apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'm so excited!

I'm entering this year *gulp*

What's the prize?

Only three pics to start?
Drat.

Oh I can't wait!

ONLY 3 photos? The Fall color contest had 5 photos. Please please please make it 5, most of the time 3 photos will not do justice :(

smallest coolest at 850 sq ft?? that's gigantic for nyc standards...wasn't it 650 before?

How is it "smaller than ever!" and the square footage limit was raised to 850 sq. feet? 850 is HUGE!

yeah, i remember it being 650 as well! oh, boy.. i'm so tempted to enter. i've thought it over for over a year or more! *gulp* is right, ana! :-D

What I could do with 850sq feet!
And ana - you're spot on with that gulp feeling.
Here's hoping I find it in me to jump in....

How is 200 sf the difference between small and HUGE?

Compared to most sprawling suburban domiciles across the country, 850 sf is still very, very small.

I'm pleased that the competition has opened to entries from all over the world, rather than just the United States. I cannot enter this year as I'm moving out of my apartment as the contest begins, but assuming the contest remains open next year I cannot wait to submit some photos.

Kudos to AT for acknowledging its international browsers.

davidasposted - last year's first place winner went to someone in London.

kellylc - for those of us that live in a space 400sq feet and under, 850 sq. ft feels palatial. That's more than twice the size! So when small spaces are the subject - 200 square feet is a huge difference.

For example - in my previous 295 sq. feet - 200 square feet could have given me a separate kitchen and bedroom instead of it being all in one room!

You know...I wanted to join this year and the one vacation I take is the next 2 weeks. Plus I wish this was more towards the summer (late may/early june would be a perfect smallest coolest month)for us that have outdoor space. I would rather photo lush green vs the dry sticks that are currently on my deck. Oh well I guess we all have our own complaints. I wish the size requirements were smaller too. Been in my space 7 years and everyone that has ever walked, jaw's have dropped by how small and how unique the place is...20 foot ceilings, 3 large skylights, exposed brick, exposed wood beams, a fireplace and a deck all squeezed into 600 sf. Hidden loft in the EV. Have fun everyone!

Echoing that whole 850 ft2 thing. That's frickin' huge! That's like two-bedroom real estate. That's bigger than 90% of the apartments in Manhattan.

It's nice to see that the complaining has started early this year!

I'm not quite ready, but intend to enter next year.

850 square feet! And it's still being called "Smallest/Coolest"? You have got to be kidding me.

Echoing that 850 seems really big - we just moved out of a two bedroom (bedrooms that would easily fit a queen size bed) that was 780, it just wasn't a small apartment at all. Smallest, coolest has always been about innovative solutions to living in a small space, but we really didn't have to innovate or compromise at all to live there, and we have a lot of stuff!

Wait -- how is it "smaller than ever"? My place, which I think of as large, is 950. I know, I know, only in NY.

I'm excited to see it all unfold, as usual; I like the idea of a Medium Cool Contest. I expect it to me more the decor and less about making it work in a small space. But, there will be some places with kids for a change.

850 sq ft. = three of my last apartment...

I second the call for more photos--also, maybe you could specify that entries should have one photo each of the major areas: living, sleeping, kitchen, bath, and perhaps work. Even the smallest studios have to serve these needs, and I think that specifying will also help people make good choices about which pics to enter. Last year there were quite a few entrants who sabotaged themselves by showing only tiny vignettes of their place, or the same room/area from different angles.

I 'm so excited. I just can't hide it. I'm about to loose control.

So much for small. 850 square feet is way way too big.

I agree 850 is too big. In light of the fact that the house tours seem to be getting larger, with designers or from magazines...

I think it would be great to see the small places (600 sqft and smaller). I think they are the most creative home owners/renters/designers.

No offense, but anyone can decorate a large space.

Small Cool is what brought me to this site.

i would love to participate, but i really think the "three pictures only" limit will not do justice to all, and give an advantage to people with a square box dwelling. what's wrong with the five images that were alllowed in the color contest? it'd be a lot fairer to people with strangely shaped apartments. there's nooks and hallways, kitchen, bedroom, study, all by turning another corner here. not a very large place, but still, very hard to capture in three pics.

