I agree with ddg425...what is that over the sofa?! I love the feeling of the apartment and feel that perhaps in person the minimalistic approach with the size of the place would feel better than the overall vibe of some of these comments.

Raw silk curtains add a nice texture as does the lighting and wall hanging.

The fur touches warm up the rooms a lot (sorry PETA). The candlesticks on the dining table fight the lamp fixture. I agree that the lamp should be a smidge lower (then group the candles over on the side table). The column in front of the bedroom window feels very awkward and disturbing to me, especially because it is concrete or painted grey. I would solve that by painting it white to disappear into the wall/window that is painted white. I might even consider painting a mural of plants on it, ivy trailing all the way up for example (there's an ivy wall painting featured in a small home in Mumbai, I forget the name of the listing). Or, consider faux painting it to look like a roman column with carvings and marble lines on it. This would improve the feng shui aspect.
Katy
http://fengshuibyfishgirl.com

I'm with jac7980... this is a beautiful space. But, for the first time ever in this contest, I just don't believe I'm looking at someone's home. There's not so much as a coffee maker on the countertop, a bedside table, or evidence of a cord for the laptop in the office. Actually, there isn't a single thing plugged into a wall outlet in the whole place... wow. Maybe someone does live there... but it's their second home?

And since I don't want this contest to become a way for real-estate flippers to burnish their flipping credentials, I can't give it a thumbs up. I want to celebrate the way people find a way to live in small spaces, so I will go vote for other beautiful houses that are a little less perfect, and a little more homey.

Looks more unfinished than minimal. The scale of some of the furniture is too small as well.

(...not sure why my comment from before didn't take...)

It's beautiful but it makes my fine collection of STUFF quiver with fear- the office scares me- time to contact your local artist- or get a plant- nicely edited but it needs some plants to make it feel alive. A dwarf palm would be lovely and has a very good air purifying rating.

I like their use of "natural" items....wood, hide, fur, fabric....to help soften and warm up the space a bit. It's a welcome contrast to the concrete and metal.

Add some more rugs, pillows, and plants, and it will be great, too.

A bit too minimalistic for me, but very nice solutions for a small space (sliding doors, kitchen cabinetry, lighting). Thumbs up!

I feel that this space is a bit too cold. Oddly it's minimal without being impersonal. It's not my style but I like that you didn't turn your place into a stereotypical minimal place. I like the choice of furniture and fixtures. Very nice layout too.

I love white on white....so I find your place to be lovely. It's actually the lack of clutter that, to me, feels peaceful. My own home looks similar. Enjoy the minimal look before you have kids. After that, all the spaces fill up really quick with all sorts of stuff in multi colors. BIG thumbs up to you!

A gorgeous choice of space. You must love your new place! I like what you've done with the curtains--a very clever reuse that's elegant and minimal at the same time. I agree with the comments that the dining table seems small. It just sort of floats there. What about a rug? (Better, a larger set). And I like your fuzzy throw, but think you could change the pillows up a bit for a less matchy, dorm-y look--something sleeker and more in line with your elegant window coverings.

Your color choices--the tawny gold and white are very warm and pretty.

thank you everyone for your comments. the small-cool contest this year has some great entries and we are excited to be nominated!

this was our first place together and it will always be special to us. these pictures are from a few days prior to putting the house on sale -- hence the very "distilled" look. we had already packed up some of our prized possessions including all our books (usually parked in the den), our reproduction hans-wegner folding rope chair that usually sits in our living room and our two precious mainecoons! but thats it. we have no tv.

since we have long-haired cats, we prefer to just have a few furniture pieces so that its easier to dust and vacuum around. it also makes the place seem larger.

ddg425, minxy, the piece above the sofa is a canvas box that is lit from behind and enveloped with a twig-type treatment that is getting to be quite popular now. we got it from philz on queen street east in toronto.

JD2002, the sliding doors came standard with the loft, as did the full-height kitchen cabinets :)

thanks everyone, and we hope to share our current home (when its less of a project) soon!

Oooh, there's a jar-shaped shadow hanging from the ceiling... would like to see what that is, perhaps when you share your new home.

At least we know why it looks staged: Because it is.

I have to agree with colouring, it does look unfinished. I think there is a difference between empty and minimalist. I think it's on it's way though.

So have you moved in yet?