{"id":2856,"date":"2025-07-01T07:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T23:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/2025\/07\/01\/a-revived-nyc-garret-with-a-space-saving-bed-in-a-box-before-and-after\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T07:04:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T23:04:00","slug":"a-revived-nyc-garret-with-a-space-saving-bed-in-a-box-before-and-after","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/de\/a-revived-nyc-garret-with-a-space-saving-bed-in-a-box-before-and-after\/","title":{"rendered":"Ein wiederbelebtes NYC-Garret mit einem platzsparenden Bett in einer Box, vorher und nachher"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It\u2019s easy to see why Kay Lee and Jonathan Chong fell for their West 11th Street garret apartment. In addition to offering a living area with a 22-foot-tall ceiling and giant skylight, it bore the ghost marks of the previous occupants: for decades an artist couple had used the space as their studio\/crash pad\u2014and painted marble veining on the walls, a zebra-patterned faux rug on the wooden floor, and string-tied bouquet on the bathroom door.<\/p>\n

Kay, a digital designer, and Jonathan who works in the restaurant business, had admired the thoughtfully succinct design work of BoND, the architecture and interiors firm run by Israeli ex-pats Noam Dvir and Daniel Rauchwerger\u2014BoND stands for Bureau of Noam and Daniel\u2014and asked if they\u2019d shore up the apartment for full-time living. Daniel climbed the stairs to the fifth-floor walk-up and was charmed at first glance. \u201cThe original design thinking was to preserve as much as possible\u2014it would be a classic Greenwich Village attic apartment with as-needed contemporary interventions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then reality set in: the walls crumbled to the touch and pipes were leaking into the apartments below. The place was moldy and rotting. \u201cThere\u2019s a gap between the romantic thought of wanting to keep it all,\u201d says Daniel, \u201cand actually living in a ruin.\u201d A ruin, he adds, with barely a kitchen, not much of a bath, no bedroom, and daunting dimensions: the main ceiling may soar but the middle area is a mere 8 feet wide and the long, narrow whole only totals 550 square feet: scroll to the end to see the floor plan and Before shots.<\/p>\n

All parties agreed a makeover was called for. And so the BoND crew began the work of hauling alle<\/em> tools and materials up five narrow flights. To maximize a sense of space, BoND opened up the living room by removing a nonstructural wall; performed some architectural jujitsu to fit in a full new kitchen and bath. As for the trickiest riddle: thanks to their adventurous clients, they put the bed into an entirely unexpected spot. Join us for a look.<\/p>\n

Photography by Chris Mottalini, courtesy of BoND.<\/p>\n


Above: The apartment is set on the top floor of a residential building dating from 1900 and was likely originally used as living quarters. \u201cWhile having to renovate the space, an important goal was to keep the historic studio feel,\u201d says Daniel, noting that the living area retains its original windows, fireplace, moldings, and pine floor, all newly repaired and refinished. <\/p>\n

The walls are limewashed: Daniel and Kay consulted our post Everything You Need to Know about Limewash Paint and went with a pale gray from French line Ressource: \u201cLatex would look too new. Lime paint has a lot of depth to it and the color shifts with the light,\u201d says Daniel. The vintage chair next to the hearth opens into a step stool.<\/p>\n

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Above: The original steel-framed, north-facing skylight was preserved, along with the exposed rafters and small window.  As ceiling lights, the architects used inexpensive classic hardware store porcelain sockets, a Remodelista favorite.
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Above: A Le Corbusier Parliament Lamp stands next to the Floyd sectional, which can double as a guest bed. BoND designed the steel coffee table. The vintage lounge chair is one of two covered in a Kvadrat corduroy-like pressed velvet by Raf Simons. \u201cThings can move around, nothing matches or is too precious,\u201d notes Daniel.
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Above: The living room opens to the dining area parked alongside what the architects dubbed \u201cthe bedroom in a box.\u201d Wanting to preserve the openness of the main space\u2014and with a mere 8-foot-wide area to work in\u2014BoND came up with this \u201csculpture like addition that\u2019s a bit like a wooden Airstream trailer.\u201d They collaborated on its design with Lesser Miracle, the Brooklyn carpentry workshop that built it.,<\/p>\n

