West End “Grand Five” - AKA Insight

THE STORY

THE CHALLENGE: Update this Classic Six apartment where the traditional geometry of rectangles left a meaningful amount of space underused.

THE CLIENT: These owners moved in 20 years before and raised their son in this apartment. They want the apartment to reflect who they are now: late-career professionals who love to host community, have evolving hobbies, with a wonderful adult son who loves to visit.

THE TRANSFORMATION: We featured a spectacular view West, maximized views between spaces, and increased storage by 50%. Gracious rooms flow together; this open plan allows the family to be separate together.

Entry vestibule in a prewar apartment crammed with coat racks that block the small closet, the paint is old, and the floor is worn.

A hallway leading to a bathroom with an orange wall

BEFORE The entry is cramped, it is hard to find things, and guests should ignore it.

AFTER We enlarged the entry with a creative rearrangement of storage, we widened the transition between entry and foyer. A mosaic floor and pop of color welcome visitors to our Clients’ aesthetic

We created a large Foyer closet out of under-used space and opened a view to daylight where there was none.

Before: The Living Room is separated from the Dining Room a corridor

After: The entry vestibule is more spacious, with a deep red accent wall behind a custom built-in storage and bench and new stone mosaic floors

BEFORE The traditional geometry of this Pre-War Foyer made the whole apartment feel smaller and darker.

AFTER We created more space to enjoy when we adjusted door-openings to extend light and views.

We opened the apartment to reveal more views transforming the apartment into an open plan with pocket doors.

A classic large dining Room with windows in the corner and tall, dark furniture

BEFORE The chefs in this family wanted to be connected to the action while they cook

AFTER We doubled the experience of light and created more views, we made more space by capturing the dead space of an adjacent corridor.

The wide Galley Kitchen dated from the 1980s with a large window looking west

A second window is now visible; a curio cabinet with architectural lighting illuminated the space between the windows. A Kitchen island in vivid Eucalyptus wood topped with white terrazzo with purple flecks of recycled glass floats where the wall once was

BEFORE This Kitchen had a Classic Five relationship to the Dining Room via a Butler’s Pantry, the window’s position was purely functional. It did not celebrate the window’s light and views.

AFTER The renovated Chef’s Kitchen is united with the entertaining spaces. A lit display cabinet connects the Kitchen and Dining Room windows to create more light and views in a “wall of windows” effect, unusual in a Prewar Apartment.

We expanded the feeling of space by expanding the width, length, and brightness of the view from the Kitchen. Materials in the Kitchen continue the aesthetic of the rest of the apartment.

Before: Standing in the service’s corridor, the view of the dining room is a dead-end.

The service’s corridor is open to the Dining Room to the right, and the Living room is visible through the Foyer.

BEFORE The traditional classic-six apartment divides spaces from each other

AFTER We rethought the divisions between rooms and dramatically increased the use and the enjoyment of this apartment

The Pre-war Living Room with a fireplace is separated from the rest of the apartment.

You can see through the Dining Room to the Kitchen beyond from the redecorated Living Room.

BEFORE This Living Room opened into the Foyer, and that’s it

AFTER We increased the views through the apartment and connected all of the Entertaining Rooms by strategically shifting the door openings around the Foyer

The Prime Bedroom is yellow with furniture from when the couple was first married; it had one clothes closet.

An aubergine-colored accent wall grounds the Prime Bedroom with two clothes closets, a refurbished sink closet.

BEFORE With only one closet in the Main Bedroom, the owners needed more storage

AFTER We created more storage when we captured unused space from an extra deep closet in the adjacent bedroom

Before: The door to an original-construction sink closet blocks the western light because it is always left open; there is a porcelain sink and no storage.

After: We removed the door to the sink closet to let in the Western light and featured the vintage. sink, replacing the plumbing, and adding storage above and below with purple vintage glass pulls

BEFORE Prewar buildings have sink closets to increase capacity for apartments with fewer bathrooms

AFTER We optimized light and storage, removed the door that blocked the window, and restored the original 1915 sink.

Looking back toward the Foyer

After: The corner has become a bookshelf above and storage below, the closet space is more accessible with double doors leading, to the left the doors to the Living room, Foyer, and Dining Room are visible.

BEFORE Prewar apartments typically have long narrow corridors, wide closets with narrow doors, and frequently a closet occupies awkward spaces

AFTER We created delight when we transformed this traditional corridor by shortening its length and opening the corner where that awkward closet was