/whining

:-)

Small Cool is what brought me here too. I was SO happy to finally find a place devoted to small spaces. All of the entries from years past have certainly inspired me. The larger places, while inspirational don't really require the same inginuity that decorating and living in a small space does.

Figuring out how to sleep, cook, eat, entertain and work all in one small space AND look good at the same time is a huge challenge and I really enjoy seeing what other people have done with that situation.

Yipee!

I'm surprised no one has noticed this rule, which I think must be new this year--in previous contests, there was a lot of bitchin' about the lack of this rule:

If you are a professional designer and designed your entry, you must live in it at the time of submission.

850 has GOT to be a typo!

to the powers that be, please change it back to 650!

i think the overwhelming majority of us here wish it to be so.

I agree with eveyone else 850 is huge to someone who lives in a small 1 bedroom with a corner kitchen in the living room.

I agree with the "not quite being ready this year" sentiments...I just moved into my new place a month ago and while I'm very proud of what my round the clock mildly ocd obsessiveness to design and details has brought me :)...i'm definitely not there yet :)....bare walls still and all that jazz...but my goal is definitely aspirations to enter next year :)...can't wait to see the entries tho...I love the peeks into so many lovely homes.

850 does seem a little big, but I'm not upset, cuz I'm having my mom enter her apartment, and I plan on helping her win!

I really wish the deadline were AFTER the end of the cure. I guess I will have to wait for small cool 2009 to share my 326 sq ft of heaven ...

Hmmm.... I need to move into a smaller apartment. :(

I do not support the change to 850 sq ft. People with homes that large have plenty of options when it comes to design. I find the direction of AT with featuring bigger and bigger homes to be quite annoying. There are dozens of magazines, books, blogs etc... that cater to "Normal" size apartments, but I always loved that AT gave those of us who have truly small homes (my last home was 525 sq feet, and this past year I was downsized to 274 sq ft) a voice.

There are so very few resources for those of of with small homes, and it just saddens me to see the limit raised to such a large size. (And yes, 850 sq ft is large for many people.)

I moved from 850 sq ft to 683 sq ft and that is a BIG difference.

That's two bedrooms to a studio difference. That's two carloads, a salvation army pickup and a craigslist buyer difference.

Well, if it's really 850 sq.feet, this time i'll be able to enter ;-)))

please, what are 850 square feet in m² (square meters) ?
i'm in europe and have no idea about what 850 square are.

thanks in advance.

To answer gunstreetgirl
It's 78.96 square metres (or meters). Or a two bedroom apartment in Sydney Australia.

After so long in 46 sq m (495 sq ft) I'd probably get agrophobia in anything as large as this year's contest.

Wow! I'm at 500 sq ft. If I had an additional 350 sq ft? I'd want it in the form of a closet/storage space. Shove all my crap in there. I might need one of those mini bulldozers to make it fit.

Then I could have a neat home!

Maybe it could be done in stages or levels? Something to think about for the future. So that the tiniest apartments that have things like butcher knives that also hold coats and bread boards that double as chairs wouldn't have to compete with the vast amount of space in an 850 sq ft place.

You know, the places that store the single extra towel in the mini fridge up against the ones with bison roaming the living area.

850 sqft is nearly 4 times the size of my apartment. that is HUGE in comparison.

850 is enormous. My studio is only 350 sq ft.
More pictures allowed, please.

wow, devyn - can we see your home anyway? 274sq ft???

I agree, allowing up to 850 sq ft kind of defeats the purpose of a "Smallest" contest! You don't need any small-space-specific innovation to live comfortably in a space that large. My last apartment was about 750 sq ft and visitors always commented on how spacious it felt! Granted I live in New York, but still...
Can anyone at AT explain why they upped the square footage this year?

850sq feet????!!! How's that smallest???

My ONE bedroom apt is 350sq feet and that includes kitchen, closet, bedroom and bathroom. Granted I have the smallest everything...smallest bathroom, smallest kitchen, smallest bedroom... but isn't that what make it the "coolest" ????

