How an Interior Designer Maximized a 330-Sq-Ft Chinatown Apartment | Architectural Digest — Transcript

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1. 0:04[music]
2. 0:12>> Even though this apartment is just 330
3. 0:14sq ft, I feel like I can fit my whole
4. 0:16life into it.
5. 0:20This main [music] room is the dining
6. 0:22room, it's the living room, it's a guest
7. 0:24bedroom,
8. 0:26it's a music studio, somehow a gym as
9. 0:28well.
10. 0:30>> [music]
11. 0:37[music]
12. 0:38>> I'm Phoebe Cut, I'm the designer.
13. 0:40>> And I'm Anton Fredrikson, and this is my
14. 0:42330 [music] sq ft apartment in
15. 0:44Manhattan's Chinatown.
16. 0:57So both Phoebe and I are from Vancouver,
17. 0:59Canada. I was actually based in
18. 1:01Vancouver [music] when I received a
19. 1:02unique job offer to come back to New
20. 1:04York City. Finding a place in New York
21. 1:05is tough, [music] especially when you're
22. 1:06not here already. I mean with the budget
23. 1:08I have, everything was on the smaller
24. 1:10end. I was more solving [music] for
25. 1:12location. Living in New York City, it's
26. 1:15an incredibly dynamic place. And we're
27. 1:17at the intersection of a couple
28. 1:18different neighborhoods. Sometimes it
29. 1:20feels like a bit of a box suite with
30. 1:21these windows, and I can just stare out
31. 1:23and see kind of all the action
32. 1:25happening.
33. 1:27So this building was built with
34. 1:281899-1900,
35. 1:30turn of the century. Served many
36. 1:32purposes. I have a a photo here actually
37. 1:34that we found looking at some New York
38. 1:35City archives when they were
39. 1:37constructing the subway, and you can see
40. 1:39there's a hat maker, and then actually
41. 1:40in the space where we are right now, it
42. 1:42was a a dentist.
43. 1:43>> The apartment, instantly you can see
44. 1:45there's so many great architectural
45. 1:47features. There's the high ceilings,
46. 1:49exposed beams, there's the egg-and-dart
47. 1:52motif kind of surrounding the window
48. 1:53trim. When you showed me the space, we
49. 1:55definitely knew we loved all the
50. 1:57architectural details, but it was really
51. 1:59important to keep everything
52. 2:00multi-functional and multi-purpose in
53. 2:02such a small space.
54. 2:03>> Cuz working with a more limited budget,
55. 2:06we tallied up all the costs at the end.
56. 2:08It was just under $5,000.
57. 2:10>> Facebook Marketplace is a great place. A
58. 2:13lot of DIYs and
59. 2:15other second-hand things that we bought.
60. 2:17We definitely wanted to have different
61. 2:19zones and this would be kind of your
62. 2:21workstation, your dining, eating. There
63. 2:23you can sleep and lounge and chill. But
64. 2:26we also made sure to keep the space open
65. 2:28because it is so small. Then you can
66. 2:30make it really convertible. So even the
67. 2:32coffee table we chose, it can be set up
68. 2:34on the side like a little drink table
69. 2:35for one person. It can be flipped down
70. 2:38and then that way you know you can put
71. 2:39all your snacks [music] and whatever for
72. 2:40people. Yeah, everything definitely has
73. 2:42to be very multi-purpose in a small
74. 2:44space.
75. 2:47>> [music]
76. 2:54>> Welcome to the the room. We're in
77. 2:56[music] the one and main room
78. 2:59here, which is the dining room, the
79. 3:01music studio, the gym,
80. 3:04the living room,
81. 3:05the guest room,
82. 3:07the library.
83. 3:09What else? The washing machine, the
84. 3:11laundry room.
85. 3:12>> It's a multi-purpose space, really.
86. 3:13>> Multi-purpose space, yeah.
