Name: Rita
Location: Copenhagen
Size: 700 sqft, 1 bdrm
Years lived in: 17 years
Rita is a long-time artist in Copenhagen who loves to cook. The Danish influences of her space are subtle but recognizable--the light colored wood, the cool lamps, the candles...
Name: Nina Van de Goor
Location: Den Bosch, Netherlands
Rent or own: rent
Size: 1000 sq/ft + 320 sq/ft roof terrace
Lived in: 5 months
AT reader and Dutch blogger Nina Van de Goor of Ninainvoorm wrote in recently to share photos of the colorful, highly personalized flat that she shares with her boyfriend Helmut. "People always are surprised to hear that we've only lived here for such a short time when they see how packed and finished the house already is," Nina says. "Many people spend years redecorating and finishing their places, but except for the roof terrace, I believe we're completely done. There'll surely be some small changes the next couple of years, but the redecoration is completely done and we have all the stuff and furniture we need, even a little more than we need, to be honest." Hear more from Nina about her apartment after the jump...
Name: Uri
Location: East Village
Size: 1600 sqft
Favorite: that it is rent controlled and is a big space with an open feel
Years Lived In: 13
Uri relishes monochrome as a background because of all the possibilities it allows in the foreground. Growing up in a Brooklyn home designed by his father and full of some of the furniture seen here had an impact as well on his color choices. While accustomed to this palette, Uri does not feel constrained by it...
Name: Ann (and Martin, her designer)
Location: West Village
Size: 400 sq. ft. studio rental
Years lived in: 6 months
Ann is blessed by the fact that she lives downstairs from a talented designer who is embarking on a new career as an interior designer, Martin Hughes. "I want to help you express the beautiful, sexy person you are," Martin told Ann one day. And with that, he offered to whip Ann's apartment into shape....
Name: Joshua
Location: Paris
Rent or own: rent
Size: 731 sq/ft
Years lived in: 7
Joshua is an American photographer who has decorated his railroad apartment in the Marais with what he describes as a "Balinese beach house" aesthetic, painting rooms in bold turquoise and "Buddhist orange" that you don't find on the walls of every classic Parisian apartment...
Name: Claire
Location: Union Square
Size: 2000 sqft, 3 bdrm condo
Favorite: The master bedroom, "like a little perch."
Claire has degrees in architecture and graphic design and twin 5 year olds. Weighing the importance of each of these realities, she has crafted, with the help of a friend Bill of Brockschmidt & Coleman, an interior that matches her tastes but honor her children...
Name: Dante
Home then: 500 sqft. studio East Soho/North Chinatown (check out her home)
Home now: new art, new furniture, new rug in the same studio
This week we check in on Dante, one of our all time favorite house tours and a highlight in our latest book, Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Design Solutions
Head over to our sister site, Unplggd to see how Bryan Bennett has integrated technology into a model Chelsea apartment at SkyHouse. In addition to the latest and greatest gear, the space has a sophisticated design that ATers are sure to appreciate...
Name: Olga
Location: Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn
Size: 743 sqft. Co-op
>>Enter Slideshow!
When I walked in, Olga offered me a glass of water from her energy-efficient fridge sitting in the middle of her living room. Her kitchen, at this point, exists as a mere suggestion.
Black marker drawings on the floor and walls indicate future appliance and cabinet locations. We were surrounded by lots and lots of boxes. I was worried.
This is from our DC finalist, Sara. Comment away!
Name: Marco, an attorney and Margie, a landscape architect
Location: 14th and V, NW DC
Size: 1205 sqft
Years Lived In: 6 months
After deciding to move in together, newly engaged couple Marco and Margie spent months looking for a condo that was within their price range but not your typical DC offering of a cookie cutter rectangle with a single window along the far wall. This proved to be a far more challenging task than expected but they finally found a place to call home in a new development along the vibrant U Street Corridor. Upon entering their home we were amazed at how well they have managed to merge their possessions to create a singular design style. Their home is sunny, warm and inviting without the blandness can often permeate new constructions...
Name: Jenny and Clove
Home then: 500 sqft. studio near Astor Place (check out their original apartment)
Home now: updated bathroom, new murphy bed, new firepit, new art, new furniture in same studio
This week we check in on Jenny and Clove, two of the most thorough and inspired people I have come across while criss-crossing the interiors landscape. Not only did they totally transform their basement studio from a dark, 50-years-worth-of-smoke-covered-walls space into a gorgeous garden lounge, but since we shot their apartment for our latest book, Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Design Solutions
In the furniture department, they bought two new chairs for the main space. They are "1970's De Sede (Switzerland) modernist leather cantilevered loungers & were purchased on the cheap from Ebay."
Name: Amélie and John Martin of 410 Architects
Location: London
Size: 1600 sq/ft + separate office space of 650
Years lived in: 7
Amélie and John live and work in a converted model-making warehouse in the East End that they have transformed into a split-level two-bedroom for themselves and their toddler son Leo. John is an architect and everything from the industrial kitchen to the divider in the main space were recuperated from clients. "John's a real hunter gatherer," says Amélie, a Swiss graphic designer who has lived in London for 12 years.
A showcase for those who transform their residences into homes
via innovative intervention
Name: Tom and Sara
Location: E. Williamsburg
Size: 900 sqft.
>>Enter Slideshow!