Again please allow more pictures and less space.

Darn it! If it really is 850 I could've entered this year if it weren't for the roof damage I'm still recouping from ;-(

Oh well ... hopefully next year it will still be at 850 (although my favorite store is offering the prizes this year!)

I'm another person who wishes this contest opened after the Cure ends...

I can't remember ... should you make it past the first round, do you have to show photos of the whole place? Yes, right? My bedroom's undgoing repairs, unfortunately ;-(

Wow. 850? Really? How is 850 square feet in any way "smallest"? Is there a reason why the square footage keeps getting bigger and bigger every year? What made this contest so special was seeing people work magic with the smallest spaces.

There's nothing smallest about an 850 square foot apartment. Frankly, that only qualifies as small to the McMansion crowd.

What a bummer.

In case another opinion on this is needed, just want to jump in to say that increase to 850 sq. ft. makes the contest entries much bigger than a "smallest coolest". More like a "mid-size, cool" contest. My own apartment is 560 square feet in Manhattan, and it's actually considered HUGE for one person. And it is! I have storage space galore, a separate kitchen, and so on.

Maybe the main reason for the increase in size is to allow for more families to enter? (and/or for less urban entries?) Be that as it may, I think over the 500 square-foot mark, the major design challenges to a small space change dramatically. I've lived in a 12 x 18 room, and I can tell you that really tested the embodiment of small and cool! My current 560 square foot place has pretty much just the ordinary challenges of design in any mid-sized place.

It's going to be much harder for those time 12 x 18 apartments to be appreciated when compared with the larger spaces (face it, there's a bias towards nice stuff, even if it is supposed to be in an uncluttered space - it's hard to have a lot of that in a teeny tiny space).

Laura,

My mistake, I confused contest eligibility for the fine print regarding DWR's policy of redeeming prizes last year:

"Contest prizes may only be redeemed at a DWR in the United States. DWR will not ship merchandise outside of the United States."

So hypothetically someone outside the U.S. could enter and win the contest last year; they just couldn't redeem their prize without going to the U.S., picking it up, and shipping it themselves... or something.

- - -

Anyhow, for all those AT browsers who do not like the new, larger square footage requirements: embrace the democratic nature of the first round of the contest. Either refuse to vote for entries larger than whatever you think "small" means, or vote "No" for those entries. Don't wait for AT administrators; make it the contest you want it to be!

I love that it's open to bigger places; I can finally enter with my 800ish square foot space. Hooray!

I do agree with everyone else though; I loved seeing ingenious use of small space, but of course, small is all relative. I consider 2500 sq. feet huge, whereas my girlfriend from Toronto considers 800sq feet a coat closet.

All relative.

Huh... 850 sq feet. That is huge! I'm glad that mine is 56 square meters...

AT is jumping the shark.

do you really need to expand the square footage to cater to those outside NYC? i've never lived anywhere near NYC -- i've had apartments in both the midwest and west coast -- and i've never lived in a place that surpassed 725 sq ft in size. it seems to me that there are plenty of <850 sq ft residents throughout the country who would not be able to relate to people who live in homes that size.

regardless of the rules, i'll be voting based on the solutions the entrant devised to maximize his/her space. someone who has a lot of space already probably doesn't need to come up with innovative ideas and will probably have a less interesting entry as a result.

Has the online submission form be posted yet? I cannot seem to find it.

In Chicago there are plenty of 2 br 2 bath apts that would fit this space. TWO BEDROOMS AND TWO BATHROOMS!

850sqft is way too big!

very sad...

Regardless of size, I am very excited to see some cool homes!...and borrow ideas for my own...

How do I submit my "Small Apt." info. Is there a form or something I'm not seeing on the site?

thank you for helping to promote and celebrate small living spaces...especially in cities like LA where small spaces may not be as accepted as with NYC!

I didn't enter my 600 sqft apartment last year for the fear that it would be considered too large as it does have a separate bedroom. I agree that the voting is all that matters and I always voted for those who did the most with the least.