87. 3:14>> So for every item that we brought in, we
88. 3:16had to keep in mind the scale of the
89. 3:18space, the proportion, the cost,
90. 3:21obviously. But we wanted to have things
91. 3:23also to be very timeless. For example,
92. 3:26this is a tulip style table, but we
93. 3:29actually found it off a second-hand
94. 3:31marketplace site and I think it was a
95. 3:33few hundred bucks. But it's still real
96. 3:35stone and yeah, [music] we definitely
97. 3:37saved some money there. So this couch
98. 3:40really fits perfectly in [music] the
99. 3:41space. We went with something that was
100. 3:43modular and it's from Burrow. It
101. 3:45actually also [music] turns into a
102. 3:46little sleeper couch.
103. 3:47>> Yeah, so what I'll do when I have guests
104. 3:49is I'll move these two over here, move
105. 3:52this module there so you can stretch it
106. 3:54out over create a twin bed or a business
107. 3:57class seat if you will.
108. 3:58>> These flip up, you roll out the mattress
109. 4:01on top, little mattress.
110. 4:02>> Then these couch cushions act like a
111. 4:03mattress and you can just put the sheets
112. 4:05over.
113. 4:06>> The two most expensive things in the
114. 4:08apartment, probably the headboard and
115. 4:10the sofa, but we still found ways to
116. 4:12[music] kind of keep the cost low.
117. 4:13>> Then there was actually a site where I
118. 4:15could purchase the returned item. So,
119. 4:18someone had already opened it and then
120. 4:20returned it, but they couldn't sell it
121. 4:22again in the store. You can get it at a
122. 4:24at a discount and was able to assemble
123. 4:26the design I wanted using the kind of
124. 4:28the second-hand market. There's even
125. 4:30space under the couch for more books and
126. 4:32books hidden in every kind of nook and
127. 4:34cranny.
128. 4:35>> Every inch counts in a small space.
129. 4:37[music] Everything has to be used.
130. 4:38>> Book overflow zone and even this piano
131. 4:41at one point was couple skyscrapers of
132. 4:44books as well.
133. 4:45>> We found this piano which perfectly fit
134. 4:47this space on the wall.
135. 4:48>> Yeah, I grew up playing piano and like
136. 4:50composing my own music and this is a way
137. 4:52for me to de-stress after a long day at
138. 4:54work. So, I done a lot of research on
139. 4:55the exact model of piano that would work
140. 4:57as as a console as well. Quite expensive
141. 5:00online, but was fortunate to find it on
142. 5:02Facebook Marketplace and there was a
143. 5:04couple looking to get rid of it quickly
144. 5:06and I think I got it for about $150. And
145. 5:08then it can also turn into a mini home
146. 5:10gym.
147. 5:11>> Draw this here.
148. 5:12>> Put the bench there.
149. 5:13>> Okay.
150. 5:14>> Lie down. Hey Phoebe,
151. 5:16can you give me a spot?
152. 5:17>> gosh. So, even though everything is
153. 5:19multi-purpose, it was really important
154. 5:21that everything still feels curated and
155. 5:24timeless. For example, this lamp we got,
156. 5:28there were a lot of different options we
157. 5:29were thinking about, but we settled on
158. 5:32this lantern because it kind of echoes
159. 5:34the bay here with the flower petals.
160. 5:37>> Isn't it a kids lamp, too?
161. 5:38>> Yeah, it's from Pottery Barn Teen.
162. 5:40So, I think you were looking for this
163. 5:41place maybe 9 months?
164. 5:43>> was actually about to give up. Had to
165. 5:44drop some some along the way to open up
166. 5:46more possibilities. So, what really
167. 5:47helped in the search was giving up on
168. 5:49the in-unit washer-dryer, but was able
169. 5:53to find a portable option concealed
170. 5:55under this nice skirt that E V created.
171. 5:58>> A little DIY.
172. 5:59>> But, actually we'll pull this out, put
173. 6:01it into the bathroom, connect it with
174. 6:03the shower hookup, and then do a load of
175. 6:05laundry like that.