Sara and Tom are both great artists who have figured out, successfully, how to live together and make art in the same place. Their home provides a great canvas for their work plus a wonderful indoor/outdoor space in which to live...
Name: James and Margaret
Home then: Midtown 1960's building, 565 sqft. studio
Home now: new 1-bdrm in same building
This week we check in on James and Margaret. They are all about change--new apartment and new baby--since we visited them for the making of our latest book, Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Design Solutions
James and Margaret love to update in major ways. They completely transformed their last home. Now they've moved upstairs to a larger apartment and have made it a priority to carve out a private room for their growing toddler.
Name: Pascale
Location: Paris, France
Size: 516 sq/ft
Years lived in: 5
When Pascale moved into her 5th-floor one-bedroom walk-up in the 18th arrondissement, the first thing she did was paint the walls of white -- except the deep red walls of the corridor and living room from the previous tenants. "I just love that color," says Pascale, who was a renter before she bought the place recently.
Name: Jashiki and Philip
Location: Harlem
Size: 1260 sqft, 2 bdrm coop
Favorite: Living room 'shrine'
Jashiki and Philip recently moved to Harlem and are thrilled on all counts with their apartment and their neighborhood. They have learned the history of their area, and have found beauty in the architecture of the housing projects that span their urban landscape... Philip calls them 'solid and stately' and at night the lights form wonderful patterns, creating a localized invigorating horizon...
This is from our Boston finalist, Alyssa. Comment away!
Name: Dee
Location: Harvard Square, MA
Size: 549 sf
Years Lived: 1.5 years
Own/Rent: Own
Few things are more disheartening than a cold, drizzly morning in early April in Boston - the sun hasn't shone much in the past few weeks. Yet a weight was lifted when I entered Dee's tiny, spotless, cheerful apartment, situated in the fabled Cambridge neighborhood of John Malkovich, Yo-Yo Ma, and countless Harvard University professors. I was instantly drawn to the bright walls and colorful touches sprinkled throughout Dee's home, especially the purple and yellow story in the bathroom...
This is from our Boston finalist, Kyle. Comment away!
Name: Kyle
Location: Jamaica Plain, MA
Size: 1000 sf
Own/Rent: Own
I've been a serial room-rearranger since I was old enough to wobble. I'm not talking about a few times a year or even once a month. My home can look radically different from week to week. My dog used to get startled when he noticed that he was dozing on a couch that was moving from one side of the room to the other. Not anymore; the little cleopatra doesn't even wake up...
Name: Hakarl and Jili
Home then: Williamsburg, Brooklyn. 550 square feet
Home now: same home but with a revamped bedroom
Hakarl and Jili have been busy transforming their bedroom since we photographed the apartment for our latest book--Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Design Solutions
Hakarl's desire for an organic creative process means that he is necessarily extremely patient. Pieces for his and Jili's home are sourced anywhere from the street to DWR, while the adaptations/installations that Hakarl thinks up often take a while to implement.
This is from DC finalist, Hilary. Comment away!
Name: Polly E.
Location: Georgetown
Size: 580 sq feet
Years Lived In: 2
We’ve always loved Pomander Walk, a secret alley of tiny, pastel-colored rowhouses in Georgetown. But even in our fantasies, it seems impossible to imagine where everything would fit. So we were delighted when Polly invited us into her 11-foot-wide, two-bedroom house. Although originally covered with “horrible 60s hairy rugs in lime green,” Polly knew she could “open it up and keep it very simple.”...
Name: Jacquie (Designer/Project Manager)
Location: West Village
Size: 3000 sqft
Favorite: The opportunity to "update and recreate a part of history."
Jacquie was hired to restore a 4 story, 1830's Greek Revival building in the West Village to its original glory. Over the centuries, the building morphed from a single unit to multiple units that were eventually merged, subdivided, and now merged yet again. The current owners want to live on the upper 3 floors, with a rental unit at the garden level, and a club/entertainment area in the cellar.
This is from our Boston finalist, Jeanine. Comment away!
I’m going to get it from you guys, but this House Tour is of my house. Believe me, its not that I think my house is the best I can come up with, but my friend Deborah is out of town, Dorinda has to work, and Camilla says I can’t photograph her house until she does something about the kitchen.
Name: Raelene and Jose
Home then: Miami, Florida. 2200 square feet
Home now: same home but with new lamps, salvaged doors, mirrors, and painted walls
This week we check in on Raelene and Jose, another couple from our newest book: Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Design Solutions
Raelene has been keeping us up to date on her home improvements since we first documented Jose and her home for the book over a year ago!
Names: Muriel & Ed
Location: Paris, France
Size: 645 square feet
Moved in: August 2007
When Muriel and Ed first saw their now spacious and light-flooded 5th floor walk-up in the 10th arrondissement, it was not exactly love at first sight. "It was horrific!" says Muriel, adding that the place was filthy, stuffed with the previous owner's furniture, had too many walls, and heavy curtains hid the light from the south-facing windows. "I just couldn't work out the space because there was so much crap in it."
Name: Songyun and Jae
Location: Upper East Side
Size: 1000 sqft
Favorite: Shoe Closet, Shower, Place to put one's keys
"We specifically asked our broker for a place that needed a lot of work," says Songyun. She and Jae were ready for the challenge, and if you take a look at the before and after photos, you will see that they achieved great things...
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