Small Cool 2011

Very nice! Love the kitchen and bathroom!

your kitchen... everything about it... SWOON. also love the bedroom with the floating nightstands and the shelf + cabinets above the bed.

When I look at your pictures I feel like I'm in 2 completely different places with clashing styles. The bedroom, kitchen and bathroom go together, but the living room and dining room don't match up to it. Part of the home is so tidy and clean and the other part is cluttered. I'd suggest making the other 2 rooms live up to the rest of the home. Otherwise, love your bed space and kitchen.

What a wonderful space. Amazing storage, can't believe it. Sounds like you are in an amazing brownstone :)

You're lucky yo have a place with good bones to begin with and let's be honest, this is a decent size for a NYC apartment. Still, I love many things about it: the dark parquet floors, the giant mirror over the fireplace, the yummy kitchen. You're living the dream!

Can you/anyone tell me more about the stools in the kitchen? I just found one in the trash the other day, pretty good condition, I want to know who makes them? and get more! Lovely apt! :-) I do see urban/industrial chic on one end and a vintage/hipster kind on the other. Being more eclectic in the kitchen/bathroom and a little more clean/streamlined in the other areas would definitely make this apt even better!

The boyfriend's music room could be home for me. The rest feels cold.

But I'ma favorite this home, not simply for the accordion, wood blocks, pipe shelves, and red desk with phone.... but for the spirit of harmony and compromise. La la la-la la.

mizzola_07 - you can get two stools for $90 at Overstock.
Tabouret 24-inch Metal Counter Stools (Set of 2)
http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Tabouret-24-inch-Metal-Counter-Stools-Set-of-2/3879160/product.html

I'm not seeing the photos....

EPIC! That is an awesome space. I think many people could do wonders with that layout and you guys certainly did!

Love your kitchen and your bedroom!! I'm so jealous of your great storage units, I wanted something similar when I built my space but it didn't quite work out. Isn't it great to be able to put everything away?

For your living area, seems like you have tall ceilings? I think that space would also look fantastic with fewer bigger pieces. For instance, just a sectional and a coffee table (instead of the loveseat & two chairs). I think a round dining table would also be very pretty in that space. And also some larger colorful art on the wall and a larger light fixture.

That should be fewer but bigger pieces.

really like this one!!

I love the raw, modern look of the kitchen and the bathroom. So chic!

I agree that on first look this could seem cold, but is luxuriously calm and clean. I'm guessing that with all the instruments, also come a lot of musicians gathering to play music and consume food. This austerity is exactly what you need in a place that fills with active people. I love this place designed for an exciting city life and not for the showing off of a lot of fussy stuff.
And I do love stuff, but this is better.

Why can't someone have different styles in one room than the other. The living room is about her hobbies and interests. Her bedroom is about calm and relaxing. I missed the memo that each room has to be tied to the next. If each room looks good, who cares.

I like this! Love the wall of storage. Agree with Kate (NC) that with all that music around, the space will be somewhere that you need to experience to really know how it 'feels' :)

I think that the area dedicated to the musical instruments — it's really just one room — are is probably the one that seems different from the rest of the apartment.

I really give her a lot of props: Johanna managed to create an orderly, beautiful home and still let her man indulge his love for music.

It speaks to Johanna's skill — not only as a designer but as a girlfriend — that she managed to allow for her boyfriend's passion and still create an orderly environment in the other spaces. It's an astonishing compromise.

I know I wouldn't be able to pull it off.

Loosen up. Too clean. Too cold. You need to give in more to the dark, boyfriend side.

such an amazing space.. i could do so much with it. Highlight is the hallway of storage... i swoon over that! and the kitchen! just devine!!!!

Johanna, I especially love the bedroom. We also have a petite master and the floating side tables are a great idea. Where did you find yours? Thanks so much!

Love the concrete countertops!

The kitchen is amazing, as the Barcelona chair. Love the layout.

Great look! Love how you were able to incorporate the music room without making things look cluttered!

Thanks all for the kind and thoughtful comments! I just learned our apartment made the contest yesterday so am a little late...

stools: I got them on Overstock -- as ElaneB suggested -- but the Overstock version is a copy of the Tolix Marais stool. If the one you found says Tolix, it is likely worth more.

bedside tables: I love them, too! They are actually from from the original apartment so I owe many thanks to the previous owner. I believe he had them custom-made at Knossos in Chelsea.

Johanna: "The biggest challenge was reconciling my obsession with minimalism with my boyfriend's need to have his entire collection......within arm's reach."

Me, too. We are about to add 20 feet of extra storage space!

I wish someone would write a book on apartment therapy for "clashing styles."