Fabricating the box off-site would have been more efficient, but because five flights of stairs were involved, all materials had to be schlepped up, and it was cut and assembled on site over the course of six weeks. The exterior is a veneered in sapele wood. Note the notched drawers at the base\u2014they fit under the bed and hold shoes and sheets.<\/p>\n


Above: A Lariat Pendant by Apparatus hangs over Kay and Jonathan\u2019s table from their previous apartment. It\u2019s paired with French farmhouse stools with backs.
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Above: \u201cEvery inch of the box had to count,\u201d says Daniel. It just fits a queen-size bed and \u201cfeels like a cocoon.\u201d The windows slide open and have wire-gridded glass for a bit of privacy. \u201cThe apartment is small enough that it can get by with an air conditioner installed in the living room side window in the summer It keeps the bedroom cool.\u201d <\/p>\n

Two holes in the ceiling also let the air out and lights on top of the box shine in: \u201cIt\u2019s quite theatrical lit up. You\u2019re inside a space within a space.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Above: The interior is also finished in sapale, and opposite the bed there are two built-in closets. Kay reports that they adore their wooden bedroom: \u201cThe extensive closet and drawer system keep things clutter-free, making it a practical retreat. Believe it or not, we still get a little excited to go to sleep.\u201d
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Above: BoND intentionally gave each room its own guise, creating a sense of discovery within the small quarters. The kitchen\u2014set in a \u201ctricky small corner with a window\u201d\u2014is both tough and sleek: it has painted brick walls (a salute to its old NYC location), steel cabinets from Reform\u2019s Jean Nouvel-designed Reflect line, and a deeply veined Violeta marble counter. <\/p>\n

The marble was sourced from RGNY Tile on West 29th Street in Chelsea, a place that sells slab remnants. \u201cThey\u2019re leftovers from other stock,\u201d says Daniel. \u201cShopping there is a bit like going to a thrift store: you don\u2019t know what you\u2019ll find, but you usually come across something you like.\u201d<\/p>\n


Above: The bath was designed to feel \u201cclean and fresh with a collage-like use of materials,\u201d Daniel tells us. Another dramatic slab of remnant marble from RGNY patterns the main wall. The ribbed glass divider echoes the fluted lines of the kitchen cabinets. The alcove tub\u2014a request from Kay\u2014is 60 inches long. The 2-by-2-inch Dal Tile ceramic squares are an affordable BoND favorite.,<\/p>\n

The New Floor Plan<\/h3>\n


Above: The apartment is long and impossibly narrow in parts. \u201cWe had to take a bite out of the bath to fit in the fridge,\u201d says Daniel. But thanks to the maximized living room and careful space planning, it doesn\u2019t feel cramped. <\/p>\n

Vor<\/h2>\n


Above: \u201cIt was endearing in its dilapidated state, but sadly not livable,\u201d write the architects.
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Above: The names of the previous artist occupants are unknown, but their work came with the apartment.
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Above: The artists used the space as their studio for decades. The kitchen sink was mainly used for washing paint brushes. <\/p>\n

Two more favorite projects by architects Noam Dvir and Daniel Rauchwerger of BoND:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Beneath the Surface: A Petite Manhattan Apartment with a Surprising Amount of Storage (and Small-Space Tricks)<\/li>\n
  • Urban Oasis: A Stone Orchard House in Tel Aviv, Redone by Two Architects<\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It\u2019s easy to see why Kay Lee and Jonathan Chong fell for their West 11th Street garret apartment. In addition to offering a living area with a 22-foot-tall ceiling and giant skylight, it bore the ghost marks of the previous occupants: for decades an artist couple had used the space as their studio\/crash pad\u2014and painted […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diy-projects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}