I am excited for a new croup of apartments. My searching through youtube and flickr for AT tags is getting old :)

How do we submit our entry?

seems like we need a mid size coolest apt entry. . I mean, anyone can make a room look spacious/minimalist with an extra 200 sq ft. . . the whole challenge of a small apt is that its hard to make a small space feel big, and still have all your day to day stuff, and make it look cool and not cluttered. . .good luck everyone!

ps, I'd also like to echo some of the people who came to apt therapy because if focused on small spaces, I mean, dude, I can pick up any dwell, domino, home and garden yadda yadda martha type magazine/blog/website dedicated to home improvement/interior design. . but apt therapy was for the little guys, for those of us out there who don't have a restored ranch in the country, or a beach house in maine, or a 10,000 sq ft rambler. . . damn, if this blog goes all housewife/upperclass on me I'm going to have to find another blog. . .

I agree with tons before me, 850 is huge, 850 is a house, not a small apartment. The idea with small cool is that its still workable, people don't need 850, especially with the excessive wasteful way many Americans now live, emphasis really should be on smaller, more creative, more functional everything.

Good news is it has been almost 1 week with regards to the date stated for entry i.e. March 18th. So that hopefully means AT extends the period to submit to say April 14th? They perhaps are considering our comments with regards to the size issues? Have seen no other chat other than on this one thread.

If so, I am in this year!

I wont be entering the contest, Ive never consided it. Ive been coming to the site for 3 years to view the lovely sides on the apartments and various homes. I love to see how people live.

I was disappointed at first, I thought they change their minds this year about the contest.

Im so glad they change their minds and decided to do a 2008 Apartment Contest!

Im extremely excited!!! I love being the "Virtual Judge" each unit is as unique as the individuals who live in them.

Im so glad they are having a 2008 Apartment contest!

yahooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So delighted that every apartment will have a floor plan. It would be great if every house tour included a floor plan. I would also love it if the first picture of each tour was from just inside the front door. Then one could get a better idea of the apartment's layout.

Now that the site has grown to include a portion of it which includes people who have kids, it seems that it does make at least a certain amount of sense that they might extend the limit on the square footage just a little, especially since our fearless leaders themselves have a child now and have moved into slightly larger quarters. I don't have a huge problem with the increase.

My apartment is 539 square feet, and I didn't enter that contest, because it didn't feel small to me, however cool it is. I did enter one of the bathroom contests, and one of the color contests and I was a runner-up in one of them. It was harrowing, but fun, and it led to having them do a House Tour of my place, which was very exciting.

If you're thinking about entering the contest, please do!

Just realize that some people will love it, and others won't, and both may be vocal about their feelings; some will offer suggestions as if you've asked a "Good Question". And even if your place is wildly fabulous, it just may not "speak" to everyone, but sharing ideas with the crowd is the main point, because there will probably be some kind of challenge you will have conquered in a way that will inspire others.

yay 5 pictures!

5 pictures... hooray!

Maybe some year there will be Over and Under (500 sq ft)categories...

Good luck to future entrants from a past winner! :)

FIVE PICS! Yippeeeeeeeeee! thank you!!!

I'm happy about the contest's return but will not be voting for anything over 650 square feet. I mean, 850 is not huge, but small it ain't!

Smallest/Coolest should stay 650 sq. ft.. You are not cutting out the Midwest by staying true to the original guidelines of showcasing ingenius use of space. As someone in the one state everyone agrees in Midwestern [Iowa], there are many small gems. I live in 595 sq. ft.- and while I will not enter until next year [after the renovation]- 850 sq. ft. is just going to make the contest into Sort of Small/ Not so Cool.

Eve in Hochelaga - you're making a strong case for a reader boycott of doing the same. i just may follow your lead. but i would feel bad for the sincere entrants with the larger apartments.

Erika in Iowa is confirming here (although she's one in a million) that 850 may indeed be too large a sq. ft. number (which is what i've felt all along).

850 sq ft is indeed a small space for people with children! An 850sf apartment with four people living in it is far more impressive than a 650sf apartment with only one person. Maybe the rule should be sf/per person; After all, that's how worldwide housing statistics work.

Also, as someone from the South, I can attest that many who don't live in large cities would consider 850sf "microscopic."

