Kyle Schuneman - The First Apartment Book Cool Design for Small Spaces

Copyright 2012 by Kyle Schuneman
Photographs copyright 2012 by Joe Schmelzer

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.clarksonpotter.com

CLARKSON POTTER is a trademark and POTTER with colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schuneman, Kyle.
The first apartment book / Kyle Schuneman with Heather Summerville. 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Apartment houses. 2. Interior decoration. I. Summerville, Heather. II. Title.
NK2195.A6S38 2012
747.88314dc23 2011043290

eISBN: 978-0-307-95291-2

Cover design by Rae Ann Spitzenberger

Cover photography Joe Schmelzer

v3.1

CONTENTS

THE ART LOVER

THE FREE SPIRIT

THE PREPPY

THE ROOMMATES

THE COLLECTOR

THE SCHOLAR

THE REBEL

THE HOMEBODY

THE BOHEMIAN

THE COUPLE

IVE ALWAYS LOVED THE SKY-IS-THE-LIMIT MENTALITY THAT COMES WITH MOVING IN TO A NEW APARTMENT.

So what if you can measure the whole space in arm-lengths, and the floor plan looks more like a half-finished game of dominoes? Its yoursand its home.

Hours are whiled away daydreaming of the cooloccasionally off-the-wallways youre going to put your stamp on this tiny space. (Midnight-black walls? Most definitely.) Then reality bursts your design bubble. Those ugly cabinets you want to paint turns out its not allowed. The sofa youve had an eye on its not even close to being within your budget. Every creative outlet ends in a frustrating no. And giving up to the humdrum view of four white walls seems inevitable.

Hey, Ive been thereand everyone involved in the making of this book has too. Its a rite of passage, Im afraid. But as I often say, every no is surrounded by a sea of yeses. There is always a way to make your design vision come trueyou just have to get a little more creative in how you go about it.

Consider this book your personal guideits everything I wish I knew when I was starting out. Its smart decorating. Its inspiration. Its how-tos. Its real stories about real people in real starter apartments. Its the book that gives you permission to stick your head in the clouds and dream big. Because, after all, thats what your first apartment is for.

Each of the ten chapters in The First Apartment Book tackles a different style aesthetic and a different set of real-life design obstacles: The Art Lover in New York City who needed to turn her one-room studio into four functional spaces; The Collector in Los Angeles who stockpiles porcelain figurines and needed an organized means of displaying them; The Roommates in Boston who couldnt figure out how to combine their strikingly different tastes. These are real apartment makeovers, real budgets, and real scenarios based on the (often frustrating) living situations my friends and I have found ourselves in over the yearsand inside these pages are all the helpful lessons I came away with. Youll find floor plans, cost breakdowns, and how-to projects in every chapterand not just a checklist of what I did, but also the why behind it. And the sources for everything you seeright down to the paint color on the wallscan be found in our Resources section.

The First Apartment Book is meant to be easy, useful, and, more than anything else, fun. You can relate to our renters situations, and like them, you will (I hope!) find humor in the small-space decorating predicaments they find themselves inbecause laughter is the one surefire ingredient that can make a 500-square-foot apartment feel like your own mini-mansion.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Edgewater in Cleveland; Miracle Mile in LA; Cow Hollow in San Francisco; Inman Park in Atlanta; The Space Needle in Seattle; East Nashville; The T in Boston; West Village in New York City; Burnham Park Fountain in Chicago.

FORGET YOUR MANNERS . Open every closet, every cabinet door, and every kitchen drawer. Storage comes at a premium in small spaces; you need to know what youre starting with.

FLUSH THE TOILET and while youre at it, turn on the shower. There is absolutely nothing you can do about bad plumbing once youve moved in. Low water pressure is an automatic red flag.

SHOW UP TO A RENTAL LISTING PREPARED . Good apartments dont last long. If you have a letter of recommendation and proof of good credit handy, youll be miles ahead of your competition.

DO A DRIVE-BY . Most apartment viewings happen during the day, when everyone is at work. To get a more accurate feel for the block and the parking situation, walk by after dark, or use Google Maps Street View to cyberstalk your potential new neighborhood.

BOOKMARK THIS SITE: BedbugRegistry.com. Before you even check out an apartment, type the address into this registry. It will tell you if there has been an encounter with bedbugs at this address, and when. (Its better to know, right?)

TAKE IN THE VIEWAND NOT JUST THE SKYLINE . Do you see construction happening around the building? A metal shop? Train tracks? All of these things make noise, even if you dont hear a peep when youre in the apartment.