Displaying posts labeled "Apartment"

Welcome to the new week and what a great way to start.  Alena Smith of Smith Design Studio emailed us this Sydney apartment renovation. The “before” was a tired 80s apartment that had lost its way. Sad and frumpy. Now it’s a sleek and modern home with rich, moody colours, a respite from the hustle of the city. What a change from it’s previous incarnation!

Ike Bahadourian emailed us to share his Met loft remodel with custom furniture (Love his furniture designs! You’ll find more on his website.) It’s a spartan space but just right to spotlight Ike’s beautiful rustic furniture pieces. I’ll let him explain.

“The material choices and the layout were guided by the architecture of the space itself. As an open, rectangular loft the existing plan, fixtures and exposed ducts suggested at a linear layout that led your eyes to the balcony, to a view of Staples Center and LA Live. This meant the orientation of the bed, tables and couch would go accordingly. To complement the exposed ducts and pipes, as well as the cement walls, I chose reclaimed wood for the primary pieces of furniture to build with. A ten and a half foot cedar slab against the south wall simplifies the space by combining to serve as both a desk and a tv stand. Next to the table, stacks of the client’s recycled wall street journals served as a stand for the dvd player. A reclaimed oak palette was cut in half to serve as a coffee table, with a piece of glass on top and subsequent cubby holes beneath for magazines or books. Six more reclaimed palettes were used to lift as a platform an area, or notch in the wall, that was designated for the bed. This lift separated it as much as possible from the rest of the space and created the only real break in the flow of the small apartment, and a bit of hierarchy. Half circle poplar wall mounts that serve as hangers hung across a Sevak Karabachian wood cut print in the sleeping area. Other pieces included Cb2 biloxi linens, west elm industrial lamps, and a gilbert chair from Ikea.”

Couldn’t leave it there. I had to share some of Ike’s furniture. Love the rustic with the smooth!

We received an email from Ron and it started off like this: “I’m 27 years old and live in Tel Aviv Israel, currently an industrial design student. Me and my girlfriend just bought our first apartment and decided to design it completely by ourselves.” Now before I continue I have got to show you a few of the before photos.

And some info on what went on after they had their way with their new apartment:
“In short we re-did the whole place:
Tore down the wall in the kitchen opening it up to the living room and dining area.
United the the bathroom making one long and spacious bathroom
Made the bedroom bigger by closing a indoor balcony.
A bar that comes out of the wall.

I personally designed and built most of the items seen in the pictures:
Large wall clock
Floating unit below the tv
round table and red chairs
table, pipe lamp and the cats playing area which is hung in the red room
faucet in the bathroom
wooden bar
lights in the living room (with red cords)
bed and side table in bedroom. “

I cannot even put into words how in awe I am of Ron’s talent. Seriously. This apartment is FULL of creative and such well-executed items. See for yourselves. (I told him I may steal the cat play area idea). Check out his website HERE.

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To see the newest trends in Bathroom designs for new apartments you can visit iBuyNew which feature Melbourne new apartment designs and Sydney new apartment architecture.

Two Polish homes today! (Don’t you love visiting other countries?) First up Barbara, a student, sent us photos of her room. It’s a great example of stylish DIY on a strict student’s budget. Easy to see why Barabara’s space is so cute. Just check out the lovely jewellery she makes (in this same small room) on her blog Bibelot.

Our second reader’s room today is from Monika who shares her home with her pets… just not your usual pets. I’ll let her explain. “It’s a pretty hard job to make the house/room where you have lots of animals look good. Of course I’m not talking about dogs breeders but about rodents. Lots of cages and stuff everywhere. I am a happy gerbils breeder, there are about 30 gerbils, just in 12m2 and I hate when house is a mess because of it. That’s why I decided to build some cages for my rodents using IKEA and a little bit of imagination.” Monika I think it’s brilliant! I want to come back in my next life as one of your gerbils. This is such a clever idea for kids’ rooms. Rodents, insects, snakes, lizards. See – things that make you go eeeeekkk can be stylish too!

A while back during a random google search I came across a feature on the Australian website mecho of a modern beach style apartment in Clovelly, Australia. Styled by Allison Warner and photographed by Natalie Hunfalvay, the following photos are so beautiful and the spaces soooo perfectly styled. Simply gorgeous.