I started reading this blog b/c it seemed to be a great resource for small apartments. 850 sq feet is a luxury in NYC, and it definitely on the "large" side...the coolest apartments are the ones where people do with less space! But I see this site is trying to cater to many more people than it did a few years back. Don't you guys know about how small/deep is better than large/shallow? Your audience is getting bigger but their interests are getting watered down.

why not two categories:
1. <600 sq ft
2. 601-850 sq ft?

maybe it would be too much trouble from an organizational standpoint, but it could be a way to reward those smallest places too

I think a lot depends on how many people live in the space as well. 850 sq.ft. may sound palatial to a single person or even a couple, but for a family of four, space could be an issue. The place could be oddly shaped. I think there still could be some design challenges to be found. It'll be interesting to see.
Is the contest really only for apartments? What if a house meets the size requirements?

Since AT divides the entries by region, why not just create a separate "region" for apartments/homes over 650 sf?

I support the expansion to 850 sq ft. Yes, it is large in the city (I live in DC now), but I'm from Nebraska, and studios there are pretty uncommon. Most people I know there live in 1 or 2 BR's, or small houses, and shoot, if I could get a 2 BR for $650/mo like you can get there, I would move to a "huge" place like that! They shouldn't be penalized in other areas of the country just because they can live in a 2BR for the price of a closet in East Coast cities. Next year, sub-dividing may be a good option.

I live in Oklahoma, and it's nearly impossible to find apartments 650 ft and under. I lived in a dorm room (granted, there were three of us) about that size.

i agree 850sf is too big... is this site becoming more about the stuff you put in your place rather than how you use the space?

Yeah, an 850sf house for a family of four (or more) in Austin is much different than a 850sf loft for a bachelor in NYC. I'm sure the editors of AT can weed out those who are truly "living small" in 850sf from those who are not. Large families in small homes have their own design challenges to deal with (tiny bedrooms, lack of storage space, etc.) and I look forward to seeing the creative solutions to those problems. I don't think this is a question of AT abandoning its roots. It's simply evolving and becoming a little less NYC-centric, and more inclusive of how families in other parts of the country live in their own small spaces.

i'm soooooooooooooooo excited! wooooooo!

Hrrmm.. still no news as to why the switch from DWR to R&B? Curious.

I was under the impression that Small/Cool was born from the NEED to innovate, simplify, and get creative - not from nationwide participation. Now, I'm not saying that those out west should be neglected, but thats what the Fall Colors contest is for, right?

*sigh* I have to wait ONE more year to participate... last year new apartment wasn't ready, and this year the new, new apartment isn't ready... Not that I'm gonna win.

April 14th is so soon!

850 is HUGE... Small and cool, not smallest coolest, unless there is a family of 6 inhabiting the place.

I'd be ok with 850 if there was a rule that more than 2 people lived in the space.

I do hope that some people with children take advantage of the new higher space limit and enter. Most people with kids do not live in 400sf apartments, and having kids gives living in a small space a whole new challenge that I'd like to see more examples of.

thnx for listening to our whining... very happy with the updated 5 pictures rule... just submitted my apt. seeing all the other small (?) apartments posted soon is my interior decorating pr0n event of the year. yippee...

There should be two categories, regardless of prizes.
One for 400 ft or less.
The other for 850 or less.
Two completely different spaces to work with.

How on earth do you submit questions here?
Mine are regularly ignored when I send them by e-mail.
I really want feedback to some design dilemnas.
Any other sites that do Q and A?
thanks.

Any designers want to help us win?!? We just moved into a renovated 350 sq. foot apt. in the West Vilage/NYC, super cute but we don't know where to start with decorating this tiny quaint place. Thought I'd throw that out there.
Thanks.

jarobinson1 and others had a good idea about an area per person limit, though I'm not sure how it would be enforceable.

I'm worried that come contest time many good intentions will melt away in the face of 850 sq ft bachelor pads because they are airy and neat and expensively furnished. :(

hja, I had similar thoughts....

Man. I want to enter so badly! I'll have to get cracking and submit! My apartment is only 240 sq ft...