2012 jan 24
http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2012/01/23/property-porn-of-the-week-a-super-designed-200-sq-ft-shoebox-apartment/
As of 2009, the median home size for the typical urban household in the Northeast was 1,500 square feet, according to the National Association of Home Builders. And in New York City even that much space can be hard to come by. Take the $345,000 apartment for sale at 344 West 12th Street. The West Village studio apartment is barely 200 square feet in size.
You might expect to find a cramped, cluttered dorm room of a home encompassing such humble dimensions, and if we were talking about my former digs (I actually inhabited a 225-sq. ft. studio for two years), you would be correct. But the difference between this tiny unit and, say, my former 1970s-era shoebox unit, is that this one is designed right.
“I’ve been calling it the ‘Small Wonder’ because it’s a small apartment, but it packs a punch in terms of storage options, creativity, and the design scheme,” says Jason Saft, a Realtor with Citi Habitats and the studio’s listing agent.
What could a home smaller than most Americans’ bedrooms have to offer? As it turns out, some rather outrageous amenities. The first-floor nest touts an “office area”, a working wood-burning fireplace (a rare amenity anywhere in the Big Apple), and an array of vintage medicine cabinets including a WWII sterilizer chest suspended from the walls.
Despite the fact that most basic furniture pieces won’t fit in this petite pad, there’s enough built-in storage space to make those dresser sets, night stands, bookcases and tables seem unnecessary. ”All these hidden built-ins are so discreet that people have fun exploring the cabinets, like you might open a door to Narnia or something,” chuckles Saft, noting it even took him several visits to discover all of the storage compartments built into the space.
The main living area houses a platform bed in one corner with cabinetry above it. Basic household gadgets like a telephone, an alarm clock and a small fan have been installed into the wall below them as well.
The wall running between the bed and the “kitchen area” hosts two built-in steel bins, one for trash and one for recycling. Above them sits a series of lucite planks that act as kitchen counters since the space doesn’t technically have them. The kitchen itself is comprised of a two-burner stove and convection oven, a sink with drawers stacked underneath it, and a tall, skinny custom-made refrigerator.
The bathroom was designed with a vintage subway car in mind: there’s a sliding pocket door, boxy white tiling, steel and chrome fixtures, cabinetry suspended from the ceiling, mirrored medicine cabinets running along the wall, and a glass enclosed shower. The shower itself has three water jets that offer a steam spa shower and a fan above head whirls heat for a faster dry-off once you’re done washing.
The owner, a lighting designer by profession, spent years laboring over the modest space. He installed various forms of lighting to add more brightness to the petite pad. It’s a concept that stagers and realtors have long used to make homes appear larger for showings. Adding to the feeling of space, the owner used the same finishes and construction materials throughout and implemented a steadfast monochromatic color scheme of whites, soft creams, browns and blacks. He also stripped 60 years of paint off the steel front door, leaving it raw silvery-grey.
“The biggest issue with these small apartments is that it always looks messy with everything out because there’s no place for it,” explains Saft. “In this apartment everything has a place. It’s the apartment that proves that size doesn’t matter.”
Indeed size may not matter for prospective buyers. The West Village isn’t known for its fancy new, amenity-laden high-rise buildings like Wall Street is or airy, spacious lofts like TriBeCa is; it’s known for the neighborhood and the neighbors. The West Village is one of the country’s priciest neighborhoods, regularly making the top 50 on the Forbes’ Most Expensive ZIP Codes list, and it’s favored by celebrities like Jennifer Aniston,Julianne Moore and Hilary Swank.
Saft suspects the buyer of this “small wonder” will be either an out-of-towner who will use it as a pied-a-terre or a family who will buy it and rent it to their young adult son or daughter. Maintenance is under $400. After a 20% down payment on a 30-year fixed mortgage at a relatively low rate and tax benefits are taken into account, Saft says the unit will only cost the new owner about $1,300 per month. ”The last time you could find a studio in the West Village for that little, it was 1996 and it wasn’t something like this,” asserts the broker.
