Small/Cool Experience | Apartment Therapy

The Small/Cool Contest was invented in 2005 by Apartment Therapy’s founder and CEO Maxwell Ryan. The goal: to find the smallest, coolest, real-life space in NYC (and eventually, the world!). The popular contest ran for more than 10 years, before sunsetting in 2016.

Back by popular demand, Apartment Therapy has evolved Small/Cool to include the Contest AND the Small/Cool Experience.

The Small/Cool Contest is one of Apartment Therapy’s signature franchises, where people around the world enter their small, cool homes — and you, our readers, vote on your favorites to determine the winners. Hundreds of people submitted their amazing small homes, and now you can vote on your favorites until May 10 here. Check back each Monday morning at 9 a.m. eastern time, when voting for a new size bracket opens up. Vote for the entries you love, and pass on the ones that you don't (you can vote on every home, but only one time for each entry). You will select the five bracket winners, and then our expert panel will choose the grand prize winner, which will be revealed on May 17.

The Small/Cool Experience, kicking off on Friday, June 11, is our interactive shopping showcase and action-packed multi-day social event bringing you decorating tips and tricks from your favorite designers.

This year we invited ten designers to bring ten of 2021’s hottest home decor trends to life — all in ten small spaces. These trend spaces will be revealed on apartmenttherapy.com on June 11, where you can shop the designers’ selections and even add your favorites to your personalized wish list… without leaving your home.

There’s more! Friday, June 11, through Sunday, June 13, our editors will take you behind-the-scenes right on our Instagram — to walk you through the trend vignettes, talk with the designers who curated them, and inspire you to tackle your very own Small/Cool projects at home. We’ll have a ton of interactive Instagram Lives, educational IGTVs, inspirational Reels, and fun Instagram Story games ready for you. You won’t want to miss it! The final schedule will be posted to our site in the coming weeks and will also be revealed on our Instagram.

The Small/Cool Experience will be broadcasted on our Instagram handle at @apartmenttherapy, Friday, June 11 - Sunday, June 13. Charge up your devices in advance so you’ll be ready to go!

The safety of our fans is our #1 priority, and therefore, this year’s Small/Cool Experience will be virtual due to COVID-19 restrictions.

While the ten designers will create their trend spaces in a private studio in lower Manhattan, this space will be open for press only. The general public can tune in to our Small/Cool social extravaganza on Instagram from June 11 - 13 to get an up close and personal look inside, hear from editors and experts, and shop the rooms. The shoppable showcase will live on indefinitely at apartmenttherapy.com so you can come back at your leisure.

You’re in luck… tuning in to the Small/Cool Experience social event and exploring the trend vignettes in our shoppable showcase is completely free. Should you wish to buy any of the items featured in the Small/Cool spaces, you can easily do so by clicking the ‘Buy Now’ buttons positioned by the products. You will be directed to the vendor site to make the final purchase and coordinate shipping details.

Boy, do we have some amazing talent for you?! This year’s Small/Cool roster includes: Adnan Anwar, Estelle Bailey-Babenzien, Bobby Berk, Ayesha Curry of Sweet July with Parisa O’Connell Interior Design, Michelle Fahmy, Jacyln Journey and Amanda Jacobs, Liz Kamarul, Noz Nozawa, Natalie Papier, and David Quarles IV. To learn more about each designer, take a look above.

Our editors have their fingers on the pulse of what’s trending in the home space and have identified ten home decor trends as the ones to watch for 2021. For a detailed look into the trends that will be represented, scroll up!

Shopping your favorite products from each of the trend spaces will be easy, intuitive, and fun! Starting June 11, all of the trend spaces will be shoppable right here. Simply click on the trends that you’re interested in (it’ll likely be all of them, obviously!) and start browsing. Once you click the ‘Buy Now’ button next to the product you’d like to purchase, you’ll be directed to the brand’s site to place your order. Plus, if you’re a registered Apartment Therapy user, you will be able to save your favorites to your personalized Wish List, making it easy to come back later and purchase at your convenience.

Hundreds of home decor, furniture, and accent pieces will be represented in our interactive shopping experience, including the latest color collection from our official paint partner, BEHR^® Paint. Get excited to explore products from our partners Chasing Paper, Interior Define, LUMAS, Overstock, and Tuft & Needle, alongside AMEICO, Annie Selke, Apt2B, Arhaus, Article, Ballard Designs, Bloomscape, Boutique Rugs, Frontgate, Jayson Home, Kardiel, Minted, plants.com, Revival, Rifle Paper Co., Serena & Lily, and many more.

After the social event concludes, the majority of the products featured in the trend vignettes will be donated to our nonprofit partner, Habitat for Humanity New York City. Habitat for Humanity New York City transforms lives and communities by building affordable homes for families in need — and by uniting all New Yorkers around the cause of affordable housing. With the help of thousands of volunteers each year, Habitat NYC builds and preserves homes for families across the five boroughs. Learn more at www.HabitatNYC.org or follow them on Twitter and Instagram at @HabitatNYC.

Yes… via Instagram Live! We will be sitting down with our Small/Cool designers and other interiors experts for one-on-one conversations throughout the social event and will do our best to answer viewer questions in real time.

For general experience inquiries, you can contact us via email at smallcool@apartmenttherapy.com.

For press inquiries, please contact apartmenttherapy@dkcnews.com.