176. 6:12>> [music]
177. 6:14>> The kitchen is surprisingly usable. You
178. 6:15got a full stove and oven, even a little
179. 6:18dishwasher.
180. 6:19And then I like this little tea and
181. 6:21coffee nook
182. 6:22uh that I have here. Some more storage
183. 6:25up top.
184. 6:26Even a place for suitcase and ironing
185. 6:29board and all that. Every storage space
186. 6:31has been used. The apartment came with a
187. 6:33lot of great storage already. And most
188. 6:35of that storage sits in the kitchen.
189. 6:38So, you'll see there's a a lot more than
190. 6:39just kitchen items being stored here.
191. 6:41Yeah, there's like a skateboard up
192. 6:43there, speed skates. What else? We got a
193. 6:45We have a basketball above the olive
194. 6:47oil.
195. 6:48Anywhere where I could find
196. 6:49>> [music]
197. 6:49>> a little bit of space I've I've used.
198. 6:51>> Because there's no closets, um there's
199. 6:53really nowhere to put tall items like a
200. 6:55broom or a vacuum. So, we kind of just
201. 6:58have to hide things also strategically.
202. 7:01So, the broom usually goes there.
203. 7:10>> This is a bedroom. This is where I spend
204. 7:11most of my time sleeping. This is a
205. 7:13queen-size bed and there's just enough
206. 7:15room to walk around the edges. These
207. 7:17floor-to-ceiling built-ins store mostly
208. 7:20my clothing, shoes. There's actually a
209. 7:22generous amount of storage for a small
210. 7:24space, and the mattress for the guest
211. 7:26bed lives in the attic right here.
212. 7:29>> The bedroom started off as kind of a
213. 7:30small white box. So, to add a focal
214. 7:33point we started with the headboard
215. 7:35first, and we didn't choose a bulky
216. 7:37platform bed or anything because we
217. 7:39really wanted to keep the walkways
218. 7:41clear. That's also why we chose the
219. 7:43sconces on the wall.
220. 7:45>> I think we saw in some designer thing,
221. 7:47took screenshots of it, reverse image
222. 7:49searched it, found cheaper alternatives
223. 7:50online.
224. 7:51>> I think the sconces were about $30 each.
225. 7:53And then just to add some movement and
226. 7:55color, we did this little DIY bed
227. 7:57canopy. That also feels like you're
228. 8:00camping in there. It's very cozy.
229. 8:02Because we kept everything pretty low
230. 8:04cost in the bedroom, then we could
231. 8:06really have a focal point moment with
232. 8:08this headboard, which was [music] about
233. 8:10maybe a thousand dollars. So we built
234. 8:12off of that and then the canopy was only
235. 8:14about $80 that we did. I did a little
236. 8:17DIY video showing people how I made this
237. 8:20canopy with the help of Anton,
238. 8:22obviously, because it's very high up.
239. 8:24But basically, we just got two cafe
240. 8:27curtain rods, hung them up, just draped
241. 8:29the fabric over, and the fringe, I just
242. 8:31sewed it by hand.
243. 8:34>> [music]
244. 8:43>> As many New Yorkers can relate to, I
245. 8:45always had roommates before, so there
246. 8:46were usually larger [music] common
247. 8:48areas. I knew I wanted to live alone,
248. 8:50and and with that came maybe a bit of a
249. 8:53sacrifice on space. There is no other
250. 8:56city in the world where you have this
251. 8:57confluence of [music] people and this
252. 8:59density of people from so many different
253. 9:01backgrounds really at the top of their
254. 9:03game.
255. 9:03>> So there's exciting [music] things
256. 9:04happening.
257. 9:05>> Never know who you're going to meet,
258. 9:06never know type of events you'll go to,
259. 9:08or that serendipity or or chaos kind of
260. 9:11[music] concentrated means that
261. 9:13>> it's worth having a small space here.
262. 9:15>> There we go.
263. 9:16I mean, I'm very happy. I don't need
264. 9:17more space.