Photo Gallery
http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2012/01/23/property-porn-of-the-week-a-super-designed-200-sq-ft-shoebox-apartment/
As of 2009, the median home size for the typical urban household in the Northeast was 1,500 square feet, according to the National Association of Home Builders. And in New York City even that much space can be hard to come by. Take the $345,000 apartment for sale at 344 West 12th Street. The West Village studio apartment is barely 200 square feet in size.
You might expect to find a cramped, cluttered dorm room of a home encompassing such humble dimensions, and if we were talking about my former digs (I actually inhabited a 225-sq. ft. studio for two years), you would be correct. But the difference between this tiny unit and, say, my former 1970s-era shoebox unit, is that this one is designed right.
“I’ve been calling it the ‘Small Wonder’ because it’s a small apartment, but it packs a punch in terms of storage options, creativity, and the design scheme,” says Jason Saft, a Realtor with Citi Habitats and the studio’s listing agent.
What could a home smaller than most Americans’ bedrooms have to offer? As it turns out, some rather outrageous amenities. The first-floor nest touts an “office area”, a working wood-burning fireplace (a rare amenity anywhere in the Big Apple), and an array of vintage medicine cabinets including a WWII sterilizer chest suspended from the walls.
Despite the fact that most basic furniture pieces won’t fit in this petite pad, there’s enough built-in storage space to make those dresser sets, night stands, bookcases and tables seem unnecessary. ”All these hidden built-ins are so discreet that people have fun exploring the cabinets, like you might open a door to Narnia or something,” chuckles Saft, noting it even took him several visits to discover all of the storage compartments built into the space.
The main living area houses a platform bed in one corner with cabinetry above it. Basic household gadgets like a telephone, an alarm clock and a small fan have been installed into the wall below them as well.
The wall running between the bed and the “kitchen area” hosts two built-in steel bins, one for trash and one for recycling. Above them sits a series of lucite planks that act as kitchen counters since the space doesn’t technically have them. The kitchen itself is comprised of a two-burner stove and convection oven, a sink with drawers stacked underneath it, and a tall, skinny custom-made refrigerator.
The bathroom was designed with a vintage subway car in mind: there’s a sliding pocket door, boxy white tiling, steel and chrome fixtures, cabinetry suspended from the ceiling, mirrored medicine cabinets running along the wall, and a glass enclosed shower. The shower itself has three water jets that offer a steam spa shower and a fan above head whirls heat for a faster dry-off once you’re done washing.
The owner, a lighting designer by profession, spent years laboring over the modest space. He installed various forms of lighting to add more brightness to the petite pad. It’s a concept that stagers and realtors have long used to make homes appear larger for showings. Adding to the feeling of space, the owner used the same finishes and construction materials throughout and implemented a steadfast monochromatic color scheme of whites, soft creams, browns and blacks. He also stripped 60 years of paint off the steel front door, leaving it raw silvery-grey.
“The biggest issue with these small apartments is that it always looks messy with everything out because there’s no place for it,” explains Saft. “In this apartment everything has a place. It’s the apartment that proves that size doesn’t matter.”
Indeed size may not matter for prospective buyers. The West Village isn’t known for its fancy new, amenity-laden high-rise buildings like Wall Street is or airy, spacious lofts like TriBeCa is; it’s known for the neighborhood and the neighbors. The West Village is one of the country’s priciest neighborhoods, regularly making the top 50 on the Forbes’ Most Expensive ZIP Codes list, and it’s favored by celebrities like Jennifer Aniston,Julianne Moore and Hilary Swank.
Saft suspects the buyer of this “small wonder” will be either an out-of-towner who will use it as a pied-a-terre or a family who will buy it and rent it to their young adult son or daughter. Maintenance is under $400. After a 20% down payment on a 30-year fixed mortgage at a relatively low rate and tax benefits are taken into account, Saft says the unit will only cost the new owner about $1,300 per month. ”The last time you could find a studio in the West Village for that little, it was 1996 and it wasn’t something like this,” asserts the broker.
Photo Gallery
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